Minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2005
Present:
|
Allan Arnott |
Perkins Engines |
|
Roger Tallowin |
O & H Hampton Ltd |
|
Gillian Beasley |
Peterborough City Council |
|
Councillor Franklin |
Peterborough City Council |
|
Marco Cereste |
Chair Health Partnership Board |
|
Julian Stanley |
Chairman of Culture and Tourism Partnership |
|
Ian Glew |
Peterborough Association of Local Councils |
|
Chris Banks |
Peterborough Hospitals Trust |
|
Ken McKay |
Chairman of Environment and Transport Partnership |
|
Bishop Ian |
|
|
Rebecca Stephens |
Peterborough Evening Telegraph |
|
John Bridge |
Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce |
|
Advisors |
|
|
Richard Astle |
GPP Director |
|
Shelagh Grant |
Peterborough City Council |
|
Heather Darwin |
Peterborough City Council |
|
John Place |
Go-East |
|
|
|
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received John Durrance, Nigel Sunman and Liz Wade.
The Chairman welcomed Ian Glew, David Malia, Partnership and Parish Support Officer, and John Place Go-East to their first meeting of the GPP Board.
2. Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2004 were agreed as a correct record.
3. Directors’
Report
Community
Cohesion Conference
The conference was scheduled to take place on 28 January 2005 and good representation was expected from both the community and partners. The main speakers would be Gillian Beasley, Chief Executive of PCC, and Nigel Sunman, Chief Superintendent Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Allan Arnott.
A report would be submitted to Peterborough City Council regarding Community Cohesion as a result of these activities and it was important to ensure partners’ views were incorporated.
The Chairman confirmed that the Economic Development Partnership’s private sector representatives were happy to endorse the vision proposed and circulated to all Board Members after the last meeting.
Action
Community Cohesion vision to be circulated to Parish Councils for adoption. The outcomes to be submitted to the GPP Director (Heather Darwin).
4. Local Area Agreement
Shelagh Grant, Director of Community Services, Peterborough City Council and John Place, Go-East provided an update regarding the development of the Local Area Agreement (LAA) Pilot in Peterborough. A working group had been established to develop this initiative further on behalf of the GPP Board, comprising Ian Anderson, Mohammed Mehmet, Geoff Dobson, Shelagh Grant, Nigel Sunman, Richard Astle and Marco Cereste.
The outcomes expected from the LAA pilot were currently being aligned with those expected from the submission of the Public Service Agreement round 2, the Community Strategy and Council’s Corporate Strategy. It was proposed that the final LAA agreement would assist the delivery of the Community Strategy.
Originally the proposal was due to be submitted to GO-East by early-mid January outlining the outcomes to be delivered, targets, the funding streams included, possible performance indicators and any proposed freedoms and flexibilities to be used. This had now been extended to enable further discussion with Go-East. Once finalised this would be submitted to the Council’s Directors’ Group and Leader of the Council for approval. It was acknowledged that much work still needed to be completed in relation to this process.
The draft vision statement for the LAA was circulated for consideration. It was acknowledged that this should be clear for a range of audiences, including all partners and the public. In particular, partners would need to be content with the provisions they were agreeing and the consequences of the agreement. There was a need to be specific about what the LAA funding would actually achieve as partners and the City Council would only contribute if it was clear what would be delivered through their funding allocation.
It was envisaged that the pilot would enable Peterborough to establish what funding streams were entering the City via the Council and partners, highlighting any areas of duplication or gaps in provision.
The vision statement to be circulated to all GPP Board members by e-mail for consideration following the meeting with Go-east on 31 January 2005. The flowchart to updated to reflected that this would address “Community Strategy” objectives. (Shelagh Grant)
The Steering Group to consider the development of the LAA submission on behalf of the GPP Board (Marco Cereste/Nigel Sunman/Richard Astle).
A timetable for future action to secure the agreement of partners to be developed by the Steering Group and circulated to all Board Members (Shelagh Grant).
Update reports to be submitted to all key partnerships following the completion of the submission from the steering group and negotiations with Go-East (Richard Astle/Heather Darwin).
5. Partnership Update
The Chairman of the Culture and Tourism Partnership provided an update regarding the work of the partnership towards the delivery of the Community Strategy. The Partnership was receiving a wide range of support from partners and the first Annual General Meeting would be held during Spring 2005 to discuss the range of issues affecting culture and tourism.
Breakthrough goals had been identified and the partnership would be concentrating on the delivery of two or three initiatives to make a difference in Peterborough. These included:
· A conference desk facility to build tourism and conferencing within the City, which would be essential to attract business into the City;
· Low cost summer holiday activities for children and young people and;
· Sports taster days to build capacity within the City;
An action plan was currently being developed to outline the Community Strategy objectives to be delivered by the partnership, resourcing and timescales for delivery. At present, the following areas had been highlighted as areas where further assistance was required to assist the partnership:
· resourcing for the conference desk facility;
· a dedicated resource to take forward day to day activities;
· enhancing the profile of the Partnership and closer working with other partnerships to deliver initiatives, such as health and education;
A future Parish Liaison meeting, arranged by the City Council, to discuss how the Partnership and Parish Council could work together to promote tourism (David Malia/Julian Stanley/Ian Glew).
The Partnership to submit proposals for increased community involvement in the Peterborough Festival to the Council’s Director of Community Services (Julian Stanley).
Additional consideration to be given to the delivery of the health priority of the Community Strategy through the summer activities breakthrough goal (Julian Stanley/Chris Town/Marco Cereste)
6. Greater
Peterborough Partnership – Resources and Structure
The GPP Director had submitted an updated paper relating to the future role of the GPP in overseeing the delivery of the Community Strategy and the resources and structures required in the light of that role. This included proposals for the establishment of GPP unit, funded via contributions from the City Council and all key partnerships, submitted for discussion as follows:
· GPP Director – 2 days a week
· GPP Manager – full time
· GPP Director’s PA – 1.5 days a week
· GPP Co-ordinator – 2.5 days a week (within Democratic Services)
The proposal was for a budget of around £120,although the exact budget required would depend on where the secretariat was located.
The proposed funding formula was as follows:
Peterborough City Council (central funding) £60K (reflecting existing budgets)
Community Safety Partnership £15K
Health Partnership £15K
Economic Development £10K
Children, Young People and Education £10K
Culture and Tourism £5K
Environment and Transport £5K
Local Public Service Agreement To be determined
It was confirmed that additional funding would not be required from the City Council.
It was proposed that the GPP Board should remain an unincorporated body, with the legal responsibility remaining with the City Council, with six key partnerships reporting directly to the GPP Board. The Economic Development and Health Partnerships had considered their structures and submitted proposed revisions, designed to ensure the delivery of the Community Strategy. The Economic Development Partnership was also required to act as the area’s Sub-Regional Economic Partnership in accordance with the guidance issued by EEDA. A separate Children’s Strategic Partnership would be developed and the detailed proposals were still being finalised and would be submitted to a future meeting. This would include consideration of which key partnership would be responsible for the delivery of skills.
During the discussion the Board members present made the following observations:
· The GPP Manager should be used to deliver additional resources for the Partnership and delivery of the Community Strategy;
· A dedicated resource was vital to the future delivery of the Community Strategy and flexibility should be available to expand these resources if required at a later date;
Action
To support the establishment of a separate GPP unit and request all key partnerships to consider the proposed funding formula, preparing a response for consideration at the next GPP Board meeting in March 2005. This response to include details about how much each partnership would be willing to contribute towards the operation of the Greater Peterborough Partnership (Heather Darwin/Richard Astle).
Any comments about the role of the GPP Director to be submitted directly to the Chairman, Allan Arnott (All).
To endorse the proposed structures for the Economic Development and Health Partnerships (Neil Darwin/Ian Anderson)
10. Performance
Management Framework and Dates of Meetings
A proposed schedule of dates and a performance management reporting framework were submitted for consideration.
Action
The following dates were agreed for the GPP Board for the remainder of 2005:
29 March 2005 (GPP Board)
April date to be confirmed (Community Engagement Event)
24 May 2005 (GPP Board)
15 June 2005 (Engagement Event)
26 July 2005 (GPP Board)
27 September 2005 (GPP Board)
19 October 2005 (Engagement Event 5.30pm)
29 November 2005 (GPP Board)
12 December 2005 (GPP Away Day – whole afternoon)
All Board meetings to be held from 5.00pm to 7.30pm. Community Engagement events to be attended by a selection of GPP Board Members and would commence at 5pm unless stated otherwise.
Please note that these dates
replace those previously agreed in November 2004.
The GPP Forum to be held in early June 2005 as no conference facilities were available on the original date of 6 April 2005. Discussions to be held about the conference venue, with a view to showcasing the new Hampton Secondary School prior to its opening in September 2005 (David Malia/Richard Astle/Roger Tallowin).
The Performance Management framework for the GPP Board was noted.
11.
Any Other Business
All Board Members would be invited to this event at the end of April and individual responses should be sent to the organisers (All).
A copy of the independent audit report regarding the Council’s secondary school review was circulated to Board Members for information. Gillian Beasley, Chief Executive of the City Council, provided an overview of the report. The new Director of Children’s Services would be delivering phase 2 of the Secondary School Review and details would be submitted to a future meeting of the Board for consideration (Mohammed Mehmet/Heather Darwin).
The Chairman would write to J Wetherspoons to welcome their decision to ban smoking within their public houses by May 2006, and to encourage them to make the College Arms one of the first to introduce a ban (Allan Arnott).
In the light of the recent announcement suggesting that the government would not be relocating departments to the East of England the following action was agreed;
· To lobby the ODPM, via the Shadow Board for the URC (Gillian Beasley/Dr John Bridge);
· The City Council to write to Lord Rooker in relation to this issue, with a letter from GPP to be prepared endorsing the stance taken (Gillian Beasley/Richard Astle).
· The Chamber of Commerce to write a further letter encouraging relocation to the area (John Bridge);
· The East of England Development Agency to be requested to raise this issue directly with the Deputy Prime Minister (Gillian Beasley)