MEETING OF THE JOINT GOVERNMENT/ VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR FORUM ON 20 OCTOBER 2005, GREENMOUNT

Present

Maurice Leeson Barnardos, Joint Chair

Sandra Adair Volunteer Development Agency

Lynn Carvill Organisation of the Unemployed NI

Niall Fitzduff Rural Community Network

Marcas Mac Ruairi POBAL

Frances McCandless Secretariat, NICVA

Carol O’Bryan Simon Community

Anne O’Reilly NICVA/ Age Concern

Denis Palmer Youthnet

Zoë Anderson Secretariat, NICVA

Dave Wall DSD, Joint Chair

Marie Abbott DSD

Carolyn Barr DFP

Geoff Beattie DSD

Tom Clarke NIO

Victor Douglas DCAL

Sharon Fitchie DARD

Margaret Langhammer DRD

Marian McElhone DHSS&PS

John McGuinness DEL

Louise Warde Hunter DE

1. Welcome and apologies

Dave welcomed everyone to the meeting, in particular those attending for the first time.

Apologies were received from:

Charles Bamford (SSI), Carolyn Barr (DFP), Alex Boyle (DOE), Angela Clarke (VCU), Billy Gamble (OFMDFM), Tom Kiernan (VCU), Agnes Killen (DCAL), Seamus Murray (VCU), Irene McAllister (DETI), Peter McAnaney (Belfast City Council), Chris Ball (Community Arts Forum), Jim Deery (Greater New lodge Community Forum), Patricia Haren (Women’s Support Network), Seamus McAleavey (NICVA), and Wendy Osborne (Volunteer Development Agency). John Turkington from VCU has now retired.

2. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2005 were agreed as an accurate record. All matters arising are covered in the agenda.

3. Presentation – Promoting Social Inclusion (PSI) Working Groups

Carol O’Bryan presented to the Forum the findings of research carried out on behalf of the (V&C sector) Panel, by herself, Anne O’Reilly and Ricky Rowledge, on the PSI Working Groups from the sector participant’s perspective. (A copy of the presentation is attached.)

This work was undertaken as the result of discussion at the Joint Forum in October 2004. While the Panel had reservations about how PSI was working they were concerned that, with the advent of the Anti-Poverty Strategy, any of the good work that had happened to date on PSI may be set aside. Furthermore, within the context of the Joint Forum, PSI working groups are important examples of joint working by Government and the Voluntary and Community sector. OFMDFM were asked to come back to the Forum regarding the recommendations put to them by the Equality Commission NI (detailed in the paper? which paper?). A preliminary reply has been received from OFMDFM and will be considered by the Panel. Further information will be requested from OFMDFM.

In respect of PSI groups concerns were raised about their authority and subsequent impact, particularly the ownership and management of any strategies developed (e.g. who is responsible for delivering any strategic outcomes required).. Members agreed that all such Working Groups should have clear Terms of Reference, specific outcomes and required resources agreed in advance.

Discussion followed on level of representation on working groups generally. Ideally the level of representation should be appropriate to the nature of the group, its decision making capacity and the intended outcomes. Any attendee, not at a senior level, should have access to senior level staff for briefing and feedback. Enthusiasm for the issue can sometimes be more important than grade. For the Joint Forum itself there may be occasions where additional specialist representation may be sought for specific meetings, on an ad hoc basis.

In summary, more work will be done on the PSI research to further investigate the ECNI recommendations and develop the OFMDFM response. Further consideration will be given to how Departments could assess their own role/representation on the groups or at least determine Departments’ views on the process. The PSI research paper should be submitted to OFMDFM in order to contribute to and influence work being done on the Anti-Poverty Strategy. It is important that good practice developed should not be lost.

Action: OFMDFM / Depts

4. Women’s Sector Funding

Dave Wall gave an update on the Review of the Women’s Sector which took place over the summer, and the current funding status. Minister Hanson has now considered the recommendations made by the review group on five key areas – infrastructure, community development, childcare, education and learning and advice. A further six months of funding, until end of March ’06, has been awarded to those organisations already receiving emergency funding,. This should allow these groups some time to prepare bids for new funding sources, for example the Modernisation Fund and Community Investment Fund. Women’s Sector Organisations need to build better relationships with their appropriate Departments/ Health Trusts etc. Those that took part in the review process were of the view that there was some good practice in engagement and working towards solutions. The sector was able to come together and some useful lessons were learnt on both sides.

Dave Wall noted that this will be a very difficult budget round and Departments are being squeezed further. There are new priorities, in particular health and education, children and young people. In response to a question raised on the “Shared Future” strategy, Dave agreed to check progress and report back.

Action: Dave Wall

5. Joint Forum Annual Report and Work plan

Zoë Anderson presented the Annual Report to the meeting and gave a brief overview of its contents. Members agreed that it was a very useful document, especially for anyone with little or no knowledge of the Joint Forum. The Work plan for 2006 (contained in the Report) was approved. The Report reflects the importance of communication and promotion. As well as being published online and being promoted via NICVA’s various channels, members can approach the Secretariat for information, articles etc for their own use. It was suggested that a Ministerial Press Release could promote the publication of the report. This will be followed up by the Secretariat.

Action: DSD

6. Positive Steps and Partners for Change Update

The Implementation Group for Positive Steps is scheduled to meet on 14 November. Its membership will be the same senior group of civil servants that met to advise former Minister John Spellar on Positive Steps in the spring. This group will meet four times over the next two years. The role of the sector in taking forward important areas of work identified in Positive Steps has been followed up by NICVA. Current thinking includes the use of a “Governance Hub”, policy development work and the ICT consortium. NICVA will report on progress of this work and DSD will report on.progress of the Implementation Group at future Forum meetings.

The Community Investment Fund will be launched in early 2006 and follow a similar consultation process to the Modernisation Fund.

A “Best Practice in Finance and Governance” guide has been published and is available on DSD’s website. We should be aware that one model will not suit all circumstances as some Departments already have good practice and good relationships with the sector.

DSD will be issuing the draft “Strategy for Delivering Information and Advice Services” for consultation soon. A Strategy for Support Services for the sector will also be taken forward in the New Year. It is hoped that some of the good practice developed during the review of the Women’s sector will inform this process.

Over 100 people attended an event organised by NICVA in June and expressed positive views on the long term aspects of the Positive Steps strategy; however some concerns about the short term future in respect of funding were expressed. The work of NICVA in relation to Positive Steps is taking place without any additional resources.

Geoff Beattie (DSD), who has taken up the post vacated by David Lennox, gave an update on the Modernisation Fund. This fund will consist of £3m of revenue funding over three years and will be launched in early November. A further £15m of capital funding over 3 years will be available in the next financial year (2006/07). A second tranche of the revenue funding stream should be launched in January 2007. The initial tranche of revenue funding will be accessible to smaller organisations with a turnaround time of at least two months. .The main themes of funding requests invited are governance and accountability, processes and management, ICT and partnerships. Concerns were raised about how Departments will endorse applications. It is important that Departments are aware that they are only required to endorse the eligibility of an organisation, not make a judgement on their project. The governance guide is just an example but should not be taken as a benchmark or be used to judge applications. In England the Treasury has set a target of increasing the sector’s involvement in public service delivery. There needs to be clarity on what this actually means and a broader approach from Departments will work best.

Marie Abbott gave an update on Partners for Change. Since the last Forum meeting, some further meetings have been held with Departments. It is likely that we will have to revisit Departments’ inputs to consider how the recommendations in Positive Steps can be incorporated into Partners for Change. Positive Steps had not been published when Departments had given their initial input. We also need to look again at the contributions from Departments in light of the experience we have gained from the meetings so far and to bring contributions up to date. This will strengthen departmental contributions rather than necessitate them being re-written.

Unfortunately, VCU has experienced some staffing problems which have slowed progress in this area of work. Consequently the timetable for Partners for Change has slipped. However, VCU expect to be in a much better position by the end of November. It is hoped a new draft of Partners for Change will be available by the end of December and will go firstly to the Strategy Sub-group and then the full Forum. It is important to keep promoting the Compact as part of this process and that Departments recognise the value of bilateral meetings with the sector. The sector will be involved in consultation on this.

Action: DSD / NICVA

7. Review of the Joint Forum Report

Marie Abbott summarised the background to, and content of, the report which was circulated to all members. The report has made 19 recommendations which the Forum now needs to consider. Members received, in their papers, a breakdown of the recommendations and proposed actions arising from them. Some recommendations have already been implemented since the report was commissioned, but others need further work. It is proposed that some small groups be established to take them forward, thus spreading the load between members and allowing greater participation without excessive commitment.

The meeting then broke into smaller discussion groups to consider some of the specific recommendations.

8. Working groups

Notes of the working groups’ discussions are attached.

It was agreed that some of the key areas we can make progress on are

• Induction,
• Terms of Reference
• Roles and trust-building.

It was also agreed that recommendations 1-5 are the most important to get right first. A small sub group will be set up consisting of two members each from Government and the Sector, plus the Secretariat. Forum members will be asked to volunteer by email. This subgroup will meet by the end of November and will report back to the Forum when it next meets in March 2006.

Action: All

9. AOB

It was agreed that a decision still needs to be made on the status of the Compact – whether it should be reaffirmed as it is, or slightly adjusted, and whether it should be part of Partners for Change 2. Dave Wall will take this back to the PfC discussions.

Action: Dave Wall

Members were informed of two events – NICVA’s Conference ‘Europe at the Crossroads’ being held on 15 November, and the VDA Inaugural Jimmy Kearney Memorial Lecture being held on 1 December. Members were invited to attend.

10. Date of next meeting

The date of the next meeting has provisionally been rescheduled to 7 March 2006 in order to facilitate a visit from a senior member of Government, dependent on diary commitments. This will be confirmed at a later date.