Agenda item

To provide an update to the Resilient Communities Scrutiny Committee on the work of the Community Engagement Team and specifically the Volunteering Strategy.

Dr Rajpura, Director of Public Health presented a report in relation to current community engagement activity. He explained that the Community Engagement team had recently moved directorates in response to a changing landscape across the Public, Voluntary and Community Sectors and followed the successful allocation of £300,000 in the Fylde Coast Vanguard (NHS) for Community Engagement. He advised that the move would allow a greater synergy between the Vanguard work, the Fairness Commission (the management of which was also governed by Public Health) and the Council’s Community Engagement work that would enable a more seamless approach, which in the long term would reduce duplication and ensure things were joined up across all partner organisations.

The Committee was advised that the Fairness Commission was the primary vehicle for community engagement across the town and Dr Rajpura provided details of the membership of the Fairness Commission Board. He noted that the Board contained a number of Voluntary Sector Leaders, as well as the Chief Executive of Blackpool Council, Chief Executive of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, Chief Superintendent of Police, a GP representing Primary Care and the Director of Public Health as Chairman.

Ms Bennett, Fairness Commission Manager/Community Engagement, provided the Committee with details of a number of recent community engagement activities, which included:

·         The establishment of the Grange Park Community Farm

·         ‘Easter Buddies’, which was a network of coffee mornings that took place across the town during Easter. The events were designed to connect people and combat social isolation and loneliness.

·         A Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector Showcase Event held in March 2017, where over 50 Voluntary and Community Organisations showcased their activities.

·         A Kindness Convention and Acts of Kindness Campaign, which would be launched in June at the Winter Gardens. The purpose of the Campaign and the Event would be to explore what communities could do to support and help each other.

The Committee was also provided with details of the Community Orientated Primary Care Project that had now been introduced as part of the Vanguard work and was intended to provide a huge amount of qualitative data from the participants. It was explained to Members that a group had been formed from 12-15 people who were brought together from the Community and encouraged to work with mixed agencies over several weeks to share what would make the greatest difference to their health and wellbeing, working in a similar way to a ‘People’s Jury’.

It was noted that the first of the programmes ran in the Central West area of Blackpool and had been considered a success. There were plans in place to roll the programme out across five other neighbourhood areas in Blackpool over the course of the next 12 months, which would ensure that the solutions were being designed alongside the communities involved. Upon questioning from the Committee, Dr Rajpura advised that the six neighbourhood areas had been devised by the Clinical Commissioning Group and split amongst GP surgery areas.

The Committee discussed methods to encourage residents to volunteer and Dr Rajpura advised that work was being undertaken with the Lancashire Police to participate in the Volunteering Partnership, which would allow an opportunity to manage volunteers more effectively and to offer them greater rewards. Members were advised that the Fairness Commission was developing a Time-Banking/ Time Credits initiative that would reward loyalty and commitment from volunteers and entitle them to discount and vouchers for local businesses.

The Committee raised further questions relating to the Grange Park Community Farm and Farm shop, to be established at the City Learning Centre. Dr Rajpura advised that work had been undertaken to investigate how other community farms had been run and that the farm would be focused around growing produce rather than raising livestock.

The Committee agreed:

1) To note the report.

2) To request an update report on Community Engagement in due course.

Background papers: None.