Joint Forum Panel Minutes 8 Mar 2005

PRESENT

Chris Ball
Lynn Carvill
Patricia Cooke
Jim Deery
Roy Hanna
Marcas Mac Ruairi
Maurice Leeson (Chair)
Elaine McElduff
Carol O'Bryan
Frances McCandless (Secretariat)
Zoë Anderson (Secretariat)

1 Welcome

Maurice welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2 Apologies

Apologies were received from Anne Doherty, Niall Fitzduff, Jane Gribbin, Patricia Haren, Kenny McAdams, Wendy Osborne and Ricky Rowledge.

3 Minutes of last meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as accurate.

4 Matters arising

All matters arising are covered in the agenda.

5 Feedback from Forum meeting and Review

It was widely agreed that the Forum meeting was much more manageable as a long half-day event, without being too rushed. The workshop element is useful though and should not be abandoned for all meetings. While discussion was felt to be good, disappointment was voiced at the level of Government representation, many of those who did attend had left before the meeting was over. It was also felt that the response of Government members to the funding debate had been limited, as only those who had been briefed were invited to speak. Government reps were felt to be too defensive, and there was no transparent or honest debate on funding. It is better to know the worst scenario and be able to prepare for it than not know anything. Frustration was expressed because the hard work we do building relationships can be so easily eroded through situations like this, through civil servants moving or not being the best representative at the Forum.
Children in Northern Ireland have tabled several Parliamentary Questions, including one on the Taskforce. It was suggested that the Panel write and ask for a meeting with John Spellar, to ask for a decision on the Taskforce and highlight yet again how bad the situation is for the sector, and how relationships are deteriorating. It was agreed to proceed with this and also copy the letter to local politicians and unions. We will attempt to find someone with good contacts to sign the letter.

Concern was raised about moving forward on the Review without any movement on the Taskforce and it was agreed that any further work on implementation of recommendations should wait until the Government response to the Taskforce report is published- this will go to Joint Chairs. It was felt that different opinions would be voiced were participants to be questioned again now, and likewise if the Investing Together consultation was taking place now. It was however acknowledged that a lot of the Workplan and some of the Review areas need to continue without a Taskforce decision, such as 'Partners for Change 2'.

6 Sub-groups update

Strategy Sub-group - Partners for Change Next Stage Strategy

The Strategy Sub-group has been working on 'PfC2' and has been discussing whether it should include commitments from the sector as well as from Government. They would like the views of the Panel on this.

Concern was also felt at the concept of the Panel signing up to commitments on behalf of the sector. Members felt that the Panel can't really do this, as it leads to tricky relationship and representation issues, and the principles of the Panel would not allow us to do so.
It was generally felt that we cannot agree commitments on this when Government is not delivering on the commitments that Departments have already made to us. Furthermore, how can we look to equal commitments and relationships when many organisations don't even know their own futures?

Commitments from the sector are already built into the Compact and we should be constantly bearing this in mind as the foundation of PfC.

The general feeling was that it's too late in the process to ask us for a sectoral input to PfC2 at this stage.

We may in fact agree with many commitments, which make sense such as good governance, but a mechanism would need to be established for getting sectoral support and this would be extremely difficult, especially in the current funding climate. Other Government strategies don't contain mutual commitments.

It was agreed that the Strategy Sub-group should continue to feed back to the Panel and Forum on a regular basis, and to make sub-groups a standing agenda item for the Panel. It is expected that a draft of PfC2 will be presented at the next Strategy Sub-group meeting. This will then need to be signed off by the full Forum, and many parts of it will depend on the Taskforce outcomes. Sub-groups need to be tied in to the work plan, and it was suggested that they be renamed 'action groups'. There is a need to reinstate the Communications Sub-group and this will go to Joint Chairs.

7 Communications (including beyond NI)

What do we want to achieve by broadening our communications? Who, what, why? Is there any point in doing this before a General Election? It is difficult to take a regional issue to Whitehall since devolution - we used to have good relationships with GB MPs and need to work on rebuilding these in light of continued Direct Rule. We can also look at methods such as Parliamentary Questions, committees, the treasury and the Unions. We need better statistics and possibly some on volunteering also, as how can we promote the International Year of Volunteering if there are no organisations left to volunteer for? We mustn't confuse the financial crisis with volunteering issues as the general public won't understand the differences. Zoë to circulate list of useful resources when complete.

8 AOB

Jim Deery informed members of an event on Neighbourhood Renewal on 21 March, details of which have been e-mailed to members. NICVA events will take place in April - information to follow.

9 Dates of next meetings

It was highlighted that members should endeavour to inform the Secretariat of their attendance or apologies for all meetings, in particular if they have recorded apologies but subsequently decide to attend. Members should also ensure the attendance of their alternates if they are going to be absent from a meeting. It was suggested that pen pictures of all members should be gathered, and Zoë reminded members that she had asked for pen pictures before the summer - this will be followed up.

The next cycle of meetings will take place as follows:

Panel - 19 May, 10.00, NICVA
Forum - 20 May, all day, NICVA
Panel - 2 June, 10.00, NICVA