Accessibility Features
Accessibility | Skip to Start of Article | Skip to Search | Skip to Navigation Menu | Skip to Themes | Skip to Regions | Skip to Members Sign InAccessibility Features
Accessibility | Skip to Start of Article | Skip to Search | Skip to Navigation Menu | Skip to Themes | Skip to Regions | Skip to Members Sign In
Minutes of the Joint Government/Voluntary and Community Sector Forum Panel meeting held on 7 March 2003.
PRESENT: Niall Fitzduff, Edwin Graham (Chair), Stevie Johnston, Maurice Leeson, Seamus McAleavey, Frances McCandless (secretariat), Carol O’Bryan, Anne O’Reilly, Judy Seymour
(1) WELCOME
Edwin welcomed everyone to the meeting.
(2) APOLOGIES
Rosie Dargan, Charlie Mack, Adrian McCracken, Tony O’Reilly, Victor Robinson, Angela Welch
(3) MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 5 FEBRUARY 2003
These minutes were agreed.
(4) MATTERS ARISING
None.
(5) REVIEW OF FULL JOINT FORUM MEETING HELD ON 18 FEBRUARY 2003
It was felt that the afternoon discussion was much more lively than the morning discussion. The debate on EU funding was not fully pursued with the Special EU Programmes Body. It was felt that significant problems ought to be highlighted and perhaps the formality of full Joint Forum meetings doesn’t allow for that. Stevie raised the need to highlight the underspend to make sure that money is not lost. Discussion followed on the possibility of future EU funding and the problem with departments not spending money in time. Frances noted that the Treasury paper just published on a modern regional policy for the United Kingdom means that the UK will try to opt out of future Structural Funds altogether. Frances asked people to feed relevant information through her to EPAG (European Programmes Advisory Group) at NICVA and to representatives on Monitoring Committees. Niall reported that since the new simpler application form has been introduced, a 100% increase in applications has been received.
(6) AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE NEXT FULL JOINT FORUM MEETING TO BE HELD ON 29 MAY 2003
Edwin listed suggested items as:
Other suggested additions to the agenda were:
It was also suggested that the Gender Equality Strategy and Race Equality Strategy should be raised. Niall indicated that he would like to do a presentation on the Rural Strategy.
Stevie highlighted the need to focus on issues which concern the relationship between the sector and government, not just report backs from government on a list of issues. The key issue for the Joint Forum is the relationship and not the individual policy issues. It was noted that at the last full meeting the representatives from the voluntary and community sector did most of the talking while departmental representatives barely contributed. Edwin responded that in order to create a real debate, we need to draw departments out of their boxes. Perhaps the way we frame agenda items or having joint presentations might stimulate debate. It was felt that there may be a need to allow people to dialogue by moving into semi Chatham House rules and reporting actions rather than a full note of the meeting. It was agreed that the focus for each agenda item should be how will the sector and government work together on this issue and that an outcome related to the relationship ought to be identified. This would also help the Panel to evaluate the meetings more effectively. It was thought that it may take a few meetings for this approach to bed down. It was also suggested that a briefing note would be more appropriate than a presentation on the Review of Public Administration at this stage.
(7) COMMUNITY SUPPORT PLANS WORKING GROUP
At the full Joint Forum meeting the proposal was made for an advisory group to include three people from the voluntary and community sector. The representatives agreed were Edwin, Niall and Katie Hanlon from Ballynafeigh Community Association. If Katie is unavailable, Máire McCotter from the Women’s Support Network will be approached.
(8) TASKFORCE PROGRESS UPDATE
Edwin reported that he and Frances had been invited to present the Joint Forum Panel paper to the Taskforce at their residential on 25 March 2003. Anne and Carol asked that their thanks be recorded to Frances for producing the paper which will be useful beyond the Panel group. Frances highlighted the need to identify gaps in the paper to continue to develop it. Members agreed that they will be using the paper to consult with their own constituencies.
The first meeting of the Taskforce happened on 27 February 2003 at which they received the paper along with many other documents. Frances reported that NICVA is beginning to organise roundtable meetings on specific subjects which will be followed by brief discussion papers. All of this will be flagged on the NICVA website. The first two topics covered will be ‘Connecting with Community Groups’ and ‘Core Costs’.
(9) JOINT FORUM WORKPLAN
A workplan was agreed on for the period October 2001 to March 2003 with four key objectives:
Edwin highlighted that the next plan is on the agenda for the full Joint Forum meeting in May and might require a sub-group.It was felt it might be useful to use a facilitator to get this work underway.
(10) PANEL MEMBERSHIP
Edwin noted that those attending Panel meetings and those attending the full Joint Forum meetings were often not the same people and that this led to discussions at the full meeting not reflecting what the Panel had previously agreed. It was stressed that Panel members have a responsibility which is broader than that of their own organisations and that issues need to be discussed properly by the Panel before full meetings. Edwin felt that poor attendance at Panel meetings is a significant problem and he agreed to contact Panel members to remind them of the principles of membership.
(11) CONSULTATION MECHANISMS
Carol raised the issue of information coming from government which has now been sorted out thanks to it being on the agenda of the last full Forum meeting. She also reported that at a recent event she had received feedback on the struggle with consultation from representatives of government departments. Edwin noted that the OFMDFM Consultation Advisory Group had identified a lot of problems in common between groups and departments. Others noted the huge duplication between departments in approaching the sector. Niall reported on the RCN/CTA/WEA process for effective consultation which departments had found difficult to take on board with the result that the situation has not moved on. The Consultation Sub-Group had agreed to monitor the situation and report back to the Panel. It was felt that significant disagreement within the sector about a way forward has not been helpful to this process.Edwin noted that the Equality Coalition is now pulling out of the OFMDFM Consultation Advisory Group. The next meeting for the Consultation Sub-Group was agreed for 14 April 2003, the members of which are Edwin, Frances, Niall, Judy and Colm Bradley from Community Technical Aid.
(12) DEPARTMENTAL FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
Stevie raised the issue of a financial memorandum which WEA has received from the Department of Employment and Learning which is very restrictive. He noted that it seems to be indicative of how things are moving. Within the terms of the memorandum prior approval must be sought for any expenditure which might be “novel or contentious”. This has wide implications for how organisations can work and limits their independence.I t was felt that the conditions to which WEA had been asked to sign are unacceptable and could be challenged if they were strictly enforced. It was recognised that an atmosphere of mistrust underlies this kind of document and that the core issue is whether financial memoranda which are designed for non-departmental public bodies are going to be applied to the voluntary and community sector. It was agreed that the issue should be raised at a full Joint Forum meeting in the context of financial memoranda as part of the relationship between the sector and government. Edwin agreed to raise this with Dave Wall. Seamus suggested that this should also be raised with the Taskforce and NICVA agreed to support WEA in their campaign on the issue.
(13) RECORDING OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING INFORMATION
Stevie noted that the monitoring form for ESF projects asks for information which matches names and addresses to community background and various other personal details. It was felt that it was inappropriate for this information to be held together and that it would be dangerous in some instances for the information to be available.NICVA agreed to raise this formally with the European Commission and the BSP Monitoring Committee.
(14) ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Niall enquired what was happening about the problems surrounding insurance for voluntary and community organisations. Seamus confirmed that NICVA will survey organisations to establish the level of the problem. Niall agreed that RCN will feed in the information from their Community Halls Project.
(15) DATE OF NEXT MEETING
12 May 2003 at 2.00 pm in NICVA
Footer
NICVA | 61 Duncairn Gardens | Belfast | BT15 2GB
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action is registered as a company limited by guarantee in Northern Ireland (No 1792) and is registered as a charity for tax purposes with the Inland Revenue