Chief Executive Officer‟s Report March – April 2010
Compass Disability Services Core Activities
Richard attended a conference organised by VISTA regarding the current and
future state of the voluntary sector and the voluntary sectors role in
commissioning. There was a very useful presentation from a solicitor regarding the
procurement process and the work they have done with VISTA to produce some
procurement guidance for the voluntary sector.
Richard and Alison met with a representative of the Australian Health & Social
Care Service who was doing a fact finding tour regarding direct payments and
personalisation and had thought we provided a very good service and it was
worthwhile coming to meet with us (Richard is waiting for his return invite).
Richard attended the launch of the Somerset Advice Network, primarily to have
the opportunity to meet with the Chief Executive for Somerset County Council.
Richard, Natalie and Rachel attended the National User Led Organisation
Conference in London. This was a useful day especially for Natalie and Rachel as
there were lots of organisations who had been part of the national project and
were displaying the work they had produced. The day was partly celebratory as
the project was coming to an end and there were a range of speakers whose
presentations were varied in their relevance. Richard was also part of the day and
chaired a question time style event with a group of people from the South West
and North East, which was obviously the best part of the day.
Richard has continued to work with Somerset Community Infrastructure
Partnership Project (SCIPP) to develop the project and how it can assist smaller
voluntary organisations across Somerset.
Work Plans and Action Plans
All Work Plans and Action Plans for the period April 09 – March 10 have been
reviewed at the Senior Team meeting. Incomplete actions carried forward where
appropriate, and completed plans uploaded to the intranet.
Work plans have been written and uploaded to the intranet for all projects for the
period April 10 – March 11.
Action Plans relating to Equal Opportunities, Environment, Data Protection,
PQASSO, Equality Impact Assessments and Staff Satisfaction have been written
and uploaded to the intranet.
Meeting rooms
Meeting room bookings have been slow, largely due to it being budget time of
year. There continues to be steady flow of enquiries and bookings but not at the
rate we would have liked. During May, we will be sending out an email mail shot to
Page 1 of 10
all customers who have used the meeting rooms during 2009 to remind them of
our great facilities.
Michelle and Paula have amended the Calendar of Duties to make it easier to
identify what has been actioned. All actions will be brought up to date by the end
of the month.
Service Development
Richard has met with Jane Harris and Angela Farmer to look at the work for FEDS
for the forthcoming year and Jane has found some monies to employ a consultant
to review and develop a forward plan for FEDS from April 2011.
Richard met with representatives from Somerset County Council and North
Somerset Council regarding the ULO project. Natalie Stevens has taken over the
project as of the 1st April and work is underway.
The website programme is still underway; WDPSS site is nearing completion and
will be launched during May. Cosmic have commenced work on the FEDS website
and we are working with them to devise the best way of creating the “Report It”
(previously known as “Have Your Say”) section.
Richard met with Nikki Haswell from Disability Wessex who are based in
Bournemouth to look at ways in which we may be able to work in partnership in
the future. This is part of a group of discussions that Richard is planning to have
with various organisations.
Richard met with Gill Keneston, The Workers Educational Association, regarding
future opportunities to work in partnership to provide training opportunities for
disabled people at our offices. Richard has now passed this over to Rachel who
will be meeting with Gill to discuss opportunities further at the end of May.
PQASSO Preparation
Steven has been supported by Michelle to complete a full self assessment against
the 12 Quality Standards. A full action plan has been produced with a June
deadline for completion. Michelle will then liaise with Bette Baldwin to complete a
mock accreditation.
Forthcoming Activity Forthcoming Activity
We have been doing some exploratory work regarding potential premises to allow
for the future development of Compass Disability Services and have identified
premises at Creech St Michael. We have been undertaking some initial
exploratory work around funding and will be producing a project proposal over the
next month.
Rachel will be looking to complete our equality impact assessments for all our
projects over the next two months, she will also be starting to put together the
annual review ready for our review meeting in September.
Page 2 of 10
We are much more organised in our finance department this year than we have
ever been, therefore we aim to have the accounts and audit process under way
very shortly to enable them to be finalised by September to allow inclusion in the
annual review.
Wiltshire Direct Payment Support Service (WDPSS)
Alison attended a briefing in Oxford in February for a new tender for support
brokerage for personal budgets. We submitted our prequalification questionnaire,
but heard in April that we had not passed through this stage. Alison has had
feedback on the reasons, which can be used in future tenders.
The planned presentation to the new West hub was cancelled and it is still proving
difficult to get into social work staff team meetings.
Alison continues to attend the Self-directed Support reference group meetings,
which is working on the implementation of personal budgets within Wiltshire. The
self assessment form was reviewed and commented on at the last meeting.
In February Alison met with senior management in AWP (the mental health
services in Wiltshire) in an attempt to enlist their support in expanding direct
payments to this user group. They assured support in Alison or Louise accessing
the professional teams, though this has not yet happened. Alison also spoke to
some mental health service users in Salisbury and Wiltshire People First (learning
disability service users) about Direct Payments and this approach to promotion is
likely to be more successful.
Alison gave a presentation on direct payments and personal budgets to the Self
Unlimited Family Forum. This group are parents of adults with learning disability.
Alison coordinated a meeting between Direct Payment champions and finance
staff to discuss points of contention and develop ways forward to make Direct
Payments easier for professional staff and service users.
There have been two Direct Payment Advisor meetings, in addition to the advisors
coming to Taunton for the full team meeting. As well as general updates we have
used the Wiltshire Council Letter of Agreement as a basis for training and
reviewed and agreed the performance management criteria and supervision and
appraisal forms for advisors.
Louise and Alison met with the Human Resources staff involved in CRB checks
and the new Independent Safeguarding Authority vetting and barring scheme to
determine how this might affect service users and our workload. There are now
various decisions which need to be made by the Council before we can take any
action.
Supervision meetings took place with all advisors during March. Louise is now
taking on this role for all the other advisors.
Page 3 of 10
At our contract review in March the Council revealed that they will be extending
our contract beyond the end of March 2011. Alison and Richard are meeting with
Heather Ludlow and James Cawley to discuss how long an extension there might
be and what working procedures might change. We were also asked to find
savings of 3% on our contract, as Wiltshire have financial problems. We are
negotiating with them over how this might be done.
We do have good news on the Children and Families front. They have confirmed
they wish us to administer a sum of money under the Aiming High agenda, which
is for children who just miss the eligibility criteria for direct payments to give them
an enjoyable activity and their parents a short break. Alison has negotiated this
with them and is attending meetings to establish the implementation procedures.
She also represented us at the Wiltshire Aiming High conference, where she met
many parents who were complementary about our advisors and our service. The
Children‟s and Families strategy meetings have been reconvened and Alison has
been asked to attend and advise.
WCC have queried the final quarter invoice for 09/10. Michelle has reconciled all
of the invoices which WCC have now agreed to pay. Alison continues to work with
our new contracts manager to iron out a few minor invoicing problems.
Banking Service
The banking service has now been made free of charge. It is felt that this will
encourage more people to take up direct payments, thus increasing our income, it
will save advisor time in visiting for book keeping and it will increase our goodwill
with the Council.
Forum for Equality and Diversity in Somerset (FEDS) and Community
Cohesion Forum (CCF)
On 16 March 2010 Nat and Steve Barker attended an Action on Poverty
Conference in Mendip to present a workshop titled Poverty and Inequality. Both
found the event interesting and thought-provoking, and trust the workshop
unearthed some relevant actions for the Mendip Poverty Partnership to feed into
their Action Plan, which was the ultimate purpose of the event.
The FEDS Steering Group met on Friday 19 March. Once again a large
proportion of the meeting was taken up discussing the future of FEDS beyond
March 2010. Some money has been identified to fund support to establish FEDS
as the Steering Group agrees is appropriate from April 2011 onwards. Richard
informed the Steering Group that Compass Disability Services is not prepared to
manage FEDS in its current form beyond March 2011. The money for a
consultant will help FEDS to think through the appropriate governance
arrangements and to think about what work needs to be undertaken to move
FEDS into a stronger position. The Steering Group considered that perhaps the
final outcome would be an action plan for FEDS to work through. It was
Page 4 of 10
suggested that we use the time between April and September to decide what to do
and how to do it and then October to March to implement these plans.
The Community Cohesion Forum meeting took place in the afternoon following the
FEDS meeting. The first hour was a workshop session with Ekosgen Consultants
regarding the build of the new „Hinkley C‟ project and the potential impact that this
will have on communities in Somerset (community tensions etc.). Following the
workshop the CCF are now tasked with putting together a report highlighting all
potential impacts from a community cohesion perspective in order to forward this
to the developer, EDF. Steve Barker is presently compiling this report outlining the
main concerns and recommendations of the CCF.
During the second half of the meeting the CCF discussed the draft version of the
refreshed National Indicator 1(% of people who believe people from different
backgrounds who get on well together in the local area) Delivery Plan; much of the
information for the refreshed plan was gathered as a result of the event that took
place in January. The plan will be finalised by Steve and signed of by the
Somerset Strategic Partnership during April. Work on the new objectives will then
begin.
One key action from within the new Delivery Plan is to establish a Communications
Sub-group of the CCF. This is in order to directly tackle issues such as negative
media coverage and to establish ways of working with the media in order to
increase positive coverage in relation to community cohesion. The first meeting of
this group has been arranged May 4th.
Richard, Nat and Steve Barker met with Cosmic during March to begin the process
of getting the FEDS and CCF websites up and running. We are now waiting for
them to send their proposal through for our agreement.
A meeting was organised between Richard, Nat and NHS Somerset
representatives on 25 March to discuss the proposed restructure of the way in
which the SLA for the NHS Somerset Equality Forum is delivered. Our
commissioners reported that they are generally happy with the proposed new
format but both parties still need to iron out some issues, mainly in terms of
partnership working and overlap with other groups.
The fourth meeting of the NHS Somerset Equality Forum took place in Pilton
Village Hall on Friday 26 March. This was the last meeting to conclude the first
year of the contract. The topics for discussion were Appointments and Priorities
for the Future. We were disappointed that only five people attended the Forum
meeting, but we received our highest questionnaire response rate to date. The
completed report presenting our findings and recommendations was submitted to
NHS Somerset and fed back to participants also. A review meeting took place on
23 April.
In line with the SLA between FEDS and NHS Somerset Nat also attended:
NHS Somerset Equality & Diversity Steering Group meeting on 10 March, and
Page 5 of 10
NHS Somerset Public & Patient Involvement and Communications Steering
Group meeting on 17 March.
Nat, Steven Aughton and Helen attended Somerset County Council‟s Equality
Employment Conference on Tuesday 27 April with the display boards and
promotional material about FEDS and SAIN. This event is aimed at Somerset
County Council staff and aims to encompass all six strands of equality and
diversity, the theme this year was all about changing the culture.
SAIN Membership
Individual Associate
Members Members
Last report 805 114
This report 846 116
+/- +41 +2
There does not appear one single reason for the sudden increase in SAIN
Individual membership but a combination of an increase in postal memberships,
an increased profile and a few membership requests that were found whilst
inputting the Quality of life results.
Representation, Consultation & Research
Sedgemoor District Council Disability Forum (Sedgemoor District Council
funded)
The next meeting of the Sedgemoor Disability Forum will take place on the 18th
May at the Canalside Centre, Huntworth, Bridgwater with speakers from Avon and
Somerset Police and Somerset Highways. Angela Farmer from Sedgemoor District
Council will be consulting on Equality Objectives for the Council.
Taunton Deane Disability Discussion Group – 4 Meetings per year funded by
Taunton Deane Borough Council.
The last meeting of this group took place at the end of February with speakers
from Musgrove Park Hospital concerning the changes to blue badge parking and
The Park ranger from Vivary Park attended to update the group on the new
sensory garden that‟s being installed at the park. The group were able to hear how
the hospital arrived at the decision to move the blue badge parking from the front
of the hospital and they were able to give their views on the implications to
disabled people as result. Following the meeting the hospital responded to say
that the Trust has been looking at proposals to mitigate the problems faced by
disabled visitors and patients following relocation of the blue badge parking. They
are creating two additional drop off bays in front of the main buildings and also
providing a call point on the entrance barriers to the blue badge parking area
where people requiring assistance can contact hospital staff. They are also looking
at the possibility of providing wheelchairs locally but this does present a number of
operational difficulties which may mean that it is impracticable.
Page 6 of 10
This information was reported in the Networker. An article has also been
submitted to the MS Society in relation to this.
We have now received funding for this group for the next year under the Taunton
Deane Voluntary and Community Grants Fund. The next meeting will take place
on the 30th June. We hope to cover access to Taunton Town Centre at the next
meeting.
Somerset Integrated Community Equipment Service – Service User Focus
Groups.
We have recently met with Elspeth Bridges from Somerset County Council
concerning the work we have previously carried out for the Community Equipment
Service provided by Medequip. We have agreed that the best way forward is to
carry out consultation with service users on specific topics and report back to them
to inform future policy making. There is a possibility of one group taking place in the
next couple of months, but we await further information on this.
Somerset County Council (SCC) (Somerset County Councils Service Level
Agreement funded)
Disability Equality Duty Action Plan
25 people came together on 7th April to discuss SCC‟s Corporate Equality Action
Plan. People were asked to look at the actions and say what they think should be
a priority. In addition to this a session was dedicated to understanding what they
do well, what they need to do better and how to improve ways of contacting
people. 18 people were put on a waiting list for this event. A questionnaire will be
compiled to send to those on the waiting list to give them a chance to contribute
their views.
Self Directed Care and Support Pilot
We are currently in the process of carrying out a piece of work for SCC (Geoff
Snell) consisting of a questionnaire asking people information on the care and
support they have received through a pilot scheme aimed at providing more choice
and control for people receiving care. We will also be conducting telephone
interviews and focus groups for Social Workers and Care Providers before
reporting back the findings to SCC. Our student social worker Carley will be
working on this project.
Redesigning rehabilitation services in Somerset
We have been asked to carry out a Focus Group and questionnaire for Fred
Parkyn (Group Manager, Adult Social Care) with the aim of covering how to keep
people safely independent in their own homes and the sort of things / services
they need to do this more effectively.
SAIN Membership Evaluation
The Annual SAIN membership will be sent out to all SAIN members by the end of
April to obtain their views.
Page 7 of 10
SAIN Enquiries
1 Enquiry concerning access to property via scooter – Problems with local council
trying to get a ramp,
Recommended Age Concern Advocacy service with contact details provided.
1 Website enquiry concerning enforcement of blue badge parking in Mendip –
Mendip District Council have been contacted and SCC who advised that
responsibility differs across the county. A full response has been sent.
Representation
Richard has recently started attending a group with the Strategic Health Authority.
This is a regional group of disabled people working with the authority in meeting
their disability obligations.
Richard has attended his first meeting of the “You First” project management
group. “You First” is the working name for Somerset County Council‟s
personalisation programme.
Other Work
The First Step Pre-employment Training Course
Unfortunately one of the sessions had to be cancelled on the 23rd of March due to
trainer sickness. This session has now been rescheduled for the 20th of April. One
of the highlights from the past month was a session taken by Clive Essame a
disabled artist using various mediums including a film that he had written &
produced to enable learners to look at and address issues around identity,
relationships with others, a sense of place, discrimination and perception of
difference.
There has also been a significant move towards unpaid/paid employment by one
of the learners who had expressed a desire to work for the police force. Rachel set
up a meeting with Tim Powell-Gill from the police & the learner to discuss the
volunteer opportunities available, expectations etc. Both parties were keen to get
the ball rolling and all being well they will be able to start the volunteer placement
at the end of April. The role will include assisting police officers to support people
who have been victims of crime.
The Somerset Adult Social Care Learning & Development Hub
9 people attended the Hub meeting on the 17th of February. Jon Guy who is the
new „Care Focus Project Development Officer‟ gave a short talk on who „Care
Focus‟ are and where „Care Focus‟ fits in to the learning & development of Adult
Social Care staff. In the afternoon the group took a look at the Adult Social Care
Learning & Developments Team Mission statement and the „Common Core
Principles to Support Self Care‟ document. Feedback from this session will be fed
back to the Adult Social Care Learning & Development department at County Hall.
Page 8 of 10
The film project involving two members of the Hub has now been completed and
can be viewed online on the organisations website and Youtube.
On the 9th of April three members of the Hub were involved in a Social Care
Governance Writing Workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to produce
some written work that provides the perspective of people who use services as
part of the knowledge base for the Social Care Governance booklet. This booklet
will be used in practice across the UK to aid practitioners to reflect on their practice
and make positive changes.
Voice & Influence Project
This project has now successfully recruited 12 Disability Community Champion
Volunteers to effectively represent the disabled community. Steven Aughton the
Management Trainee will also attend the training sessions as part of his ongoing
role around representation. The course consists of 5 sessions and is due to start
on the 22nd of April 2010. Karen Janas a professional coach, trainer and speech
writer & Dennis Casling a disability consultant and trainer will deliver the course.
The course will look at speaking with confidence, presentation skills,
understanding disability and commonality of issues.
Carers UK
Michelle and Richard had a meeting with Charles Garstang from Carers UK with a
view to winding up the employment agreement we currently have with Anne
Hilman and transferring her to Carers UK in their own right. It looks as if Anne will
become Self employed as Carers UK still feel they do not have the capacity to
employ someone. Banking and Payroll Service facilities have been offered.
Funding
Somerset County Council Learning & Development Team who have contracted
with us to provide the Hub have given us 20k to put in a reserve fund for future
work to be undertaken by the Hub.
Richard and Rachel are looking for funding opportunities to enable the recruitment
of a Volunteer Coordinator, who will also provide administrative support for the
board. This will enhance the VIP project in the longer term.
Staffing and Training
We are currently recruiting for a Media Officer. Probable start date: early June.
We are currently recruiting volunteer photographers and volunteer models to help
us to develop an image library to use in internal publications and sell to other
organisation needing images of disabled people.
Helen has now joined us as ULO/FEDS Project Assistant working with Natalie
Stevens. Helen is currently completing her induction programme.
Page 9 of 10
The results of the Annual Staff Satisfaction Survey have been compiled. The
senior team are reviewing the results and putting together an action plan to
address need areas.
Training completed –
Alison - Change Management
Nikki - Social Media Seminar
Amy - Year End Workshop (HMRC)
Julian - Discipline & Grievance Procedures
Rachel - Full Cost Recovery
Louise - High Impact Communications
Nikki - High Impact Communications
Theresa - High Impact Communications
Ewa - High Impact Communications
Paula - Fire Regulations Fact Not Myth
Nikki - Fire Regulations Fact Not Myth
Carley - Equality & Diversity Awareness Training
Helen - Equality & Diversity Awareness Training
Sandy - Equality & Diversity Awareness Training
Cathy - Equality & Diversity Awareness Training
All staff attending the Full Team Meeting had a Health & Safety reminder session
and a Data Protection Quiz.
Promotion and Publicity
The Networker was produced and distributed in early April 2010.
Richard has given two radio interviews for the BBC in April. The first concerning
parking at Musgrove park hospital and the second concerning Access to the
Countryside.
2 nominations have been submitted to the Learning and Skills Council, South
West Skills Awards. First a nomination for Third Sector Employer of the Year and a
second for Steven Aughton in the “Learning Against the Odds” Category.
Page 10 of 10