Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Roy Bayfield (Edge Hill University), Alison Bunn (Royal British Legion), Chris Nolan (Lancashire Care Nhs), Janice Monaghan (West Lancs. ARK), Guy Simpson (Lancashire West CAB), Phil Winnard (WLCCG).

To note the following Terms of Reference of the Working Group:-

To meet on an informal basis

To formulate and agree an West Lancashire Community Covenant Action Plan

To progress the West Lancashire Community Covenant Action Plan

To consider projects worthy of support for application to Community Covenant Grant Scheme

To review the outcomes and benefits arising from the Covenant.

The Chairman reported upon the Terms of Reference of the Working Group.

AGREED                   That the Terms of Reference of the Working Group be noted.

To receive a presentation from Kieran Curran – Lancashire County Council on the Armed Forces Covenant Fund's "Strengthening Local Government Delivery of the Covenant"

Kieran Curren (Policy, Information and Commissioning Manager (Live Well)

Lancashire County Council) attended the meeting to provide an update on a bid submitted to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund's "Strengthening Local Government Delivery of the Covenant".   He reported that the bid had been made by Lancashire County Council (the lead authority) with support from the College for Military Veterans and Emergency Services (CMVES) at UCLAN and the NHS, Help for Heroes and the VAPC.

Before reporting further on the bid he advised the working group of his appointment to the Community Covenant Grants Regional & Devolved Administrations Board (NW).  He indicated that it had been highlighted that there had not been as many grant applications received from the NW as there had been from other regions.  The Working Group were advised of the deadlines for grants programmes and that an item later on the agenda provided further details in respect of criteria etc.

He then went on to report that the bid referred to earlier had been successful albeit with a reduced financial allocation.  This would enable the employment of a Project Manager for a two year period based at UCLAN and that it would operate as a “hub and spoke” model with administration/business support provided by UCLAN and LCC as the accountable body. 

He indicated that the action plan would comprise five strands (Health & wellbeing, Housing and Homelessness, Skills & Employment, Wellness and Fellowship) and that each theme would be assigned a Champion.   Each local authority will be invited to a meeting on 12 September 2018 and will be afforded an opportunity to influence the action plan.

He advised that the job advertisement for the Project Manager would be circulated to all Lancashire authorities and concluded that the resource would add value to the work of the Community Covenants in Lancashire by way of information and advice, support for funding bids, training, research, connecting Councils etc.

The Chairman expressed thanks to Kieran for attending the meeting and sought questions on his presentation.

AGREED                   That the report be noted.

To receive a presentation from Beth Tildesley, Project Officer (Programme Support and Public Engagement) from Healthwatch Lancashire

The Working Group received a presentation from Beth Tildesley - Project Officer (Programme Support and Public Engagement) of Healthwatch Lancashire on their report entitled “Supporting Access to Services for Military Veterans” published in May 2018.

In explaining the role of the organisation she advised that all documents (including reports, surveys etc.) are available publicly and can be accessed on-line.

She went on to highlight salient points within the report and took questions upon it from members of the working group.

AGREED                   That the report be noted.

To consider the report of the Armed Forces Champion West Lancashire Borough Council

Consideration was given to the report of the Armed Forces Champion which highlighted the currently available Armed Forces Community Covenant Fund grant programmes and timescales for applications.

AGREED       That the report be noted.

To receive the report of the Armed Forces Champion West Lancashire Borough Council

The Armed Forces Champion presented the Action Plan and highlighted recent activities in relation to points H1 (Explore discount for leisure facilities for armed forces) and G7 (Explore the introduction of retail discounts for Defence Discount Card holders).

AGREED       That the report be noted.

There were no items under this heading.