Notes of the Stafford Strategic VCSE Forum Held on Thursday 5th March at 1.00 p.m. Present: Apologies: Lesley Whatmough (LW) Support Staffordshire Helen Fenton MPFT Anne Ross (AR) Support Staffordshire Liz Hill SCLOHF Pauline Blackmore (PB) Stafford U3A Mandy Moore (MM) Stafford Samaritans Joy Luck (JL) STING Charlotte Jones (CJ) Stafford Social Hub Grace Ridgway Starfish Sharon Whitchurch (SW) Starfish Megan Cann (MC) CASS Adam Wootton (AW) Christian Food Help Alan Alecock (AA) Stafford Samaritans Sally Parkin (SP) Yarnfield/ColdMeece Parish Council Helena Grealish (HG) Support Staffordshire Tony Innamorati (TI) Gnosall Vol Car Scheme/Moreton Community Centre Nigel Evans (NE) Roots Larder CIC Oliver Rothwell (OR) MEA Sarah Ruff (SR) Stafford Borough Council Danny Jakeman (DJ) Everyone Health Shirley Pritchard (SP) MPFT (Step on) Mathew Hodson (MH) MPFT (Step on) Jo Yendole (JY) Stone Community Hub Charlotte Bennett (CB) VAST Murray Gates (MG) Raoid Relief Team Andrew Brooks (AB) Bishops Offley Millenium Trust Wendy Fidgett (WF) Department of Work and Pensions Lisa Bone (LB) Re-Solv Hanan Abdelwahab (HA) Stafford Muslim Community Centre Peter Jones (PJ) Eccleshall Parish Council Sandra Payne (SP) Support Staffordshire Catherine Wetton (CW) Healwatch Staffordshire Lisa Mc Adams (LM) STING 1. Welcome, introduction and Apologies Anne Ross opened the Forum, welcomed everyone to Eccleshall Community Centre Introductions conducted 1 2. Notes of the last meeting and matters arising Notes agreed true record. Please note that Agenda’s will not be sent out by Locality Staff, they will be sent out by our Central Team. Notes of Forums alongside Agendas can be found on Support Staffordshire Website: https://www.supportstaffordshire.org.uk/whats-happening/vcse-locality-forums Please respond to Locality Administrators with Acceptance or Apologies (Not Central Team), this gives an idea of numbers for room layouts and Refreshments. To obtain more information about Support Staffordshire and information on Forums please register for our e bulletin through our website https://www.supportstaffordshire.org.uk/e- bulletin-registration Volunteers Fayre to be held at The Northfield Centre on Monday 1st June 2020. Anne asked all organisations to encourage nominations for the Volunteer Star Awards to be held on Tuesday 9th June 2020. Last date for nominations is on Friday 3rd April 2020. Further information to be found on Support Staffordshire Website: https://www.supportstaffordshire.org.uk/volunteer-star-awards-nominations-2 Please can all advise if attending/apologies for future forums when the invites go out 3. Presentations Mathew Hodson – MPFT - Step on Service Step on IPS Employment Service has been operational since 2013 and delivers individual placements alongside Mental Health support. To access services users have to be under secondary NHS Services through Access Team and GP referral. Presentation available HERE. For further information email: [email protected]. Oliver Rothwell-Marches Energy Agency Based in Shrewsbury can be accessed through Warmer Homes in Stafford (managed by EON) and run a range of advice services. Willing to visit organisations. There is also a scheme running in Rural Areas offering insulation grants and grants for replacement boilers. Presentation available HERE. For further information email: [email protected]. 2 Charlotte Bennett – Health and Care Systems – VCSE Strategy Stoke City Council and Staffordshire County Council undertook system reviews about how systems work as a whole in the Voluntary Sector. All Key Partners need to work together alongside Voluntary Sector and work out how to build relationships across the Sectors. The last six months has been led by CCG on behalf of NHS and are now to join with the City Council and County Council. To receive feedback from different parts of the County all locality Forums are being visited. Feedback to be on: What you would like to see in the VCSE Sector How would you like to be measured (how might we measure added value). There needs to be a commitment from Borough Councils also. Presentation available HERE. Ron Milne- Eccleshall Allotments Association Eccleshall had 65 allotments 4 years ago when the rent from the Council was £35 a year and £6 a year for water. 2 years ago approached Support Staffordshire and became a member, obtained a constitution, became 900th member of Support Staffordshire, applied to Lottery for funding and gained approval for £9000. Today all allotments are taken up. An additional plot has been created for people who are less able bodied, to which fencing is now complete. Members of the allotment hold Social gatherings occasionally throughout the year. Sarah Ruff – Stafford Borough Council Community Wellbeing Partnership The Community Wellbeing Partnership is a strategic group that meets bi monthly since the last forum the partnership has met two times. A special Peer Support Networking meeting was held in November dedicated to social prescribing, community connectors and peer support networks (Minutes of this special meeting are available on request). There will shortly be a change of Chair due to a secondment opportunity. The new Chair will be Giles Parsons from Staffordshire Police. The partnership have been looking at consultation opportunities including: Public Spaces Protection Orders, draft Climate Change Strategy 2020-2040 consulting on the new Local Plan 2020-2040 and the new Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy 2020-2024. (SR) also encouraged members of the forum to provide any comments and feedback on consultations. Live consultations are available at: https://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/surveys The Chairs are having a pre meeting looking ahead for the next year with any significant decisions that need to be made. 4. The partnership is also going to revisit aims and intentions of the partnership and better ways of working with chairs of other groups and starting a dialogue of the issues raised. 3 5. (SR) is working on a project around Social Isolation on how over 55’s access the various groups, Volunteer Transport Schemes (looking for more Volunteers). Walking transport options are also being looked at, any groups to contact SR if they would like further information. [email protected] 6. Updates from Forum Members Cat Wetton – Healthwatch Currently running a survey on people trying to access Social Care in past year. For further information contact: [email protected]. 7. Dates of next Forums Tuesday 16th June, The, Northfield Centre, Magnolia Avenue (Off Cooperative Street), Stafford, ST16 3BZ Thursday 17th September 2020 – Venue TBC 4 .