Agenda item

There will be a presentation on the role and purpose of the Board and this will be followed by a question and answer session.

There will then be a workshop session where the Board will be asked to discuss a set of questions about the role and membership of the Board.

The Chair noted that this item had been included within the agenda in order to provide the Board with an opportunity to consider how it could refocus its role and purpose with a view to improving its effectiveness.

In order to inform discussion a presentation was given on the purpose and role of the Board and information obtained as part of the recent Residents Survey 2010, of relevance to the Board, were also presented.

Presentations

Role of the HSP

Ø      The Better Places Partnership (BPP) was one of six Thematic Boards that formed the Haringey Strategic Partnership (HSP) and sat beneath the HSP Standing Leadership Conference.

Ø      The role of the HSP was to provide Leadership and consensus on strategic issues across the Borough by bringing together agencies such as the Police, NHS Haringey, Fire Brigade and Voluntary and Community groups and others and providing a forum within which priorities outcomes for the Borough could be agreed and achieved.

Key Documents

Ø      These shared priorities were expressed in the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) and the Local Area Agreement (LAA).

 Purpose of the Better Places Partnership

Ø      The BPP had primary responsibility for the delivery of the following SCS priority:

An environmentally sustainable future

Ø      In April 2008 the BPP agreed that it should focus on the delivery of the Greenest Borough Strategy (GBS) and the related projects and programmes attached to it. The vision of the GBS is set out below:

To work together to tackle climate change and secure a clean, safe and environmentally sustainable future for everyone living, working, visiting or studying in Haringey

Ø      As set out above, delivery of the SCS priority around the environment and sustainability and performance against LAA targets, comprised two key parts of the BPP work. 

Membership, Roles and Responsibilities

Ø      The membership of each Theme Board was agreed by the Board itself; however there were also commonalities across the each Board, which included the provision of three places for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), which were elected through the Community Link Forum and one place for the Haringey Association of Voluntary and Community Organisations (HAVCO).

Ø      The relevant Cabinet Member also sat on each of the Theme Boards.

Ø      In addition to attending the quarterly meetings of the BPP it was noted that there was an expectation that members of the Board would communicate between meetings and take forward and implement any agreed actions within their respective organisations.

Annual Residents Survey 2010 – Summary of Information Relating to the BPP

Ø      An overview of information gathered as part of the Annual Residents Survey 2010 was provided and there was agreement that this should be circulated with the minutes.

Group Discussion and Questions

Following the presentations the Board broke into three groups to discuss the questions set out below:

1)     Does the Better Places Partnership achieve the objectives set out within its current Terms of Reference?

2)     How could the BPP become more effective?

3)     To what extend does the membership of the BPP need to change to reflect suggestions arising from Question 2?

The Chair asked each group to give a summary of their discussion around each questions.

Question 1

the achievement of Green Flag Awards was seen as a key achievement