National Forum Minutes 9 th and 10 th March 2011 Holiday Inn, Telford 1
Day 1 f Welcome and Introduction Michael and Amanda welcomed everyone. New member: Jonathan Hurley Apologies Paddy Burke Minutes of last meeting We watched the DVD of the last meeting The minutes were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising. 2
Regional Roundup -3 points from each region South East People in community not getting enough support Sure start closing Getting jobs going to centre scatry security on door North West They held a Regional conference. Scott Watkin was one of the speakers. The Region has funding for 2 more years Self advocacy groups took part in checking health assessments 3
Regional Roundup -3 points from each region South West Given funding for work on health, housing and employment. Sent stay strong guide to groups in south west Planning for regional meeting and how to stay strong Yorkshire & Humber They have talked about funding and how to run the Forum They have been involved in protesting against cut. Over 100 people went to a meeting in Hudersfield. The criteria to get a social care service is restricted to people with high support needs. 4
Regional Roundup -3 points from each region North East. Discussed GP commission The have talked about cuts. Some groups are working with unions and other groups They have talked about Health Watch. They will contact LINks and use Siraaj s work about Health Watch. The forum suggested that national speakers should give us feedback about what they done 5
Regional Roundup -3 points from each region London There are plans for a Changing Places toilet in Uxbridge. In Hillingdon there have been cuts to advocacy services. They have been talking about Mate Crime West Midlands The Regional Programme Board is ending so we are planning for future. Bild will help us do this There will be regional Valuing People celebration at the NEC. It aims to empower people to keep Valuing people Now going. We are facing cuts. Ethnic Advocacy, the advocacy group that Siraaj was a member of, has had to close. 6
Regional Roundup -3 points from each region East Midlands They have been talking about the future of their Forum and who is going to run it. They have also been talking about cuts Eastern Health they have been looking at people's experiences of the ambulance service Transport they have been doing work about keeping safe on transport and at bus stops. Money they have been talking about lots of issues including benefits 7.
National Programme Board Report from Michael and Amanda The National Forum have been told by Anne Williams and Scott Watkins that the National Forum will get more funding for the next 3 years. But this will be half of what the Forum gets now. In April the Tender process for running the Forum will start. In the meantime Centrevents have been asked to carry on organising the Forum. The Co-chairs have been asked to tell the Department of Health how the Forum plans to run in the future. This will be based on what is talked about at this meeting. 8
The Future of the Forum It is really important that the National Forum produces results. The Government wants to hear the views of people with learning disabilities. Lots of people had questions. The following information was given: Any future funding depends on the results of the work the Forum does The Forum will get 150,000 funding. There will be a review at the end of the year to see if the there will be funding for the following year. There will be no extra funding, from the Department of Health, for projects. However, it may be possible to ask different Government departments for this type of funding. 9
The Forum s Future New way s of working Building on the work that the Forum has already done we thought about how we could continue to work but with less money. In Regions we discussed the good things about having more funding. We also talked about the problems of having less funding. 10
The Forum s Future Good things about the new funding We will have to do what we say, in the time we say in order to change lives Help us to focus on outcomes Small groups work well We can look at being a social enterprise Less likely to waste money Write a business plan We can get involved in fundraising We can be creative with the money Work more in the regions. This will make them stronger Could consider video conferencing Half funding is better than none Shows the Government is taking us seriously More focus on priorities 11
The Forum s Future Bad points about having less funding We are worried people with learning disabilities may not get the lives they want We may not hear what people think if we have to have less meetings Concentrating on the Government priorities may mean that we may not have time to talk about some issues like transport We will not be able to meet so often to share ideas Be isolated It will be hard to react quickly 12
The Forum s Future The Forum talked about these 4 things: 1. The whole of the forum needs to change how it works. We need to think how we can work in a slimmed down way 2. The Regions: what can we do to stay strong and support self advocates to get their voices heard? 3. What work should the Forum be doing? We need to make sure our workgroups really make a difference 4. What new ideas do you have to make a difference? 13
The Forum s Future New way s of working The North West already have made plans. They have set up 5 groups. They have got local funding. Other ideas from the regions include: Having 3 representatives in each region. Each would be an expert on housing, health or employment. They could feed into the 3 National Forum sub-groups. Having regional groups on health, housing and employment. They would send ideas to the National Forum We must make sure local groups keep going and communicate well together. This could involve helping to them to write business plans. 14
The Forum s Future New way s of working Ideas Regions to use new technology to stay in touch such as Skype. It is important to share information. Representatives could visit isolated groups. Will need to communicate with people with high support needs. The Forum could work with 1 representative and 1 supporter from each region. The Forum s meetings could be shorter. We need to make sure there is space for members issues. Need to make the sub-groups stronger. Supporters need to be helped to make sure things actually happen. 15
Pam Nixon Policy Lead Learning Disabilities Department of Health Pam told the Forum that the Government believes in Valuing People Now with its focus is on health, housing and employment. It sees people with learning disabilities and family carers as central to this. Policy will be delivered locally not centrally. The National Programme Board will continue. It will only meet twice a year. Funding for the National Forum and Families Forum will continue. There will also be funding for the Health Observatory and the Confidential Inquiry. Pam s presentation is on the National Forum website. 16
Pam Nixon Then members asked Pam questions. She told us: It is up to Local Authorities whether Learning Disability Partnership Boards run or not. There is still a small team working on Valuing People Now. It is important that people continue to speak up locally and through the National Forum. 17
Reports from other Meetings Transforming Adult Social Care (TASC) Janet Brandish Janet showed a DVD about her work on TASC She has given her views on putting things into easy read. There is a co-production group. This has been going for 2 years. Having Janet on the group has been very useful for the Group. Janet has helped the group to understand the importance of really good quality support. Janet has worked on Liberating the NHS paper. She has helped make sure some papers have gone out in easy read. 18
Reports from other Meetings Association for Real Change (ARC) Gavin Harding Mate Crime A university study has shown that Adult Safeguarding Teams and the police are struggling to deal with this. We need to make sure that Adult Safeguarding Boards know and understand what Mate Crime Information is available on the ARC website Incidents need to be reported as disability hate crime 19
Reports from other Meetings Health Dot Goldsworthy Dot has been working on the Confidential Inquiry. There have been 83 deaths. They have looked into 34 deaths. The biggest cause of death was respiratory causes. The report identified the key issues from the cases they looked at. 20
Reports from other Meetings Learning Disability Coalition Barbara Draper Barbara is going to Downing Street to hand in a petition on 22 nd March. She should meet the Lord Chancellor. She has told the Coalition about what is happening at a local level. Gavin also been to the meting. Richard Jones from Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said that cuts been very bad in the north as European funding has also been reduced. It is good the Forum is involved in the Coalition because it gives an important voice. 21
Reports from other Meetings Employment: - Amanda Platts Amanda has been working with Job Centre Plus to see how we can work with them. Amanda gave a presentation to them. This has highlighted many issues. They now want to work with the Regional and National Forum. A report will be written. Amanda s work will now continue until June. Amanda is looking for someone to help her with this work in the future. There were lots of volunteers. It was agreed that we should work with Job Centre Plus. 22
Day 2 Amanda said that they had looked the feedback from the work that was done yesterday. From this the Forum will work in the following way: 1 representative from each region will attend from each meeting Forum meetings will be held over 24 hours There will be 4 meetings per year The forum in June will be about health including mental health. Gavin took up his new position as Co-chair for the remainder of the meeting. He introduced the feedback fro the 4 working groups 23
Feedback from 4 sub-groups Advocacy Outcomes they have achieved: The Group has worked with Inclusion North on their advocacy and Inclusion project They have written the Staying Strong Guide WebEnable have offered to make an online version of the pack Future Work Before meetings the group will send out questions to be discussed at the Forum Stronger Together: this idea is for a training pack for self advocates and groups for leadership. We think the Forum should do this 24
Feedback from 4 Sub-groups Community Lives Group Outcomes Personal budget work: collected people s stories and produced a report Housing: produced a quiz about housing that was sent to all regions and put on the Valuing People website. Also made a DVD and produced other information. This was done to help people be able to choose where they live. Next plans Raising awareness about Mate / Hate Crime. When people move to live on their own home they get training on living skills. They get little support about keeping safe. Talked about writing a questionnaire on Mate/hate crime. They would like to get this funded by working with other groups. The group asked Scott if there is a national plan and national lead? He said there is Hate Crime Action Plan under the Home Office. Scott will find out who the national lead is. 25
Feedback from 4 Sub-groups Transport Outcomes Next The group has helped ensure low load accessible transport is available Made links with transport ministers Nigel Dochen,Equality and Accessibility Officer and Denise Appleton,Project Lead for travel training. The group has done work on Travel training Transport really important. The Sub-group thinks the other groups should now include it in their work. Craig would like to be contact for forum on Transport. The Forum needs an answer from the Minister to the letter they wrote. This needs to be followed up Accessibility is important issue Air travel is an issue needs to be looked at 26
Feedback from 4 sub-groups Health Outcomes Questionnaires sent out to the regions about health checks Worked with Hannah Rutter and gave feedback on Transforming the NHS A group went to London to take part on consultation on 6 Lives Report Siraaj wrote to the health minister about GP consortia Groups that members sit on are: Dot on 6 Lives Implementation Group and health Observatory; Siraaj on Advisory Group for Health Watch Also involved at local level in many things 27
Feedback from 4 sub-groups Health Plans for the future Writing to minister about our plans Make sure Learning Disability Partnership Boards have links to Health & Wellbeing Boards Write a guide on how to be involved in Health Watch Invite spokesman about new Mental health paper 28
Goodbyes Scott said goodbye to Michael and Diana and thanked them for all their hard work. The Co-chairs gave them both a present. Everyone was upset to see them go, 29
Pam Nixon and Scott Watkin They set the Forum 2 tasks 1. Give us one achievement that Valuing People Now has achieved The regions reported that advocacy was strong in their areas. Many had excellent links with other organisations. There are good links with Learning Disability Partnership Board Lots of work has been done about health looking at health action plans and health checks. 2. How are you going to speak up locally Regions said they will carry on helping people to speak up. They will continue to work with Partnership Boards and other groups. They will make links with new organisations like Health Watch. In the South East they want to set up an Advocacy Consortium30
Cuts watch Report -Gavin Harding : Gavin outlined 10 benefits that may be going to be cut for disabled people. His full presentation is on the National Forum website. 31
Washing Line Questions Will the National Forum write to Lambeth Council about the ending of the funding for Lambeth People First? John Herzov told the Forum that there was a local campain about this. There is a video on You Tube about it. How many National Forum members are on Learning Disability Partnership Boards and are paid? 17 sit on Boards and 11 are paid When we have presentations to the Forum from Government Departments, can we make sure we get feedback from them within 3 months? This will go into the new plan of work. Does anyone know if there is easy read information on hand washing? Change has information on hand washing. 32
Washing Line Questions The Government said it would ring fence spending on health. What can be done if this is not happening. Pam suggested writing to Minister, but you would need to provide evidence. Job Centre Plus work Volunteers were asked for this. Craig, Alison, Paul Regan and Paul Uttley all expressed interest. 33
Goodbye to representatives ending their term today Mark Shackleton Ian Davies Teresa Ring Tammy Peapell Michael Ratcliffe 34