To welcome members of the group to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting. He explained that he would chair up to and including the minutes, before handing over to the Vice Chairman who would take the group through the rest of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Jeff Pick, Tracey Croucher, Councillor Tisi, Rita Morrison, Usha Parmar, Peter Haley, Nicola Davidson and Stephanie Stanley.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 8^th December 2020.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 8^th December 2020 were approved a true record.

To receive a presentation on the upcoming Census from Charlotte Spear, Census Engagement Manager.

Louisa Dean, Communications and Marketing Manager, explained that this year’s census was a digital first census. Census day was Sunday 21^st March 2021 and the public were asked to fill out their census form on the make up and circumstances of their household on this day. Households would receive a paper invitation letter in the post which would contain a 16-digit access code. This would allow access to the census form on the website but there were also paper versions available on request. All data was kept secure and no personal data would be published as it was kept anonymous by law for 100 years.

The census was beneficial to everyone as it helped local authorities to plan for vital services and ensure that they were prepared for the future. Community groups and organisations also used the data to understand the communities which they supported. It was a legal requirement to fill in the census but there was a census engagement manager and engagement officers that would be undertaking work in the coming months to identify groups who had not filled in the census and encourage them to do so. In terms of changes to the census from the last one in 2011, this was the first digital first census with the majority of households able to complete their census online. There were also three additional voluntary questions, around things like gender identification.

The census engagement team wanted to identify any possible challenges or barriers with any particular communities in the borough and discover where residents may need help completing their census. It would also be a huge help if the census could be promoted through social media channels to ensure that it had the greatest reach possible.

Councillor Price said that she had already started to complete her census but voluntary work did not seem to be reflected in the questions that were asked. She queried if the government was not collecting data on people that undertook voluntary work.

Louisa Dean said that she would take this question away and ask Charlotte Spear, who was the Census Engagement Manager, to provide Councillor Price with a response.

Councillor Rayner said that her daughter was in the armed forces and was also based overseas, how should she be recorded in the census.

Louisa Dean explained that if Councillor Rayner’s daughter was living with her then she should be included but if she lived in another location then she should not be included as she would be covered by another household.

To hear from Jesal Dhokia.

Jesal Dhokia, Transformation Project Manager, explained that the five main projects had been identified and work had started around these key themes. The first community orchard had been planted which would be providing up to 17 different varieties of fruit for the local community. The project was now looking to move to Maidenhead and Jesal Dhokia encouraged anyone who was interested in getting involved to contact volunteering@rbwm.gov.uk. The Health and Wellbeing sub group was a project being undertaken with 20 residents and would be led by Maidenhead Magpies with support from Maidenhead Mosque. Work was also due to start with the Maidenhead Cycle Hub and there was an ambition to undertake a similar project in Windsor too.

Councillor Rayner said that it was a fantastic project and the community had engaged well with it so far.

At the conclusion of the item, Jesal Dhokia left the meeting.

To receive an update from the charity.

Alison Bourne explained that the Dash Charity was celebrating its 45^th birthday this year and stood for Domestic Abuse Stops Here. The charity offered three safehouses with accommodation to women suffering from both physical and non-physical violence. Advocacy and outreach services were vital to the charities work as they kept people safe in their own homes. The charity had spent a significant amount of its time fundraising as RBWM was only able to provide 20% of the organisations required funding. Over lockdown, referrals had doubled while child referrals had tripled. As a result, more staff had been recruited to deal with the increase in demand for the services that were offered. Time had been spent working with schools to increase awareness of domestic abuse so that children would feel more comfortable in reporting any issues if needed.

Councillor Rayner thanked Alison Bourne for all the work that the charity had done and continued to do. She said that the charity should let RBWM know if there was anything they could do to support the work of the charity.

Angela Huisman said that libraries were safe places that people could go if they were fleeing domestic violence. Staff could provide support and they had received training from the Dash charity which was appreciated.

To receive an update on the strategy from Anna Fallgren and Angela Huisman.

Angela Huisman, Library and Resident Contact Lead, gave the group a presentation on the Library Transformation Strategy. The library service vision was underpinned by six key strategic priorities:

• Facilitating opportunities for young people to make a positive contribution to society
• Empowering people to be healthy, skilled and independent
• Helping to shape vibrant, strong and resilient communities
• Assisting with economic recovery and aspiration, fulfil potential
• Ensuring well-managed resources were delivering value for the community by the community
• Giving access to trusted information without a commercial or partisan bias

The proposed LTS (Library Transformation Strategy) outlined how the library service would continue to adapt in an agile way to changing circumstances, opportunities, challenges and demands. There was an aim to be clear about the priorities and outcomes for the service, with an understanding of the changing environment in which libraries operated. The strategy also aimed to be creative and realistic around new possibilities and ways of working.

Before lockdown, Maidenhead Library frequently had over 1,000 visits a day for a variety of reasons, including study, community group activities and exercise. The largest demographic was the under 24s, while during lockdown this had changed slightly to those aged between 18-35.

The community library model required one single part-time staff member on site for a limited number of hours per week. This was to facilitate and coordinate the range of activities and support services delivered by volunteers, charities and other organisations while helping residents navigate access to digital and physical information sources and books. It was worth noting that there were significantly more library volunteers than library advisors. 

In terms of value for money and contribution to public services, for every £1 efficiently invested in library services, £6.95 was returned to the local economy. The accessibility hour was not proposed to be withdrawn, instead it could be changed from 9-10am to 10-11am. The proposal sought to retain professional staff on duty for all published opening hours. These staff underwent enhanced DBS checking and also rigorous training in areas such as Safeguarding, Sensory Disability Support, Dash and Domestic Abuse Support and Autism awareness. Volunteers would continue to work alongside staff but would be supervised and managed by a library professional. The main aim was to provide digital and physical support to ensure access for all.

The consultation process would be as follows:

1. Consultation closes 30 April
2. Public sessions to hear more about proposals
3. Review consultation results and any alternative proposals that are suggested
4. Present preferred options to Cabinet for final approval
5. Implement

The Council had a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service that met the needs of residents. It was important that residents were involved in defining what that was. This was an opportunity for residents, partners and stakeholders to make their views known.

Anthony Lewis said that he had visited schools and asked how many of the children had read a book. While a good number had, there was also a significant proportion who had not and this was something  ...  view the full minutes text for item 190.

To receive an update from Deborah Maynard.

Deborah Maynard explained that the escalation policy had been revised, with the safeguarding partnership website also including from on learning from local case reviews, referral information and information about allegations against staff and volunteers. There was a single point of access for all safeguarding and wellbeing concerns regarding a child or young person, either email MASH@achievingforchildren.org.uk or phone 01628 683150.

There were a number of different routes to safeguard adults – depending on the presenting issue:

•       Domestic Abuse - Dash Charity

•       Housing or Homelessness

•       Radicalisation

•       Substance misuse

A question was asked if there was further information on the training on the Pan-Berkshire website.

Deborah Maynard said that the NSPCC was a good place to go for training.

To receive a presentation on the service from Sophia Howes.

Sophia Howes gave some background to the service, with NHS England awarding £5.2m to Frimley Health to drive the transformation of Community Mental Health Services, this would include a new service across Frimley called the Mental Health Integrated Community Service or MHICS. The MHICS was a team of Mental Health Specialists working with GPs in Windsor, Slough and Bracknell. The aims of the service was to; provide advice and support for people experiencing a range of complex mental health and emotional wellbeing concerns and to improve the health and wellbeing of people with significant mental health conditions.

Sophia Howes explained that people needed support earlier and to ensure that health inequalities were addressed. There was significant pressure on GPs to provide a good level of service for those with mental health problems and this new service was designed to relive some of that pressure and provide easy to access support.

To receive a presentation from Louise Warbrick on the work being done to tackle county drug lines.

Inspector Louise Warbrick gave a presentation on county drugs lines and the work Thames Valley Police was doing to stop them. County drug lines was a term used “to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas [within the UK], using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of “deal line”. They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move [and store] the drugs and money and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons.” The CSP Exploitation Strategy 2020-23 pledged that all children and vulnerable adults who lived and worked in RBWM were to be free from exploitation with the strategy focussed on:

·         Preventing involvement

·         Protecting people who were vulnerable

·         Preparing to identify and respond to victims

·         Pursuing and disrupting those involved

·         Shared Learning and continue to adapt

The four Ps involved with the strategy were Prevent, Protect, Prepare and Pursue. A person was deemed vulnerable if, as a result of their situation or circumstances, they were unable to take care of or protect themselves or others from harm or exploitation.

Inspector Louise Warbrick lost connection to the meeting but the remaining slides from the presentation were distributed to the group after the meeting.

To receive an update from Andrew Douglass.

Andrew Douglass said that Parallel Windsor was originally due to be held on 27^th June 2021 in Windsor Great Park but the event would be held virtually instead. A film version of the festival would be going out live and would also be available on demand after the day. The date for next year had been set for 26^th June 2022 and Parallel Windsor were also looking to launch some concerts, which would be called Parallel Proms.

To receive updates from members of the group.

Philip Reynolds said that the Rotary Club was going to launch a community award scheme, which would be for community projects and individuals.

Councillor Price said that there were always consultations being undertaken and a list of the ones that were currently live could be distributed to the group after the meeting.

Robyn from Norden Farm explained that they would be hosting an Easter family festival which would take place online. They were also offering access to workshops and shows to organisations around the borough. Despite not being open physically due to lockdown, there was still lots going on.

Ray from Healthwatch Windsor and Maidenhead said that they had a survey launching soon as they looked to establish a service across East Berkshire. He also raised awareness of the newsletter which contained lots of useful information.

Anthony Lewis thanked councillors who had listened to residents’ concerns around traffic calming measures.

Busy Buttons were working on an online theatre performance, which would be free for children on low incomes.

The dates of future meetings are as follows (all 11am):

·         Tuesday 22nd June 2021

·         Tuesday 14th September 2021

·         Tuesday 7th December 2021

The group noted the dates of future meetings.

The next meeting was due to be held on Tuesday 22^nd June 2021, at 11am.