Agenda item

Fire & Rescue Service

Mike Franklin showed the Board an example of a flashing armband which had been funded by Public Protection, for distribution to local school children in years 5 to 6.  Some of the armbands had also been set aside for distribution from the local fire station to those who would be made safer by being more visible at night. The December update was attached to the agenda.

 

Wiltshire Fire Authority 

Councillor Devine had attended a meeting of the Fire Authority where they had been working to set the budget. The budget had been cut by 4/5 million, one consideration was the possibility of raising the precept to cover cuts. Talks were underway with the Fire Fighters Union on the resource transformation in order to reshape the fire service to best serve Wiltshire.

 

Police

A written update was attached to the agenda.

 

Youth Service Update

Mal Munday (Head of Service: Integrated Youth & Family Support) delivered a presentation to the Board which included:

 

·       Integrated Youth Service ‘Offer’

The Integrated Youth Service spans the open access offer (youth clubs and settings) in addition to ‘targeted/specialist’ youth work involving young people who have had issues with substance abuse, may be unemployed or not on a training course or who have been involved with the youth offending team. This includes working with those who have committed serious offences.

 

Open Access (Youth Club work) is needs led, where we are able to offer developmental opportunities for young people to help them meet some of their aspirations.

 

Wiltshire council is one of the few councils across the country which has retained an in-house open access youth offer. The Leader of the Council Councillor Jane Scott has made a commitment to provide open access youth services. However we do not have infinite resources and must allocate our budget accordingly to enable us to provide all of the services we offer.

 

·       Funding and resources for Southern Wiltshire

In the Southern Wiltshire community area, there is an allocation of £33,000 (direct youth work hours costs with other on-costs stripped out) which could be used for open access youth services, out of that £17,500 is spent on the services of a Youth Development Team Leader. The remainder pays for youth work hours up to 26 hours a week.

 

It is important that the community is involved when deciding on how best to distribute the 26 hours of youth work around the community area. If that had not happened in the past then it should start from now on. Mr Munday apologised if the perception was that the communication has recently not been as good as it could have been. A meeting with the Youth Development Team Leader will be  arranged after her return from annual leave in order to feedback on the key issues.

 

·       11 to 19 Strategy

The 11 to 19 Strategy was signed off by Cabinet in September 2011. The strategy involves working closely with third sector voluntary organisations in providing opportunities for young people to come together to form ‘Youth Advisory Groups’ (YAG’s) in each community area. The YAG would work as a statutory part of the Area Board to enable a true dialogue between young people representing their community area and the Area Board.

 

·       Issues for the area

The Youth Service Coordinator for the Southern Wiltshire area was Tony Nye, who was at present on a secondment in another part of the county, covering a temporary senior position during a period of maternity leave. Tony would shortly be returning to the Southern Wiltshire (in March /April 2013) following this secondment and would be bringing newly developed skills with him. It is not possible to prevent council staff from applying for progression and developmental opportunities which they have a right to do under their terms and conditions.

 

Individual issues could be discussed outside of the meeting by contacting Jaki Farrell, Youth Development Team Leader jaki.farrell@wiltshire.gov.uk .

 

Maxine Gibson circulated a written update which is attached to the back of these minutes.

 

Questions and comments included:

 

·       The Chairman asked for a projection on remaining unspent funds for the Southern Wiltshire area following periods of vacancy through the year. Answer: Mal agreed to calculate the figures to establish whether all of the budget for 2012/13 had been used or not, and would forward the information to the Chairman.

 

Action: Mal Munday

 

·       Can unspent funds be moved from one area’s budget to another? Answer: No we do not have the power to move money from one community area to another to meet needs. This would impact on other areas who would be unhappy about such an approach.

 

·       When will the Urbie Bus be back in use? Answer: The Urbie bus is currently broken, it will now be fixed and back in use as soon as possible. This will be referred to Jaki Farrell for resolution

 

·       How many young people are you accessing in our community area? Answer: Maxine Gibson explained that the update circulated at the meeting  contained a breakdown which included the location, time and attendance of all youth clubs in southern Wiltshire (a copy of the update is attached to the end of these minutes).

 

The Youth worker, Tara-Jane Hares would be working with Jaki Farrell on her return from annual leave to raise the attendance figures by advertising the clubs locally.

 

In Winterslow they have lots of volunteer workers at the youth club and are able to gather 30 – 50  young people to their club. The youth service go in to provide assistance, but the club is largely provided by volunteers from within the community. We would like all youth centres to operate like this.

 

In Old Sarum there are many young people with an interest in art, so planning for an art project is underway with the help of local artists.

 

·       Councillor McLennan praised the work of Tony Nye at Old Sarum following the Area Board’s request for youth provision there, adding that he was pleased that 10 – 15 young people regularly attended the youth club there.

 

The Chairman thanked Mal, Maxine and Tara for coming to present information and answer questions.

 

Information received since the meeting:

 

2012/13 Budget

The total Youth Work budget (with all on-costs) including management support is £50,201 – of which £35,813 (71%) is currently forecast to be spent by 31/03/13.

 

Comment

Whilst it is not possible to roll money over from one financial year to the next; there is no reason that additional Youth Work expenditure could not be considered in the short period to 31/03/13.  Whilst we did not set out to make savings in this budget; savings accrued by all Council departments automatically go towards other over-spending departments across the Council.  I did explain the reasons for the under spend in the South Wilts Youth Work budget at the Area Board which is linked to the difficulties we had in recruiting full time to Tony Nye’s secondment gap.  These are a unique set of circumstances which I would not expect to happen again.

 

 

2013/2014 Budget

The total budget for next year is £50,700; which is split as follows:-

 

Full time YDC (Tony Nye) Youth Development Coordinator            £35,547

Youth Worker Hours (26 hours per week)                                       £15,985

                                                                                                       £50,700

 

Comment

I can absolutely confirm that Tony Nye is due to return to work full time in the South Wilts Area as early as possible during March or early April 2013.  I also made the comment at the South Wilts Area Board on 30/01/13 that we are committed to discussing with key stakeholders locally our strategy for deployment of youth work hours/resources.  This discussion will need to be led locally by Tony Nye (Youth Development Coordinator) and Jaki Farrell (Team Leader) under the guidance of Maxine Gibson (Area Manager).

 

Whilst we have had some issues during 2012/13; I think we have all agreed to having a ‘fresh start’ for 2013/14.  This will include ensuring that an IYS representative is present at all South Wilts Area Board meetings and establishing the Youth Advisory Group.  I have asked Maxine Gibson to ensure this happens.

 

 

Good Neighbour Scheme

Nicola Wilson, local scheme coordinator for Southern Wiltshire, came to promote the Good Neighbour Scheme which was gradually being rolled out across the county.

 

The scheme aimed to help older residents of rural communities to live safely and independently in their own homes.  The local co-ordinator visits elderly people to discuss their requirements and helps them to gain access to appropriate services.

 

In the last two years the scheme had assisted over 2,700 clients in rural areas of Wiltshire.  Downton parish was already part of the scheme which was now being extended within the Southern Wiltshire Community Area.  Laverstock and Ford was not being covered due to its proximity to Salisbury.  Councillor McLennan noted that Laverstock and Ford Parish Council were not aware of this and would like to be included.  Nicola said there may be a resource problem, but agreed to feed the comments back to Community First who was responsible for delivering the service throughout the county.

 

Action: Nicola Wilson

 

As the area was covered by a single, part-time  co-ordinator stretched from Coombe Bissett to Landford and Winterslow, help was needed from local people to identify those in need and to learn about locally available services and support groups.  Nicola would like to hear from anyone who might act as an initial contact in these areas.

 

Nicola would be contacting all parish councils to promote the scheme. A flyer was circulated at the meeting, a copy of this is attached to the end of these minutes.

 

Wiltshire Involvement Network (WIN)

A written update was attached to the agenda.

 

NHS

December and January written updates were attached to the agenda and available at the meeting.

 

Southern Wiltshire Issues System

New Issues were coming in steadily, most of these were Highways based. For updates on individual Issues you can check the progress online by following the link: http://portal.wiltshire.gov.uk/area_board/areaboard_issues_search.php?issue_location_in=Southern%20Wiltshire

 or contact Tom Bray, Community Area Manager for more information.

 

Community Area Transport Group (CATG)

New non maintenance schemes could now be submitted for consideration by the CATG for funding in 2013/14, via the Issues System online.