Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 17 March 2022, be

received and approved as a correct record.

(Invitations have been extended to several representatives from the voluntary sector to attend the meeting and discuss the challenges they have identified)

The Chairman introduced the item and warmly welcomed Teresa Jackson (Ashfield Voluntary Action), Janis Abraham (Citizens Advice Ashfield), Elden Skinner and Matt Pike (Our Centre) to the meeting.  The representatives from the voluntary sector were in attendance at the meeting to give Members an insight into the challenges they faced and the resulting impact on their delivery of much needed services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Teresa Jackson - Ashfield Voluntary Action (AVA)

The onset of the first Covid-19 lockdown took the organisation a little by surprise and within only a couple of days, staff were working from home with computer equipment set up and phones diverted.

It was a huge learning curve for staff and volunteers to quickly get to grips with delivering support from home and meeting virtually online but the transition was achieved.  It was noted anecdotally that many organisations nationally were not as lucky and had to shut down leaving many vulnerable and elderly adult without the support they desperately needed.

Systems were quickly put in place to ensure residents were receiving deliveries of food, medications and money (through a loan system) and the national grant funding received by AVA helped to cover the cost of the food that was distributed.

Partnerships with other organisations were key during the Covid-19 lockdowns and Ashfield District Council were a valuable support mechanism during this time.  The golden number provided by Nottinghamshire County Council also proved to be a great signposting support to both voluntary organisations and residents alike.

In relation to the current situation following the worst of the pandemic, AVA were continuing to support Ashfield’s residents in a variety of ways but pharmacies were now delivering medications and many people were slowly venturing back out into their local communities to shop and socialise etc.

The numbers of volunteers had dropped since the early days of the pandemic as many volunteers were furloughed staff from other organisations, that had now returned to their places of work.  However, many volunteers still worked tirelessly for AVA and room usage at the site was increasing as groups were beginning to emerge again following the final lockdown.

The whole experience had made many organisations more robust with a wider view of the world in general.  Through necessity, the implementation and usage of digital technology at AVA had come on in leaps and bounds which had proved to be invaluable and would remain an integral part of the organisation.  AVA was now even teaching digital access to residents as required.  Local communities had been brave and supportive throughout the pandemic and were to be congratulated.

Janis Abraham - Citizens Advice Ashfield (CAA)

At the start of the pandemic, Citizens’ Advice Ashfield had to transition immediately from a face-to-face client consultation method to digitally which worked extremely well and continued to be a much more effective method of communicating.  As an addition, much more information was delivered through media channels during the pandemic and this had also remained an effective tool for the organisation’s service  ...  view the full minutes text for item CP.14

The Service Manager for Scrutiny and Democratic Services presented the report and took the opportunity to reflect on the work and achievements of the Panel to date.  Having been established in June 2020, the Panel had worked extremely hard throughout the pandemic to endeavour to give a voice and support to local communities, organisations, public sector bodies and employees.

Frequent Panel meetings were subsequently held with any outcomes and recommendations from the discussions being reported to Cabinet by the Chairman/Vice Chairman as required.  The Panel welcomed a variety of guests across the meetings who spoke to Members about their experiences regarding the ever-changing pandemic landscape including lockdown closures, PPE, employee and patient health, the vaccination programme, safe customer environments, mental health issues and much more.

Invited guests were as follows:

Ashfield District Council

Chief Executive, Service and Assistant Directors

Corporate Finance Manager (and Section 151 Officer)

Senior Economic Development Officer

Town Centres and Markets Manager

Senior COVID Business Support Officer

Leader of the Council

Service Manager for Place and Wellbeing

Outside Organisations

Martin Rigley, Chairman of Discover Ashfield

Gary Jordan – Chair of Mansfield & Ashfield 2020

Richard Fuller – County Battery

Ewa Tinklin – Twisted Tinks Modern Barbers

Nina Bianco – Kirkby Sales and Exchange

Ray O’Connor – The Shop, Sutton

Sam Handley – Swiftool Precision Engineering Ltd

Nottinghamshire Police

Inspector Mark Dickson

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Richard Mitchell - Chief Executive

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group

Rosa Waddingham – Chief Nurse

David Ainsworth – Mid Notts Locality Director

Sports and Leisure Management - Everyone Active

Lorenzo Clarke – Ashfield Contract Manager.

Through presentations, discussion and debate at all the meetings, Members had witnessed examples of amazing partnership working across all the sectors to provide support and guidance to local communities throughout the pandemic.

Mention was made of the sterling work undertake by the original Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Panel, Councillors David Hennigan and Jim Blagden respectively.  Both Members were extremely proactive in the earlier days of the pandemic and worked tirelessly to keep everyone informed as to progress.

The information that the Panel received from local businesses at the November 2020 meeting was invaluable and some examples were formulated into case studies by the Council’s Economic Development Team and used for ongoing planning support.

In the early stages of the Panel’s work the Vice Chairman, Councillor Jim Blagden, suggested that a Covid memorial would be a fitting tribute to key workers and 18 months later funding was now secured for four memorial benches to be located in each of Ashfield’s areas.  Children from Holgate School in Hucknall had taken part in developing designs for the benches and this contribution would be recognised by the Chairman of the Council at a later date.

A set of potential recommendations were then read out to the Panel and discussed accordingly.

The Scrutiny Research Officer concluded the update by congratulating the Panel Members on their commitment and contributions towards the excellent outcomes from the Panel.  So much had  ...  view the full minutes text for item CP.15