PAVS Trustee Board Welcomes New Members Contents
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Issue 44 February 2009 Rhif 44 Chwefror 2009 PAVS Trustee Board welcomes new members Contents: The PAVS Annual General Meeting took place on 10th December 2008 Foreword 2 and proved to be an extremely successful event, enjoyed by all members Partnership Working 3 and staff who attended. Funding 5 Voluntary Sector News 11 The event was sponsored by Unity Trust Bank, one of the UK’s leading Training 13 Charity Banks, and Jon Field (Regional Manager) was on hand to give Volunteering 19 information and advice on the wide range of products the Bank offers, News from Groups 25 specifically designed to meet the needs of the third sector. In addition to Consultations 28 PAVS information stands, several member organisations also took advantage of the opportunity to promote their services so there was plenty to see during the “networking” session at the start of the evening! PEMBROKESHIRE ASSOCIATION In his report to members, Nigel Owen (Chair of Trustees) paid tribute to OF VOLUNTARY SERVICES colleagues on the Trustee Board and to staff members at PAVS for their hard work and commitment throughout the year. He also thanked funding CYMDEITHAS bodies for their ongoing support for the Association. GWASANAETHAU Five new Trustees were elected to the Board at the AGM Bernie GWIRFODDOL SIR BENFRO Scourfield (Lamphey Village Hall); Bernard Coldicott (Arthritis Care); Rod Bowen (PACTO); Simon Preddy (Keep Wales Tidy) and David Kerrison 3638 High Street (Pembrokeshire Citizens Advice Bureau). Chris Blakemore was also re Haverfordwest elected to the Board, having stepped down by rotation in line with PAVS’ Pembrokeshire Constitution. This brings the total number of Trustees on the Board to 11 SA61 2DA full members, with Councillor Sian James, the Pembrokeshire County Tel: 01437 769422 Council nominated PAVS representative, attending as an Advisor. Cllr Fax: 01437 769431 James is also the Cabinet member with the voluntary/community sector portfolio, so her attendance at future Board meetings is very welcome. 3638 Y Stryd Fawr Following the business of the AGM, Peter Davies (Sustainable Hwlffordd Development Commissioner for Wales) gave an informative and thought Sir Benfro provoking keynote speech on the theme of “Business and the Third Sector”. SA61 2DA This was then followed by a “Question Time” session with panel members Tel: 01437 769422 responding to a range of challenging questions presented by the audience. Ffacs: 01437 769431 Copies of the Annual Report can be downloaded from the PAVS website, or hard copies can be sent out on request. Deadline for copy for the next issue is: Friday 17 April 2009 email to: info@pavs.org.uk ‐ 1 ‐ www.pavs.org.uk Foreword Happy New Year! After a welcome Christmas break, For more information about the work of CYPP and PAVS is now right back in the swing of things and, if other strategic and planning partnerships in January is anything to go by, 2009 is shaping up to be Pembrokeshire, please visit our new online resource an extremely busy and challenging year, both for the at www.pembsnetworking.org.uk. Association and our partners. This website brings together the work of the As Chief Officer of PAVS, I have been invited to join Representation and Joint Working team at PAVS, and the NHS Transition Board for the new Hywel Dda provides information about planning and consultation Local Health Board (which covers the former Dyfed processes, including feedback from meetings and region of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and links to partner sites. It is designed to provide general Ceredigion). This Board is charged with steering information to groups, but has an additional specific through the process of establishing a single health function to support third sector representatives in what organisation for the region and having everything in can sometimes be a difficult and challenging role. place by October 2009! The Convergence Programme continues to roll out WAG has launched a second phase consultation into slowly but surely see below for details of the new the reorganisation of the NHS in Wales the deadline Engagement Gateway project which has just been for receipt of responses is 25th February 2009. One launched. of the key challenges is to ensure the design and delivery of locality based services within the new What is now coming through is a plethora of “regional” LHB. Please take the opportunity to procurement opportunities, as successful project contribute your views contact Michelle Copeman at sponsors start the process of commissioning service PAVS for more information. delivery organisations. If you are interested in delivering services, then please ensure you are January has also seen a round of meetings of the registered with Sell2Wales so that you receive Executive and Core Aim Groups associated with the automatic alerts of invitations to tender. You may also Children and Young People’s Partnership (CYPP). wish to register your interest with the Pembrokeshire Progress has also been made on developing a shared County Council Spatial European Team (SET) workforce development strategy for CYPP members, contact Amy Gilbert on 01437 776176 or email taking the “one sector, one workforce” approach amy.gilbert@pembrokeshire.gov.uk . already adopted in the area of social care. Enjoy the read! Sue Leonard Chief Officer STOP PRESS: LAUNCH OF ENGAGEMENT GATEWAY SCHEME PAVS is pleased to announce the recent launch of the Engagement Gateway scheme, which offers opportunities to fund volunteer initiatives that provide targeted support to help people into employment. The Gateway Scheme is managed by Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and is funded under the European Union’s Convergence Programme. The aim of the scheme is to reduce economic inactivity in Wales and improve the employability of disadvantaged people furthest from the labour market. The Gateway will invest in organisations that work with people who may be out of touch with mainstream services, or at high risk of long term benefit dependency. These groups will include people facing specific disadvantage including people with a work limiting health condition or disability; mental health service users; people over 50 years of age and young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs). The Gateway offers contracts for up to two years, and any organisation will be able to tender for contracts through a procurement process. There are three levels of contracts: • Level 1: up to £25,000 (no match funding required) • Level 2: £25,000 £75,000 (match funding required) • Level 3: £75,000 £150,000 (match funding required) PAVS is currently working with WCVA to organise a workshop on the tender process for organisations who may be interested in bidding and further details will be published shortly. In the meantime, please register your interest in attending with Caroline Graham at PAVS. www.pavs.org.uk ‐ 2 ‐ Partnership Working The third sector meets Ministers for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills Representatives of third sector organisations had three items on the agenda to discuss with Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (CELLS), and John Griffiths AM, Deputy Minister for Skills, at their autumn 2008 meeting – the future planning and funding of nonformal learning, the opportunities offered by Olympics 2012 for increasing physical activity in Wales, and the 200910 budget. The third sector presented a paper on nonformal learning outlining the contribution of third sector organisations to this field and expressing concern about the emphasis put on skills, rather than learning, in the new proposals for Adult and Community Learning (ACL). The Deputy Minister stressed that in the current economic climate budgetary constraints would place limits on Assembly Government spending. The new ACL strategy aimed to produce a more rational policy framework by identifying duplication and creating added value. He stressed that the voluntary sector was an important partner in achieving these aims and said that WAG would make a detailed response to the points raised in the paper. Third sector representatives then presented a paper on how the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics can be used to encourage an increase in physical activity, particularly in educational and young people’s organisations. The Minister agreed that these provided an excellent opportunity and explained that her department was already looking at this. She suggested that the third sector representatives liaise with her officials. Finally, the Minister was asked to introduce her priorities for 200910, the budget, and its implications for third sector organisations. She said that the budget would be tight and given the current economic context, the Chancellor’s PreBudget Statement would impact on the Assembly Government’s spending. The Minister’s main priority was the Foundation Phase and extra funding had been secured from the reserves to support it. All Ministers were examining their policy priorities but the DCELLS budget had increased by 5.5% while other Departments had seen a 3.4% increase. Money for disabled children was another Ministerial priority and additional funds had been allocated to disabled children programmes. The Minister also highlighted the innovative work that was taking place within DCELLS to identify children’s budgets, across all WAG departments. Third sector representatives asked that the Minister should also look at how budget allocations took account of the consequences of spending in one area on that of another area; what might be called ‘lateral budgeting’ e.g. tackling child poverty by providing parents with adult learning opportunities. You can find copies of the all papers and minutes of ministerial meetings at www.wcva.org.uk/policy Third sector meets Minister for Social Justice The second 2008 meeting between the third sector and the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, Dr Brian Gibbons AM, took place on 5 November 2008 at the old Assembly building in Cardiff Bay, with the Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Leighton Andrews AM, also in attendance.