VOLUNTARY SECTOR FORUM
15 June 2010
(7:10pm – 9:00pm)
Present:
Chair:
Vice Chair
Councillor J. Gray
Sarah Humphries (ELOP)
Councillors:
S. Mahmud
L Wedderburn (arrived 8.30 pm)
Officers in
Attendance:
Connie Mante
Voluntary Sector:
Enrique Saenz – VAWF
Sarah Humphries – ELOP
Chris Arian – WFR
Mohamed Hagi-Munye – WFSBAG
Bernard Aarons – WFYFC
Jessica Veit - Forest YMCA
Ellen Amoah-Khatem – RAC
Dr Jasmine Taylor – Jasmine Scholars
Ben Storrar – The Scout Association
Morag Mcguire – E17 AA Trail
Adele Brind - Shepherd Videos
Karen Hart – London 3rd Sector Alliance
Brian Kass – VAWF
Neil
Collins
–
VAWF/WF
Carers
ASSOCIATION
Steve Williams – Refuse East London
1
APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBER ARRANGEMENTS
Apologies for absence were received from Jan Nicholson and Lateness from
Councillor Wedderburn.
2
DECLARATION OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest.
3
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 24TH MARCH 2010
The minutes of the meeting held on the 24th March 2010 were approved.
4
OVERVIEW OF THE COALITION GOVERNMENTS APPROACH TO THE
3RD SECTOR
Karan Hart who was the North London CVS Partnership Manager and Chair
of the Third Sector Alliance gave an informative presentation on the overview
of the coalition government’s approach to the third sector.
Karen explained to the forum that there ere plans to devolve power and how
the present government were going to update on regional structure, a lot of
projects were being held up and that there were cuts to public spending and
that the immediate would be 6 billion, it was also announced that the total
cuts of 30 billion by March 2011.
Unemployment was on the increase and there were problems in health and
social care and you could see the differences between the poor and wealth of
the country even working families are experiencing child poverty.
Other issue which were raised at the meeting which included the following:
- citizenship service
- older people to use more computers without the added cost
- BMER event in Haringey which would deal with quality, health and
equality
The Chair suggested that it may be beneficial to feed into a consultation and
develop a framework together as a forum and perhaps arrange a meeting
and send this to MP Ian Duncan-Smith.
(a detailed presentation hand-out is available on request, please contact
the Committee Officer)
5
UPDATE – TOWARDS THRIVING THIRD SECTOR REVIEW
Connie Mante Voluntary Sector Development Manager gave the forum an
update on the Third Sector Review, the aim of the review was to agree a
definition for a thriving third sector in Waltham Forest, develop an Action Plan
to achieve this vision and to establish new priorities for the next Voluntary
and Community Sector commissioning programme.
The key areas which were being examined were:
 Opportunities to influence decision-making
 Access to resources including funding opportunities & space to
operate
 Building social capital
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
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Volunteering
Strength of local partnership arrangements
Capacity building the sector
Clarify the Council’s policy on grant-aiding and commissioning
(including core-funding) and when they should be treated as per the
procurement code.
In progressing the review, major issues of concern have emerged in
relation to the timeframe of the review, the VCS steering groups advising
the review process have advised that we have not built in sufficient time
for consulting the sector. This was perceived as non compliance to the
borough’s Compact provisions.
The options now being currently considered include:
1) Re focus review on commissioning priorities to enable contracts to
take place by April 2011
2) Extend Timetable by 6 months or 9 months
Connie stated that there was an urgency to refocus the review on the
commissioning programme to ensure that contracts were in place by 1st April
2011. The options outlined above were being considered and the voluntary
sector would be informed of the outcome of the considerations as soon as
possible.
Also the issues raised would be discussed with Chief Executive, and by
extending the contracts by one year this would ensure that it would be in sync
with the next round. Connie said that they were not happy with the extension
of the current contracts and that they were looking into separating the review
and commissioning.
Sarah Humphries said that it did not make sense to separate the review and
commissioning, the timetable needed to be looked at again to fit this in.
Enrique asked what provisions were available to extend the contracts,
Connie said that they would seek a waiver from Cabinet with no restrictions
and that by October they would be certain to what the budget is for this.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Wednesday 20 October 2010