Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             after notifying the Chair at the start of the meeting.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED: To note that the following interests were declared:

To consider whether any of the items listed on the agenda should be considered with the press and public excluded on the grounds that it is thought likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that there would be disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence or of exempt information as defined in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.

RESOLVED:  That all items be considered with the press and public present.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 June 2005, having been circulated, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

A representative from a community group had contacted the Chair in advance of the meeting to suggest an amendment to the minutes which was agreed by the meeting.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 June 2005, having been circulated, be taken as read and signed as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

Minute 159 Bullet Point 5 be replaced with:

To receive questions (if any) from local residents or organisations under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received at this meeting under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 13 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received at this meeting under the provisions of the Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 13 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 14 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 14 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

The Chair welcomed Members and representatives of community organisations to the meeting. She explained that the theme of the meeting, ‘The Community Speaks’, had been chosen in line with the work programme developed by community representatives and presented to the Forum’s meeting on 12 April 2005.

She also informed representatives of a community message board on Harrow Council’s Internet site, which enabled communication between Councillors, officers and members of the public on important issues.

Verbal update on the Community Engagement Strategy.

The Forum received a presentation on the community engagement strategy, Harrow Speaks, which had been the focus of a consultation exercise completed at the last meeting of the Forum on 29 June 2005.

The meeting was informed that the community engagement strategy aimed to involve and inform the community, to enable them to shape and improve Harrow Council’s services and decision-making processes. The strategy would be used to produce a ‘toolkit’ of best practice methodologies that could be applied to the Council’s community engagement activities. The officer cited current Council initiatives for improving public consultation, such as the Open Budget Process, Local Area Agreements and the scrutiny review of community engagement, Hear/Say.

In the discussion that followed, it was emphasised that the strategy aimed to provide officers and Councillors with the tools needed to engage effectively with the community. It was added that effective consultation then required an understanding of the groups to be engaged and the selection of the appropriate modes of consultation. The community engagement policy officer was working to identify hard to reach community groups and develop an understanding of their requirements.

A community representative underlined the need for partnership in engagement, and suggested that the community also needed to take responsibility for engagement and to lead activities on occasion. Several representatives suggested that poor attendance at some Council meetings was a result of the Council becoming more remote from the community organisations.

The meeting identified young people as a difficult group to effectively engage. A Member of the Forum informed the meeting that the Hear/Say scrutiny review was meeting a local youth group to hear their views on engagement, and invited interested parties to attend. It was emphasised that people could only attend to observe and listen, to inform themselves about how to engage with this hard to reach section of society.

RESOLVED:  That the above be noted.

Moji Sorunke (IJAPA)

Moji will be present to talk about the pressures faced by new and emerging groups in Harrow.

Mike Coker (HAVS, Harrow Healthy Living Centre, Carers Support Harrow, Community Link-Up)

Mike has worked closely with a wide range of organisations in Harrow, and will be speaking to the meeting about his experiences.

Colleagues from the community and voluntary sector had been invited to speak to the Forum about their experience of dealing with the Council. The presentations then led into a discussion on the issues raised by the representatives.

Presentation from founder of IJAPA

The founder of IJAPA, a new and emerging organisation in Harrow, gave the first presentation. She explained that the organisation’s bad experiences had outweighed the good when engaging with the Council. Examples of their experiences were cited, including:

·                     When approaching Council departments, she had been referred from department to department, which had caused her to approach other boroughs to promote her work;

·                     Encouraged by the election of the Council’s first African Councillor, IJAPA had worked with other African women in Harrow on Black History Month. The event had been marred by double-booking and cancelled reservations at the Civic Centre;

·                     The appointment of the Council’s first African Caribbean Mayor had encouraged the organisation to continue engaging with the Council;

·                     Work on Black History Month in the subsequent years had proved more fruitful, with a wide variety of events organised and a lead role on the publicity sub-group. It was emphasised that volunteers from community organisations worked hard, and that the Council should therefore listen to them and remove any barriers to community participation;  

·                     Most recently, letters had not been received from officers requesting further information on a grant application made to the Council, although reports to the Grants Advisory Panel had stated that the organisation had not submitted the information requested. On a more encouraging note, IJAPA highlighted the positive experience of working with Council officers from the Communications Unit. 

In conclusion, the founder of IJAPA suggested that Harrow Council examine its practices and realise that:

·                     endless consultation without respecting constituent communities would serve no purpose;

·                     the Council’s attitude should be how to make things happen rather than why things cannot be done.

Presentation from Representative of Groups within the Voluntary Sector

A representative of the voluntary sector who had worked with many organisations within Harrow addressed the Forum. He recounted his experiences of working with the Council whilst participating with various organisations in Harrow, and agreed with many of the observations made by the founder of IJAPA.

He gave an historical account of partnership working between the Council and organisations including Community Link Up, Harrow Carers’ Support and Harrow Healthy Living Centre. The meeting was informed that the Healthy Living Centre had been established in partnership with the Council, although there had been many challenges in the partnership work. He described problems encountered, as outlined below:

·                     Changes to Personnel – frequent changes to Council staff created problems in continuity; due to these changes, work founded on the principles of partnership had disintegrated.

·                     Providing services to the Council – it was felt that the Council expected too much from organisations providing Service Level Agreements, without providing sufficient financial resources.

·                     Unable to participate in meetings – the representative told of his frustration at not being able to contribute to discussion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 171.