The Parent Carers’ Council
Minutes of Steering Group Meeting - Wednesday 22nd September 2010
Present:
Amanda Mortensen (Chairing), Nicola Gibson (Minutes), Debbie Collins, Jenny Brickell, Joanna Martindale, Juliette Teague, Sam
Bayley, Jill Weeks, Sarah Pickett, Gillian Kitchener, Marian Tipler, Chryssy Brown, Sharon Garcia, Ruby Kearns
Apologies
Doreen Wallace, Susmitha Gadiyar, Katherine Thresher, Sarah Pickett
Welcome and Apologies
 Invited guest, J. Brickell described her job as head of Integratred Child Development Disability Services. This oversees
Presens, SALT, SWs, family support etc. Jenny mentioned how the council will soon be split into provider and
commissioner with one director of both children and adult services (Terry Parkin). Hard to see what the impact of this
huge change will be. Till now there has never been one person responsible for the overview of services from birth to
adulthood.
 JB also touched upon the Commissioning Strategy currently taking place. There is a savings target of 15% translated as
cuts of up to £5-6k in services. Mentioned also the 20th October Government Spending Review and a desire to avoid cuts
in frontline savings. JB will meet with Jacqueline Coe (head of SEN in B&H) to look at how monies can be most effectively
allocated. Juliette Teague asked if there is a formal channel where parents can express views on cuts. Joanna
Martindale reiterated PaCC responsibility to lobby for no cuts in frontline services and to not accept inevitability of cuts.
Action: PaCC!
Minutes of Previous Meeting
 Approved.
 Some contracts still haven’t been signed.
 Discussion ensued re. the identified Aiming High underspend, in particular with the status of the revenue underspend.
Sharon will find out at AH meeting tomorrow. Possibility that all revenue has already been clawed back. Action: Sharon
Garcia
Education Event & Follow Up
 Generally feedback for this day has been positive. Issues re. communication were of high priority. Someone mentioned
that there really should have been mainstream headteachers present. Jo Lyons felt this too. Mainstream heads need to
be invited to follow up event. Jo Lyons to act as leverage in this and Nicky to follow up Action: Nicky Gibson
 Would be useful to have strategic SEN governors and SENcos there too. Question raised of how we can ensure wider
attendance at this event especially as Jo Lyon’s role might well be changing.
 Brief discussion re. the forthcoming SEN Green Paper. Nicky raised question of whether aspects of this become law.
Unless there is radical opposition, items in a Green Paper usually do become law. Carrie Britton has agreed to write a
frontpage for our collective response to this consultation. Along with this, she will also send our Ed. Event Ex. Summary.
In addition, Amaze are feeding into the Green Paper via Jo Lyons and 2 case studies.
 Mention was made of the PaCC Executive Summary. There has been no feedback from guests other than Kim Bolton.
Debbie Collins stressed that the document can be shared and in January we might think of emailing it to all heads and
SENcos. Comments have been made by KB in response to parental perception that teachers from special schools are
being removed from classes to do outreach to mainstream. DC has responded in a letter to KB. Action: Send link to
Green Paper consultation to all parent members – Debbie Collins
Links Network and Parents Forum
 PaCC need a rep on this board which is hosted by the Community & Voluntary Sector Forum. Debbie explained how Links
can make recommendations to the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) and within strict timescales. Stg. Grp
mtgs are every month between 12.30-2.30. Being a gateway organisation, PaCC really need a presence on this board and
to effectively support any representative who attends. The rep would feedback the concerns of parent carers. Issues
referred to HOSC hold considerable weight. Marian Tipler would be happy to share the role with someone. Action:
Debbie to ask Katherine Thresher if she’s interested.
 Parents Forum. Again, we discussed the importance of having our views represented on this key citywide forum. Also
need to offer a presentation to the PF on what the PaCC does. PaCC have invited Tasha Barefield to give a presentation
about the PF at our stg. Grp. Meeting in November. Action: Nicky to be link with PF.
 Children & Young Peoples Trust Board. We discussed how imperative it is to have a PaCC representative on this
committee (children with SEN representing a quarter of the school-age population of B&H).
Parent Partnership Charter

Everyone on the ‘Disabled Children’s Partnership Board (DCPSB) has had a copy of this now which is based on the ‘Every
Disabled Child Matters’ manifesto (EDCM). What remains now is for key organisations in the city to sign up to it. The
charter will hopefully initially be adopted by the CYPT. The PaCC recognise however that where there are funding
implications, this might not be possible. The Charter eventually needs to be rolled out to schools and the document itself
can be available on the Amaze website once it’s been signed up to. This will be a key stage in the implementation of the
document ie. Parents will have recourse if things are not functioning as they should be. Jenny Brickell very kindly has
offered to receive any direct feedback relating to services. We discussed how it might be more constructive to collect
examples of what is and isn’t working and present to Jenny rather than her receive individual submissions.
Aiming High Showcase Event and PaCC Nominations for Good Practice
 This event on 19th November at Hove Town Hall will be to showcase the work of Aiming High to decision makers. Terry
Parkin and Vanessa Brown have been invited amongst others. The main aim of the day is to stress to decision makers how
invaluable funding is to support parent-led groups, respite etc and that AH money makes economic sense as it effectively
prevents the authority from having to spend more money in the longer term.
 We also discussed the need for volunteers to help man the PaCC stall. Any queries re. stalls can be made to Ros at
Amaze.
 Amanda Mortensen has visited Jennifer Chapman to discuss last year’s Good Practice Awards. Whilst they have been
very enthusiastically received by professionals, JC gave some useful feedback about how the awards can be adapted to
better suit the audience. We also discussed the issue of voting for individuals and teams and have decided to have a cutoff time of 12pm on 19th November so that we can then announce winners at the Amaze AGM immediately after (sending
out awards the following week). We will also introduce a secret ballot and next year look at possibly having categories.
We will also need to make it clear that everyone nominated gets a letter.
 Juliette Teague asked about the Blatchington Mill Project. Action: Sharon Garcia will ask about this at next AH mtg.
Communications Sub Group Update
 The PaCC leaflet needs redesigning with a line about distinguishing ourselves from Amaze. We also need to make some
reference to professionals and the fact that we are group supporting families with children with special needs. Poss.
Problem being lack of understanding re. direct representation. We also need to show our link with Amaze on the leaflet.
To this end, the group have decided to hold one more meeting to tighten up this project on Monday 1 st November at 10am

at Amaze. Action: Communication group will meet to put together an outline for a new leaflet to present at the
next steering group meeting in November.
We also need to purchase a proper book for comments for our next meeting. Action: Debbie
Future of PaCC
 The critical issue of a possible 50% cut in PaCC funding for next year was raised and members were asked to think about
ways in which as a stg. Grp. we can save money. Marian suggested that we see the accounts before we make make any
decisions about savings. Joanna Martindale made the case for increasing the number of hours Debbie works. Whilst
Gillian Kitchener would be happy to work in a voluntary capacity, Chrissy Brown thought that it is right for parents to be
paid for their time. JM reminded group of splitting expenses separated from payments. Whilst Amanda reminded us of
other PaCCs running on a shoestring Gillian stressed the connection between status and pay. Debbie clarified that at
least for now we have the money to be able to pay people although it is likely that we will need to start fundraising for
future activities such as annual events like the recent Education Day.
 A trust has been identified that we can apply to for further funds. All services are being reviewed equally wherever
their funding comes from. Action: Members to think of ways we can raise money eg. Marathons (or preferably
brisk walks).
 The suggestion of having only one chair was raised but the general feeling seems to be that members of the stg. Grp.
prefer a shared role. If there is to be just one chair then Debbie would have to offer more support and therefore be
paid for working more hours.
Election of Co Chair
 We had only one candidate for this. Ruby Kearns has now been voted in. Amanda will return from maternity leave in
April and remain until December 2011. Ruby would then take over from Amanda in January. Marian suggested having a
chair and vice chair (4 + 2 hrs). DC highlighted contribution of Ruby on the DCPSB. The number of co-chairs will depend
very much on the funding that we have from March 2011
Commissioning Strategy Update
 A questionnaire was sent out over the summer re. respite, equipment, Direct Payments etc. Debbie has collated all
replies. She mentioned that there have been some very interesting stories which we need to keep confidential. From the
49 respite questionnaires sent out, 16 were returned. Roughly 30% return of all forms have been completed. This
information will be used at the right time in the commissioning strategy to help support the view that we do not want any
cut in frontline services.
Calendar
 Money for the next calendar project is already available from ‘Together for Disabled Children’. Two themes for the 2011
calendar have been suggested: siblings and leisure activities. Leisure activities seemed to be most popular. Action:
Chryssy, Jill, Nicky, Ruby, Sharon to form another sub committee with Ruby leading. We discussed importance of
having new children on this next calendar. Joanna Martindale mentioned that they’ve been very well received. The
calendar has to be ready by 1st January. Action: Ruby to start leading on this.
AOB
 The Kennedy Review – this recent published document essentially highlights the fact that Children’s funding is not being
given enough priority compared to health funding for adults. The report contains 31 recommendations. Carrie has
written a response to it on behalf of the PaCC and Amaze. Action: DC to send link out to group.

Carrie Britton organising an event in Brighton for the National Forum for Parent Carers on 2 nd February 2011 at the
Brighthelm Centre at 10am. Feels that it is very important for as many PaCC people as possible to attend.

17th November DC and NG going to another national parent participation event in London.

Sam Bayley mentioned a father who is interested in joining the PaCC. DC said that we are trying to make the Stg. Grp.
smaller and more selective. Group decided in any case to ask this person to come along and observe our next meeting in
November.

Connexions being cut by 60% from October. How are statutory responsibilities under the Childrens Act going to be met
with these cuts? The group weren’t even aware of statutory duties. We don’t know what service will replace Connexions.
Alternative solutions have to be found in the meantime.

Debbie reported that both PaCC and Amaze have severed their relationship with Treehouse. It is felt that the
organisation overstepped their mark. There will be a meeting in October to wrap up the relationship. The Local Authority
have also pulled out.
Date of Next Meeting:
Wednesday 10th November 2010 – 10am to 12.30pm in the Meeting Room at Amaze