Notes of a meeting of the Merton Compact Working Group held on
18th April 2006 at 2pm at Vestry Hall.
Present: Councillor Andy Coles (Chair), Helen Bell (Metropolitan Police),
Shirley Edgehill (Epsom & St Helier Trust), Elizabeth Kawonza
(PCT) Sue Tanton & Sue Neville (LBM), Russell Humphreys, Sarah
Wilson, Chris Frost, Andy Norrell, Lola Barrett, & Carole Beighton
(VCS)
Apologies: Margaret Brierly, Robert Bowler, Ray Hautot, Jatinder Bhuhi &
Andrew Judge
Agenda
Item
1&2
3
4
Compact
Way of
working
1. Welcome and Introductions
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, in particular
Shirley Edgehill as a new member representing the Epsom
and St Helier Trust. The group introduced themselves
Minutes of the last meeting held on the 1st March 2006
These were approved. It was requested, however, that
future minutes refer to the “Compact Working Group” as
opposed to the “Compact Group” in order to distinguish it
from other Compact Groups.
.
Matters Arising
Procurement:
Chris reported that MVSC will be offering a procurement
workshop programme to the local voluntary sector.
Sue T updated the group on the development of the LBM
procurement strategy. An LBM workshop will be held on
24th May to inform a selling guide for LBM. This has been
arranged to coincide with MVSC’s workshops and reports
from all events will feed into further development of the
strategy. The procurement strategy will then be presented
to cabinet in June.
Concerns were expressed that only key regional/national
organisations who currently contract with LBM will form
part of the LBM workshop and consultation. The group
recommended that smaller local groups were invited to the
LBM workshop.
Action: Sue T
VCS
involved at
all stages
in strategy
development
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Concerns were also expressed that different sectors i.e.;
housing were not always aware of these developments.
Sue T explained the intention of developing an LBM
officers’ group, which will support communication on this
through the council departments covering all sectors.
Merton Partnership:
Chris informed the group that the Merton Partnership have
agreed to the engagement proposals which will be
reflected by work on the Local Area Agreement.
Communications Review:
Volunteer not yet recruited.
Business Rates;
Chris reported on the meeting held with Sue T and Rob
where it was agreed to investigate premises eligible for full
business rates and that a letter would be sent to all groups
informing them of business rates concessions.
Sue N fed back that business rates had investigated the
highlighted premises and only one was paying full
business rates. Chris was concerned that this search
would not have highlighted those premises where LBM is
paying full business rates to itself. Sue N to go back to the
business rates section.
Action: Sue N
Compact Working Group Representation
Carole explained that she had spoken to a number of
voluntary groups who felt that the Compact Working Group
was a closed group.
MVSC have passed information onto groups but it was felt
that this situation would improve on use of the web portal.
Sue N informed the group that LBM’s website has been
improved and will now include copies of Compact minutes.
Faith Group Event
MVSC will no longer be holding the faith group event in
June
ITEMS FOR DECISION
5
Compact Week
It was agreed that Compact Week 2006 would include the
signing of new partners, a report back to interested parties,
a celebration / information event and the launch on
procurement. Sue N & Chris will get together to compile
an up-to-date achievements log.
Action: Sue N & Chris
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6
Concerns were expressed that the Council Chamber had
not been provisionally booked for the week.
Action: Sue N
It was agreed that this would form an item for the next
meetings agenda to brainstorm themes for Compact
Week. A sub-group would then be formed to take forward
the practical arrangements.
Action: Sue N
New Partners
Chris is liasing with the Fire Brigade and hopefully they will
attend the next Compact Working Group Meeting.
Shirley Edgehill was welcomed as a new partner
representing the Epsom & St Helier Trust. They are
interested in formally signing as partners but first need to
clarify their position across 3 boroughs. They are
interested in the compact work on volunteering and are
represented on the volunteering sub-group. Shirley is also
interested in future work on the Black and Minority Ethnic
Groups Code of Practice.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
7
Funding and Procurement Sub-Group
The following issues arose from the Funding and
Procurement Sub-Group minutes;
Information Sharing: There was a need / opportunity for
larger organisations i.e. LBM to share their information on
new technologies, research and knowledge as well as
supporting joint purchase. Sue T will ensure that this is
looked at by LBM and it was suggested that the web-portal
would be a good vehicle to share information for the future.
Action: Sue T
Monitoring: Monitoring Guidelines were agreed at the
Funding & Procurement Group as guidelines to support
good practice across council departments. However
concerns were expressed that the Checklist from the Best
Value Review was not being used as part of the grant
monitoring structure. Sue N feedback to the group that it
was felt that the Best Value Review Checklist was focused
on organisational risk assessment rather than the
monitoring of outputs/outcomes. The Best Value Review
has been used to inform monitoring and initial assessment
of organisations prior to grant decisions. A discussion
followed and it was agreed that Sue N would go through
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the best value checklist to report back to the F&P group to
confirm how this was being used where appropriate.
Action: Sue N
8
Volunteering Sub-Group
Andy N feedback to the group. He particularly highlighted
the good response to the groundwork / research funded by
Change-Up and outlined the short and long term actions
detailed in the minutes. Andy informed the group that the
event during volunteers’ week was now not likely. A report
has been sent to Rob outlining a feasibility study and event
in autumn.
Sue T also updated the group on volunteering
developments within LBM. A report will be going to the
Corporate Management Team on 2nd May. A potentially
wider “volunteering conference” has been proposed. The
group expressed concerns that this would dilute the main
theme of employee volunteering which needs a specific
brief. Sue T will take these concerns back to Abdool Kara.
Action: Sue T
Andy N thanked all the partners for their immeasurable
support for this work.
9
MJ Awards
The group were updated on LBM reaching the finals of the
Municipal Journal Awards under the theme “Working with
the Voluntary Sector” for Achievement of the Merton
Compact in partnership with VCOs, the Met Police and
PCT.
LBM has also been commended under this theme for its
Safer Merton Youth Championship. LBM are also finalists
under the theme “Reducing Health Inequalities” for its
approach in tackling teenage pregnancies.
10
AOB
Communication, Marketing and Involving New Groups
Comments and brief discussions had occurred through this
meeting highlighting the need to improve communication
and marketing of the Compact across sectors, to new
groups and from and to partners. This discussion came to
a head under AOB where themed events were proposed
to change the structure of the Compact meetings thereby
encouraging new involvement. Further discussion from
this resulted in the proposal that a review of the direction
of the Merton Compact was needed.
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It was agreed that this would be an item for the next
meeting’s agenda. It was also agreed that all partners
must come to this meeting with specific issues from the
strategic plans of their organisation/sector that need to be
reflected in the direction of the Compact i.e.; if older
people are a key focus for LBM then the Compact needs
to reflect this.
Action: All Group
The aim of this brainstorm at the next meeting is to inform
the development of a strategic plan for the next 3-years for
the Merton Compact.
No further agenda items will be added to give this the time
it needs.
PCT Re-structure Paper
Elizabeth informed the group that the initial paper outlining
the re-structure of the PCT has been published. The
group felt it was important to keep a watch on the
development of practice based commissioning.
Payroll
The council is no longer offering payroll services to new
groups. The Best Value Review in 2002 recommended
this service was phased out. Sue T confirmed that this
was the plan but all groups needed to be spoken to first
and supported in the transition.
Taylor Road Transport
Chris F reported that the full costs of transport for groups
at Taylor Road were no longer being met by LBM via
Merton Community Transport. A number of groups have
complained and have reported a poor response. Sue T
recommended that Chris contact John Haffenden.
11
Date of Next Meeting
Agenda items:
Compact Week
Review of Merton Compact & Development of Strategic
Plan
Tuesday 20th June at 2pm at the Tower, Colliers Wood
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