Agenda item

To confirm the Boards Membership and Terms of Reference for 2008/09.

(The recently elected Community Link Forum representatives will be formally added to the Boards Membership).

The Board received a report requesting that it formally confirm its Membership and Terms of Reference for 2008/09.

Membership

It was suggested that the Supporting People Provider Forum should be included within the Boards membership. The Forum formed part of the decision making structure attached to the Supporting People Partnership and represented all of the support housing providers in the in Borough. It was suggested that, if the Board was agreeable, a representative should be appointed from the Forums Practitioners Group.

It was noted that the CLF had been established in order to facilitate the involvement of Community and Voluntary Sector organisations within the Partnership and concern was raised that any such group should be appointed via the CLF elections.

This point was acknowledge, however, it was contended that the Forum differed slightly to the other Community and Voluntary Sector organisations as it included private sector organisations. At present there was no specific organisation to represent the needs of vulnerable adults and the inclusion of the Forum would facilitate this.

There was agreement that there should be further discussion outside the meeting between the Chair, the CLF and the Supporting People representative.

There was agreement that St Mungo’s should be removed from the Boards membership. It was noted that when the Board had been established it was agreed that three RSL’s should be included within the Boards membership and there was agreement that the current membership list should be reviewed prior to the next meeting to ensure that the Board was best placed to deliver its objectives and the new LAA targets.

Terms of Reference

The Vice-Chair expressed concern that the Board’s current Terms of Reference did not reflect the purpose and objectives that had been envisaged when it was established. The Board had originally be intended to be a small group that would consider strategic issues, at short, regular meetings.

At present the Terms of Reference did not include enough detail regarding the Boards role and there was agreement that this needed to be strengthened.

In response to concerns that the Board had not yet produced any tangible outcomes the Assistant Director requested that Board members should advise him of any suggestions they had in relation to the way the meetings were run. There was agreement that the Assistant Director and Vice-Chair would meet outside the meeting to discuss issues of concern.

The Chair noted that he intended to discuss the issues raised with the Director for the Urban Environment and Assistant Director at his next 1:1 meeting.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Boards Membership and Terms of Reference be confirmed on an interim basis until the next meeting.

2. That the Boards Terms of Reference should be re-drafted in light of discussion above and brought back to the Board at its next meeting for confirmation.

3. That discussion should take place outside the meeting between the Chair, the CLF and Supporting People representative, regarding the inclusion of the Supporting People Provider Forum within the Boards membership.

4. That St Mungo’s should be removed from the Boards membership.