The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked them to introduce themselves.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Honor Ryan, Craig Miller, James Howlin, Zena Pike, Ranjana Bhoghal, Michael Hogg and Pete Ireland.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on September 28^th.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on September 28^th were unanimously agreed as an accurate record.

For members to discuss any current issues.

Members received updates on issues and initiatives from a number of community groups.

Emma Mills informed members that the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service was offering free fire safety training in a series of courses being run from January to March. Details of dates would be circulated to members after the meeting. Emma Mills explained that around 500 partners had received training on the courses they had run throughout 2016. She said that the people most in need of receiving training were older people, those with restricted mobility and those with drug and/or alcohol dependencies, and that people in need of training could be referred to the Fire Service by other partners.

Debra Beasley informed members that the Family Friends group had launched a project on tackling domestic abuse, particularly amongst families of Pakistani origin. The most recent workshop had been attended by 55 women. However it was acknowledged that community leaders needed to take a more active role in supporting families through the project. It was suggested that future workshops could take place at weekends or in the evenings in order to allow more men to attend. It was also noted that the project and members should refer to the issues it wished to tackle as domestic abuse, rather than domestic violence as it had previously been referred to.

Catherine Mullins gave members an update from the RBWM Health and Wellbeing Board. She explained about the national requirements of the Better Care Fund, which was set up to bring together the budgets and services provided by Social Services and the NHS as much as possible. She also explained that eligibility criteria for people in need of social care had changed under the Care Act, in order to bring a greater level of consistency nationally.

Catherine Mullins explained to members that it was a new duty for councils to have a Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which prioritises a Local Authority’s collective actions relating to healthcare and creates a strategy on how to achieve them. She explained that the Health and Wellbeing Board had created 12 key priorities under the three themes of supporting a healthy population; prevention and early intervention; and enabling residents to maximise their capabilities and life chances. These had been created after a public consultation.

Cllr Coppinger added that the biggest aim for Royal Borough residents was to prevent people going into hospital or care homes before they needed to, and to help provide support to allow people to stay in their own homes for as long as possible. He added that budgets were now being shared across the NHS and Social Care.

To receive an update from Ramesh Kucar, Chief Executive of SCVS and WAM Get Involved.

Members received a presentation from Ramesh Kucar, Chief Executive of SCVS and WAM Get Involved, on the results of a survey into the volunteer and charity sector within the Royal Borough. The main points raised by the presentation were:

·         More than half of the organisations that responded to the survey reported an income of less than £20,000

·         The top service types provided were advice/information and health and wellbeing

·         Older people are the main beneficiaries of services provided by volunteers and charities; it was felt that there should be more services to help younger people

·         Just over 70 per cent of organisations had seen an increase in demand for their services

·         Volunteers were therefore doing more work than they anticipated and there was a greater reliance on them

·         The number of volunteers within the Royal Borough had increased. An estimated average of 6,000 people volunteer around the Royal Borough each week

·         Charities were receiving more income from fundraising. However larger charities were less likely than smaller ones to receive grants.

Members were asked if they had experience of recruiting, training and retaining volunteers. Several members said that they did and were happy to share their experiences with other members.

Eileen Denny suggested that businesses could be encouraged to engage with the volunteer and charity sector.

To receive an update on the project from Jane Corry and Robyn Bunyan.

Jane Corry provided members with an outline of Norden Farm’s new project, designed to help prevent social isolation amongst older people. She explained that Norden Farm had previously run similar sessions for younger people to great acclaim and the decision had been made to help older people as well.

Jane Corry said that five sessions, each focussing on a different form of artwork, would be run at Norden Farm from January. It was hoped that the project could be expanded and run through to the end of 2017 if it proved a success.

It was explained that the funding for the project had been raised by Norden Farm and much of the money was needed to provide transport for people wanting to travel to the sessions. Jane Corry said that Norden Farm was initially looking at inviting people who identified themselves as an older person and who lived within a ten mile radius of the venue.

Details on the courses were to be circulated amongst members after the meeting.

Harjit Hunjan explained to members that the Council had a duty to initiate a Prevent programme in order to combat the threat of people being radicalised. An assessment had been carried out within the Royal Borough to gauge residents’ understanding of the threat of extremism and radicalisation, and the findings would be used to draft the Council’s Prevent strategy. The draft would then go out to public consultation.

To receive an update from Nicola Davidson (Our Community Enterprise) and Harjit Hunjan (RBWM).

Nicola Davidson informed members that Thames Valley Police had created a mentoring project to support young people from military and non-military backgrounds.  She added that a new application to the Covenant fund would be made in the new year for improving outdoor facilities at Broom Farm playing field in Dedworth.

The chairman opened up the meeting for any other business. Two community groups offered to host future One Borough meetings.

Anaultia Ramaswamy informed members that WAM Healthwatch was running a survey relating to encouraging residents to become more active. She asked that all groups who felt they would benefit from taking part should get in touch with WAM Healthwatch.

Harjit Hunjan explained that the Government had recently released a report on integration, and informed members that its contents would be worth considering at a future meeting.

To arrange a date for the next One Borough meeting.

It was agreed that members would be informed of the date of the next meeting.