Agenda and minutes

·         Paul Bright – Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium

·         Councillor Ian Carr – Leader, Test Valley Borough Council

·         Councillor Trevor Cartwright – Leader, Fareham Borough Council

·         Dave Curry – Chief Officer, Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service

·         Councillor Michael Cheshire – Leader, Havant Borough Council

·         Tim Colman – Federation of Small Businesses (Wessex)

·         Peter Grimwood – Chief Executive, Fareham Borough Council

·         Patricia Hughes – Interim Joint Chief Executive, Hart District Council

·         Councillor Peter Langdon – Gosport Borough Council

·         Ally Lee-Dudley – Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium

·         Andrew Lloyd – Chief Executive, Rushmoor Borough Council

·         Councillor Keith Mans – Hampshire County Council

·         Andy Marsh – Hampshire Constabulary

·         Lt. Col. Philip Mileham – representing the Armed Forces

·         Alex Parmley – representing Nick Tustian, Eastleigh Borough Council

·         Councillor Frank Pearson – Leader, Winchester City Council

·         Councillor Roy Perry – Leader, Hampshire County Council

·         Councillor Stephen Parker – Leader, Hart District Council

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

·         Andrew Smith – Chief Executive, Hampshire County Council

·         Laura Taylor – Interim Joint Chief Executive, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council

·         Roger Tetstall – Chief Executive, Test Valley Borough Council

·         Steve Tilbury – Winchester City Council

·         Nick Tustian – Chief Executive, Eastleigh Borough Council

·         Councillor Anne Winstanley – Hampshire Association of Local Councils

Apologies were received from:

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

·         Councillor Ferris Cowper – Leader, East Hampshire District Council

·         Simon Eden, Chief Executive, Winchester City Council – being represented by Steve Tilbury

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

·         Dominic Hardy – Director of Commissioning Operations for NHS England (Wessex Sub-Region)

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

·         Gary Jeffries, Chair, Solent LEP

·         Councillor Simon Letts, Leader, Southampton City Council

·         Steven Lugg, Chief Executive, Hampshire Association of Local Councils

·         Councillor Peter Moyle, Leader, Rushmoor Borough Council

·         Councillor Barry Rickman, Leader, New Forest District Council

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

·         Dave Yates, Chief Executive, New Forest District Council

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and made announcements as below.

The Chairman:

·         gave a brief update on the Further Electoral Review of Hampshire County Council the first phase of which was the submission of a Council Size Report – a timetable for the Review was circulated. 

·         confirmed that the Vice-Chairmanship of The Hampshire Partnership was vacant and invited nominations

·         reported that Hampshire County Council had received £0.5m funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government to help with timely discharges from hospital

·         commented on devolution discussions at central government level and the related issue of Combined Authorities; a Hampshire-wide submission could realise benefits and it would be important for a pan-Hampshire meeting to be convened post the May elections to discuss

Janet Owen, Executive Officer for the Hampshire Cultural Trust will present on the formation and work of the Hampshire Cultural Trust, its success to date and to outline future plans and transformation.

The Hampshire Partnership received an informative presentation by Janet Owen, Executive Officer, about the formation and work of the Hampshire Cultural Trust that came into being on 1 November 2014.  The Trust brought together arts and museums of both Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council.  Janet reported that the Trust encompasses 20 venues across the county which attract 650,000 visitors per annum, 30,000 of which are school children.  In the first three months of the Trust operating, Hampshire museum venues saw an 8% visitor increase on the same period the previous year and Winchester museum venues a 27% increase.  Janet drew attention to the strategic ambition of the Trust, its future transformation plans and next steps in terms of strategic planning (brand development, 5-year corporate plan and 10-year master plan, first AGM in July 2015), and business development (marketing communications, fundraising, trustee recruitment and developing new partnerships and opportunities).

Further to the Workshop on Skills and Employment held on 9 December 2015, the attached report revisits the key themes emerging from that  Workshop, provides an update on discussions that have taken place since then and proposes some initial areas of work for the Partnership to take forward.

The Hampshire Partnership considered a report presented by Andrew Lloyd, Chief Executive of Rushmoor Borough Council providing a follow-up to the Skills and Employment Workshop held on 9 December 2014.  The key themes arising from the Workshop were detailed in paragraph 2.1 of the report and Andrew summarised discussions that had been held since the Workshop and proposed next steps as set out in paragraphs 3.1 to 3.5 of the report.  This  included the option of The Partnership sponsoring a skills and employment practitioner event and facilitating a working group to help employers understand the opportunities arising from apprenticeships. 

During the course of discussion, the following points were made:

·         communications with businesses and public sector organisations very important – find out what employers actually want

·         education sector courses being offered should develop the skills that students need to secure employment, such as social skills, a mix of further education courses and employer apprenticeships would maximise the opportunities for both students/employees and supporting organisations/businesses to help plug employment gaps – the social care market for example

·         possible development of a Public Services Apprenticeship

·         Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service highlighted their current need for engineering skills

·         a practitioner event must not be simply a talking shop and should have practical and tangible outcomes

In taking this work forward it would be important to avoid duplication of effort – a lot of very good local work was already being done – and avoid creating in isolation an overarching structure that has no connection to local work.  The most effective way forward was felt to be to target a small number of key areas where a difference really could be made.

It was noted that Councillor Michael Cheshire offered Havant Plaza as a venue for a practitioner event should that be proceeded with and Ally Lee-Dudley expressed an interest in being a member of a working group as detailed in paragraph 5.1 above.

In recent years Hampshire’s local planning authorities and the County Council have worked closely together to address the challenges of infrastructure planning and delivery.  However, this year will witness further changes to the national planning system which will have serious implications for the ability of Hampshire’s local authorities to secure funding for critical infrastructure.  The attached report outlines those changes and the likely implications.

The Hampshire Partnership considered a briefing note detailing further changes to the national planning system which will have serious implications for the ability of Hampshire’s local authorities to secure funding for critical infrastructure.  On 6 April 2015 the final part of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) will come into force which will change the way that local authorities use section 106 for infrastructure funding.  An appendix to the briefing note provided an update on where Hampshire authorities are with the Local Plan and CIL process; it indicated that the majority of Hampshire authorities will not be in a position to introduce CIL by 6 April and therefore will be severely impacted by the Regulations.  It was noted that a partnership of authorities including West Berkshire and Wokingham, are taking legal action against the Secretary of State regarding the implementation of these changes.  A court date was yet to be announced. 

It was also noted that the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee published a report entitled ‘Operation of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)’ on 16 December 2014 and were of the view that if local authorities wished to continue using section 106, they should be able to do so.

In conclusion of the discussion, The Hampshire Partnership was minded to endorse the recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee and to write to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as proposed in paragraph 3.4 of the report.

Councillor Keith Mans, Executive Lead Member for Children’s Services at Hampshire County Council took the opportunity to thank all of the partner organisations for their contribution to the success of the Hampshire Troubled Families Programme which had identified over 2,000 families.  Chief Constable Andy Marsh commented that this Programme was an excellent example of partnership working and that the willingness of partners to share information had been pivotal to its success.

None.

It was noted that the next meeting of The Hampshire Partnership would be held on Wednesday 24 June 2015 commencing at 10.30am in Ashburton  Hall, Elizabeth II Court (Podium Level), Hampshire County Council, Winchester.

 Future dates:

Thursday 1 October 2015

Tuesday 9 December 2015

Wednesday 4 March 2016