Agenda and minutes

·         John Bonney, Chief Officer, Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service

·         Andy Bowers, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service

·         Karen Brimacombe, Director of Borough Services, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council

·         Councillor Trevor Cartwright, Fareham Borough Council

·         Tim Colman, Federation of Small Businesses (Wessex)

·         Councillor Ken Crookes, Leader, Hart District Council

·         Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre

·         Tony Curtis, Chief Executive, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council

·         John Elliott, Flood Resilience Team Leader, Environment Agency

·         Andy Ferrier, Corporate Director, Test Valley Borough Council

·         Dr Hugh Freeman, Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Groups

·         Peter Grimwood, Chief Executive, Fareham Borough Council

·         Sandy Hopkins, Chief Executive, East Hampshire District and Havant Borough Councils

·         Councillor Rob Humby, Leader, Winchester City Council

·         Councillor Peter Langdon – Gosport Borough Council

·         Ally Lee-Dudley, Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium

·         Councillor Simon Letts, Leader, Southampton City Council

·         Andrew Lloyd, Chief Executive, Rushmoor Borough Council

·         Ian Lycett, Chief Executive, Gosport Borough Council

·         Andy Marsh, Chief Constable, Hampshire Constabulary

·         Councillor Peter Moyle, Leader, Rushmoor Borough Council

·         Alex Parmley, Corporate Director, Eastleigh Borough Council

·         Victoria Paterson, Armed Forces Representative

·         Daryl Phillips, Joint Chief Executive, Hart District Council

·         Councillor Roy Perry, Leader, Hampshire County Council

·         Councillor Royston Smith, Chairman of Hampshire Fire & Rescue Authority

·         Councillor Clive Sanders, Leader, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council

·         Andrew Smith, Chief Executive, Hampshire County Council

·         Councillor Anne Winstanley – Hampshire Association of Local Councils

·         Date Yates – Chief Executive, New Forest District Council

Apologies were received from:

·         Alison Barnes, Chief Executive, New Forest National Park Authority

·         Dawn Baxendale, Chief Executive, Southampton City Council

·         Councillor Ian Carr, Leader, Test Valley Borough Council

·         Councillors Michael Cheshire and Tony Briggs, Havant Borough Council

·         Councillor Ferris Cowper, Leader, East Hampshire District Council

·         Felicity Cox, NHS England (Wessex Area Team)

·         Simon Eden, Chief Executive, Winchester City Council

·         Geoff French, Enterprise M3 LEP – represented by Tim Colman

·         Councillor Anne Winstanley

·         Brigadier Andrew Hughes, Armed Forces – represented by Victoria Paterson

·         Gary Jeffries, Solent Local Enterprise Partnership                              

·         Councillor Keith Mans, Deputy Leader, Hampshire County Council

·         Councillor Barry Rickman, Leader, New Forest District Council

·         Roger Tetstall, Chief Executive, Test Valley Borough Council – represented by Andy Ferrier, Corporate Director

·         Nick Tustian, Chief Executive, Eastleigh Borough Council –represented by Alex Parmley, Corporate Director

The Chairman welcomed everyone and made several announcements as below.

Following the outcome of the Referendum in Scotland, the Chairman reported that discussions about devolution for England were expected and that Hampshire should not be overlooked.  

The Chairman invited all members of the Hampshire Partnership to attend an
additional meeting of the Partnership on Thursday 20 November 2014 at 2.30pm, the agenda for which would be devoted to safeguarding children.  The meeting had been convened in part at the request of Maggie Blyth, the Independent Chair of Hampshire Safeguarding Children Board to enable a wider consideration across the agencies represented at the Hampshire Partnership.  The Chairman confirmed that he was very keen to support the request because of the significance of child protection for all of the partners - Hampshire has a good track record, however there was no room for complacency.  The meeting would provide an opportunity for a multi-agency approach to give focussed consideration to the issue at the highest level.

The Chairman also reported that steady progress was being made with the roll-out of superfast Broadband to achieve 95% coverage by 2017, with solutions for the remaining 5% being investigated.         

The Chairman confirmed that he had agreed to bring forward the outcomes report on flooding in Hampshire as the first item of business.

Following the flooding experienced in Hampshire earlier in the year, John Bonney was asked to lead a multi-agency task force to collate the outcomes and lessons from the recovery exercise. John will present an outcomes report which will be supported by a brief presentation to help inform the discussion.

John Bonney, Chief Officer, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) introduced a report on the wide area flooding experienced in Hampshire earlier in the year and the subsequent multi-agency debrief exercise that HFRS undertook on behalf of the Local Resilience Forum (LRF).  John confirmed that the report focussed only on the immediate multi-agency response and not structural issues that arose from the incidences of flooding and highlighted the benefits derived from the collaborative approach of the agencies involved in responding to the flooding.  John handed over to Andy Bowers who gave an informative and detailed presentation covering the background to and the extent of the flooding; expanded on the make-up and extent of the multi-agency response and co-ordination; what went well; areas for improvement and recommendations for the future. 

During the course of discussion, the success of the multi-agency approach and being able to build on pre-existing relationships which provided a solid foundation was commended.  It was noted that encouraging communities to take responsibility, where they were able and willing to do so, had worked very well. Assisting and equipping communities to prepare and protect themselves in the future bolstered by help from the emergency services when required and particularly with longer-term events, was paramount.  The recent experience had highlighted the need for robust flood response plans to be prepared and implemented.  Active Flood Action Groups had played a pivotal part and the expansion, development and integration of Community Resilience Groups into the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum (HIOW LRF) was recommended.

Concern was raised regarding the incidents of flooding in areas that had not been expected which highlighted the need for flexibility in pre-planning exercises.  It was noted that aerial photographs collected by the Armed Forces in helping to respond to recent events would allow for improvements to be made to pre-planning processes and to identify more areas that could be at risk in the future.

In summary, Partners were pleased to note that the overall response to the flooding was successful and well managed, with the most successful element being the co-operation and co-ordination of the multi-agency response.  Positive feedback from communities regarding the response had been received however there was no room for complacency.  The need for good planning in austerity by the HIOW LRF to take account of changes such as the use of social media and access to information was important as was the need to build on existing pre-planning processes, development of clear roles and responsibilities including suitably trained and experienced leaders at all levels together with clarity of communications and quality of information.

Andrew Lloyd, Chief Executive, Rushmoor Borough Council canvassed views for a workshop focussing on skills and employment to enable the content and approach to reflect the aspirations of the Partners.  Key outcomes of the workshop would be to explore what the role of the Partnership would be in delivering the skills agenda and to identify tangible actions/areas of influence.

Much work was being done in this arena by a number of agencies such as Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) who have a key role in the overall skills agenda supported by Skills and Employment Strategies together with Skills and Employment Boards.  Both recognise that a concentrated drive for economic growth leads to a rise in employment as more jobs are created.  Local authorities offer a variety of employment opportunities including apprenticeship schemes to deliver a wide range of public services but challenges exist such as the difficulty of employing people in the social care market.  Other issues such as relative deprivation, inward migration and pressure on housing, lack of skilled construction workers, up-skilling the existing workforce and the difficulties faced by people with health issues who may have been out of work for some time and their integration back into the workforce also posed challenges.

It was noted that 18,000 personnel leave the Military annually from all three services.  A lot of work was being done to engage with personnel and business communities to match skills.  Learning and training was also highlighted as another key area to be looked at in the broadest sense and to foster life-long learning for young people.

In summary, it was agreed that the skills agenda is an increasingly important issue.  Many local authorities and organisations are doing a lot of good work however creative thinking and improved co-ordination would avoid duplication, close the skills gaps and make better use of available resources.          

Andrew Lloyd thanked the Partners for their contributions which would help inform the pre-planning exercise and shape what was anticipated would be a very useful workshop.

The Better Care Fund is the driver for the integration of health and social care services for the future. Gill Duncan will give a presentation which will cover the national context, the Better Care Fund and lead a discussion on the local opportunities and challenges.

Gill Duncan, Director of Adult Services, Hampshire County Council and Dr. Hugh Freeman, representing the Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Groups gave a presentation on the Better Care Fund (BCF) as the driver for the integration of health and social care services for the future.  The BCF is a single pooled budget bringing together large sums of money to drive transformation to support health and social care services to work more closely together to achieve better outcomes.  The achievement of better outcomes was underpinned by the NHS Outcomes Framework and aligning with the aims of the Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy was important. How services are commissioned in the future will drive efficiency.  Joint plans, which must satisfy national conditions and performance measures, had been developed and agreed by the Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Board and approved by the CCGs and Hampshire County Council. 

Partners noted that this was a complex initiative which would require managing a changing health and social care market, and in some areas strengthening the workforce; working together to manage demand and expectations, and looking at housing and adaptions – Extra Care housing was providing a very positive solution and assists people to live as independently as possible.  Planning for an increasing elderly population was highlighted albeit that old age did not necessarily mean poor health; looking at what services are required in the future to meet people’s needs against the backdrop of less money would be key.  The voluntary and community sector has a vital role to play and close partnership working with key organisations such as Hampshire Constabulary and Hampshire Fire and Recue Service was important in terms of keeping people safe.  Strong lines of communication between agencies would be imperative as was the need to find ways of sharing data.  In conclusion, Partners noted that skills and resources must be used as effectively as possible to ensure people receive proactive and joined-up services. 

None.

None.

It was noted that the next meeting of The Hampshire Partnership would be held on Thursday 20 November 2014 commencing at 2.30pm in Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth II Court (Podium Level), Hampshire County Council, Winchester which would be dedicated to safeguarding children.         

Future dates:

Tuesday 9 December 2014 – Workshop on Skills and Employment

Wednesday 4 March 2015