Objective 3 Partnership Board

Minutes of the Meeting Held on Thursday 25 September

Conference Room, Third Floor, Lambpit Street

Present:

Stewart Milne(Chair)NEWI

Joyce M’CawCareers Wales

Joanne TincelloELWa

Liz CrawfordNorth Wales Chamber of Commerce

Sandra HughesAVOW

Malcolm JamesBusiness North Wales

Imogen SherriffWDA

Jasbir Dhesi Yale College

Ruth AkersWEFO

Jenny ButteryWEFO

Bob JacksonWrexham County Borough Council

Paul BlackburnWrexham County Borough Council

Catherine PritchardWrexham County Borough Council

Apologies:

Stephen Bayley Wrexham County Borough Council

Marcus Wyn RobinsonIndustrial Chaplain N E Wales

Bryn RichardsWDA

Paul CrokeYale College

Welcome

Apologies

The Chair advised that apologies had been received from Stephen Bayley, Paul Croke, Bryn Richards, Marcus Wyn Robinson.
3.Minutes of the Meeting Held on 10 July 2003
The minutes were received as a correct record of the meeting.
4.Matters Arising

European Newsletter

PB advised that Issue 3 is currently been produced and showed the Board a draft copy. Following approval, distribution of the Newsletter will be within the next two to three weeks.
Wrexham Employment Strategy (Article 6)
PB advised that the proposed joint bid with Flintshire through EQUAL is not likely to happen now because of the matchfunding issues. Flintshire will look to put a bid in independently.
Round 10 Applications
BJ advised that both Yale College projects had been approved. Unfortunately the Llysfasi project failed to reach the minimum quality threshold. The Secretariat will be advising the applicant and they will be looking to re-submit within the next few days.
Round 11 Applications
BJ advised that all applications failed minimum quality threshold and the Secretariat will be working closely with all applicants and all will be re-submitting.
Mid Term Evaluation and Review
PB advised that a response had been submitted and this item will be discussed under Agenda Item 11.
Technical Assistance
JT advised that there will be no additional support for Technical Assistance from ELWA at this time. PB asked Imogen Sherriff if the WDA would be able to continue their support to Technical Assistance. IS advised that she would check with Bryn Richards and advise us at the next meeting.
5Programme/ProgressUpdate
BJ updated the Board on the progress of the Programme: up to the end of August 2003, the Wrexham Partnership had committed 49.3% of the total indicative allocation of £3,002,957 (this figure is likely to rise as the strength of the euro continues to rise). WEFO had written to Partnerships that day stating that up to 120% of the full allocation to 2006 could be committed, again due to the strength of the Euro and anticipated underspend on current and past projects. The Chair expressed his concerns that future projects would request extra funding if this allocation were made available and that could result in future years’ allocations would be spent and not allow for changes in local circumstances. PB stated that WEFO had advised Partnerships not to turn down projects purely on lack of finance. Following discussions it was agreed by the Board that the Partnership continue to work with the original (100%) allocation but be mindful of the 20% flexibility as the Programme progresses.
HRD Regional Partnership
BJ passed to the Board a paper received from WEFO highlighting the last round of approved projects which will have an impact on Wrexham.
6 Round 12 Applications
Wrexham County Borough Council – Wrexham Youth Service
Youth Work in Education
Bob Jackson/Paul Blackburn declared an interest in this project and left the room at this point.
Following discussion by the Partnership Board they agreed to approve the application providing the following issues were addressed:

Links needed with Careers Wales.
How does this project link with Careers Gateway?
Is there any overlap with School Links project?
Contact needed with ELWA and Yale College.

Wrexham County Borough Council – Erlas Employment Project
Bob Jackson/Paul Blackburn declared an interest in this project and left the room at this point.
Following discussion by the Partnership Board they agreed to approve the application providing the following issues were addressed:

How does the outputs compare to previous year’s ?
Sustainability/Exit Strategy needs addressing

The Board asked if when future continuation projects are submitted that the Board also be given details of the history of the project and the progress/outcomes achieved to date.
St Christopher’s School – TEST Transition to Employment, Socialisation and Training
Following discussion by the Partnership Board they agreed to approve the application providing the following issues were addressed.

Beneficiaries against achievement seem very high.
Need to work closely with secretariat on writing full application and record keeping.
Need to confirm mainstream funding was not available from L.E.A.

WEFO advised that they would check the eligibility as school’s are not able to benefit from ESF funding except in certain circumstances.
Yale College – Capacity Building 2
Following discussion by the Partnership Board they agreed to approve the application providing the following issue was addressed:

Make sure beneficiaries are consistent with Local Action Plan.

Wrexham County Borough Council - Building the Social Economy in Wrexham
The Chair advised that there was a request to increase the funding requested since the initial proforma was submitted as an additional resource has been identified. The additional matchfunding will be confirmed on full application. The revised ESF requested amount is £132,231.
Sandra Hughes, Paul Blackburn and Bob Jackson declared an interest and left the room at this point.
Following discussion by the Partnership Board they agreed to approve the application providing the following issues were addressed.

Look at targeting people to drive the aspiration.
Show how they would meet the specific needs.
Developing a cultural change.

THE CHAIR HAD TO LEAVE THE MEETING AT THIS POINT AND THE VICE CHAIR JOYCE M’CAW TOOK OVER AS CHAIR
Coleg Llysfasi – Updating Training for Childcare Workers
Following discussion by the Partnership Board they agreed to approve the application providing the following issues were addressed.

No allowance for people not completing the course, the Board felt they were being very optimistic with beneficiaries.

Needs to demonstrate the added value.
The beneficiaries should be trained in the County of Wrexham, however BJ stated that WEFO do allow up to 10% of beneficiaries to come from England.

Coleg Llysfasi – Training in the Social Care Sector
BJ advised that there is a similar project supported by the Partnership running and this is currently under achieving.
The appraisal panel have recommended not to support this project. The Board agreed with the appraisal panels decision and recommended that this project not be supported.
The Board asked that Llysfasi consider if this training can be achieved through mainstream and they need to consider if it is worth re- submitting this application. BJ advised that they are looking to re- submit in January. The Board advised that they would need to demonstrate evidence of need.

Partnership Board Composition

BJ advised that letters had been sent out to Members who were not attending meetings asking them to confirm their representation on the Board, BJ advised only one reply was received and this was from Roger Lewis (NFU) confirming he no longer wishes to be on the Board and nominated Elaine Rhys Evans as his replacement. BJ advised that he had spoken with Mark McCrossan (TUC) and he is happy to join the Board, the Board asked the secretariat to write to Mark inviting him to join the Board. Harry Prankard from the Wrexham Disability Forum has replaced Geoff Dowson and he has nominated Gwyndaf Owen as his alternate. Sandra Hughes advised that a flyer has been produced and will be circulated to the voluntary sector advertising vacancies. Sandra suggested approaching HSBC Bank. Secretariat to make contact with HSBC.

Visit of PMC Chair

PB updated the Board on the visit.

Programme Monitoring Committee

PB gave a verbal report on the main outcomes of the meeting. The Board asked if a copy of this report could be forwarded to them with the minutes.

Mid Term Review

PB advised that a response has been sent and the outcome of the mid term review is expected January 2004 including possible virement between Priorities and Measures.

Local Action Plan

PB advised that the Local Action Plan will be reviewed following the outcome of the Mid Term Review.

Any Other Business

Restructuring of WEFO
Ruth advised that WEFO have recently undertaken a restructuring and a new Chief Executive has recently been appointed his name is Dr. Emyr Roberts who was currently head of the Welsh Assembly’s Economic Policy Division. The main changes are that WEFO are now responsible to the National Assembly for Wales.
Bidding Timetable 2003
BJ asked the Partnership Board to agree the revised timetable, BJ advised that the next bidding round which was planned for March has now been re-addressed and the next round will be January 2004. There was a debate about the best day to hold meetings and a consensus was not agreed. BJ would write to Members with a revised timetable.
13.Date and Time of Next Meeting
This would be circulated after the above item was resolved. / PB/CAP
BJ
BJ
IS/BR
BJ
BJ
BJ
WEFO/BJ
BJ
BJ
BJ
BJ
BJ/SH
BJ/CAP
BJ/CAP
BJ/CAP