Objective 3 Partnership Board
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 24th February in The Gallery,
North East Wales Institute, Wrexham
Present:
Stewart Milne ( Chair ) NEWI
Joyce M`Caw Careers Wales ( NE )
Bob Jackson Secretariat
Catherine Pritchard Secretariat
Sandra Hughes AVOW
Dr. Stan Moore Agenda 21 Forum
Rev. Marcus Wynn Industrial Chaplain
Bryn Richards WDA
Simon Hughes Yale College
Nigel Davies Caia Park Partnership
Harry Prankard Wrexham Disability Forum
- Welcome
The Chair confirmed that the Board was not quorate due to the need for one more representative from the Private Sector. It was agreed that the discussions would take place but decision would have to be agreed by written procedure.
- Apologies-
Steve Bayley Wrexham County Borough Council
Paul Blackburn Wrexham County Borough Council
Paul Croke Yale College
Jasbir Dhesi Yale College
Joanne Tincello ELWa
Malcolm James Business North Wales
Chris Burgoyne HSBC Bank
Ruth Akers WEFO
Jenny Buttery WEFO
Liz Crawford North Wales Chamber of Commerce
- Partnership Board Composition
This item was moved forward to enable new Members to be recognised as official members. Nigel Davies of the Caia Park Partnership was nominated by Rosemary Williams as her alternate. The Board welcomed Nigel to the Partnership Board. Chris Burgoyne of HSBC Bank was also officially confirmed as a member DR. Stan Moore stated his alternate, Peter Bulmer has now left Agenda 21and that he would seek an other Alternate. The Vice Chair JM advised the Board that while she is willing to continue as a member she would like to relinquish her position as Vice Chair if there was another member who was willing to take up the position. Sandra Hughes offered to become Vice Chair this was proposed and accepted by the Partnership Board. Stewart thanked Joyce M’Caw for the work she put in as Vice Chair.
Members queried the role of Kate Meredith of the Children and Young Peoples Unit who was recorded as representing the Voluntary and Community Sector. It was felt that this really was Wrexham County Borough Council and therefore should be in the Public Sector, however if
this was the case it would increase the representation of this sector and it would necessitate increasing representation from the other sectors. Bob Jackson stated he would investigate and report back.
(Action: BJ)
- Matters Arising
The third edition European Newsletter was circulated to Members.
BJ informed the Board that the application for Technical Assistance for the Period 2003-2005 had been submitted to WEFO. Match Funding was being provided by Wrexham CBC. The WDA had provided a contribution towards the previous ( 2000- 2002 ) application but BR stated he was not yet in a position to confirm whether they would be able to contribute towards this application. BJ to write to WDA ( BR ) to formally request if a contribution can be made.
(Action: BJ)
- Round 13 applications
A summary of round 13 applications had previously been distributed to members this also had the appraisal panel’s recommendations on whether they should be supported by the Board These were discussed in applicant order:
Yale College- Simon Hughes declared an interest in these projects and left the room whilst they were discussed by the Board:
Partnership Promotes Access
This was supported with the proviso the appraisers comments were addressed on full application.
Basic Skills in the workplace
This was withdrawn , voluntarily, by Yale College as they were unawarethata similar project which they could access was still running.
Peoples Network Support
Concern was expressed that the need for the project had not been demonstrated on the proforma. Could the “Routes” project , currently being delivered by Wrexham Library, be used to supply evidence of need ?Otherwise agree with the appraisal panel’s comments and not support the project in it’s present format.
Family Learning
The Board felt that this project did not really explain what it was trying to achieve or how it would engage with the target group. The Board agreed with the appraisers comments and not to support the project.
I.T. Technical Academy
The Board agreed with the appraisers but requested the Secretariat contact the applicant for further clarification on Added Value and evidence to show that this training was not already available in Wrexham.
(Action: BJ)
North East Wales Institute - Stewart Milne left the room whist these were being discussed.
Management Skills for Women.
The Board were concerned that this did not have a recognised qualification and that the £100 charge could be a barrier to some potential beneficiaries. Agreed with appraisers comments and not to support the application
Strengthening the skills of management in SME`s
Concern that there was no qualification to be gained. Future progression was not demonstrated.
Was this duplicating existing provision in Wrexham ?
The Board agreed to support this application if these concerns were clarified
(Action: BJ)
Wrexham Training( Llysfasi College)
Management training for Business
The Board agreed with the appraisers comments and not to support this project
Training in the Social Care Sector
Members queried that Yale College was delivering a similar project. BJ informed them that Yale were experiencing difficulties with the project, not least finding suitably qualified trainers, and would be closing the project early. SH asked if this training was eligible doe to the statutory requirement. BJ stated there were other similar training projects in Wales, it was generally recognised that CareHomes were regarded as being in a financial crisis and could not afford to meet the cost themselves. ESF support would remove this barrier. The board agreed to support the project.
Wrexham CBC
The Children’s University
Stewart Milne and Sandra Hughes left the room whilst this was being discussed.
The board felt this was a very worthwhile project and agreed to support the project
6.Programme update
BJ circulated a paper from the Programme Monitoring Committee which detailed how additional funds accrued to the Programme from the Performance Reserve (£4.086m)and the uplift from the change in the exchange rate(£10.04m) would be used to help finance strategic projects across East Wales. It had previously hoped that these extra funds would be available to finance local projects. The Board accepted that this decision had already been made and there was little that could be done to change the situation. However , BR asked if it could be established what benefits will come to Wrexham as a result of these strategic projects. BJ will write to WEFO.
(Action: BJ)
7.Mid Term Review
BJ circulated a paper which detailed proposals from the Mid Term Review. This paper proposed that certain measure within priorities be merged in order to simplify the process and allow applicants more flexibility when writing projects. These virements are:
- Merging of Priority 1 measures1and 2
- Merging of Priority 3 measures 1and2
- Merging of priority 4 measures1,2 and 4
- Merging of priority5 measures 1and 2
Priority Level Targets will need to be amended if these measures are merged
These proposals are now with the Commission and a response is expected by May.
8.Local Action Plan
BJ informed the Board that WEFO require the Local Action Plan to be reviewed in the light of any changes to the local economy. He asked if members would look at the Action Plan, especially the Local Priorities which are indicated on each measure in the Action Plan. Any observations should be fed back to BJ by the next Partnership Board meeting.
(Action: ALL)
9.Any Other Business
SM and BJ told the Board of their visit to WEFO in Machynlleth. The visit was to discuss with WEFO the problems being encountered by applicants in trying to achieve the quality threshold when submitting applications. In particular, a project submitted by Wrexham CBC – Developing the Social Economy in Wrexham- which had failed in the first submission to WEFO.
BJ stated that all sectors and regions in Wales are experiencing difficulty. SM said that his view was that applications have to assume no prior knowledge of the sector, the applicant or the proposed project, by the appraisal team in WEFO. Applicants would have to be very explicit when responding to the various elements of the questions on the application form and If, necessary, cross reference with other responses in Section 4 ( the scoring section), At the same time there has to be a fine balance between giving all the information requested and keeping within the A4 rule. BJ cited the case of projects from Caia Park Partnership and Second Circle Furniture which had failed to secure enough points on certain questions and had been requested to provide further information to WEFO but having done so had there scores reduced to zero because it had gone over the A4 limit! It was agreed that the Secretariat would arrange further application writing workshops in attempt to improve the success ratio. Rev Marcus Wynn expressed concern over how ‘new’ applicants, without any bid writing experience could manage to have projects approved when experienced applicants are failing.
(Action: BJ)
- Date and Time of Next Meeting
The date of the next meeting was confirmed as Thursday 3 June 2004 at 3.00 p.m. in the Conference Room, Third Floor, Lambpit Street.