Minutes
of the Family Forum
held at
Palacefields Community Centre,
12.00
noon – 2.00 pm
Pauline Ruth welcomed everybody to
the meeting and asked if they would introduce themselves to the rest of the
Panel.
Pauline then drew everybody’s
attention to the Information Exchange sheets and asked if anybody had any
information to share to put it down on this sheet to be included in the
minutes.
1. Minutes of the Last Meeting
Pauline asked if everybody could look through the minutes
of the last meeting and then asked if these were accurate. These were agreed as a true record.
Pauline asked if anybody wanted an update or comment on any
of the issues. It was asked if there was
going to be any more training. Pauline
said that there would be but no dates had yet been set.
It was asked if there had been any more discussion on the Children
Services green paper. Pauline said there had not but the Bill was
going through Parliament in the next couple of months.
It was asked if there was anything about the Family Forum
on the website.
How does the Family Forum fit in with the Statutory
Sector? Pauline said that everybody that
we know about involved in children and family services was on our database and
had been asked along to the meetings.
Debbie explained that it was an item for discussion at future meetings about
how these links could be strengthened.
The preparations for the conference in June, “Celebrating
the Success of People who do work in Schools”, are well under way.
2. Environmental Health
Pauline introduced Wendy Salisbury from the Environmental Health
Department.
Dog fouling is a great concern to the public and can be
hazardous to children. They get lots of
complaints from people about waste on private lots which they can deal
with. They visit the area and identify
whether it is a nuisance and then under the Environmental Protection Act they
can make sure that they deal with this in a reasonable amount of time, if they
don’t then they can deal with it and send the bill to the people concerned.
There is a charge of £65.00 if you need to get your dog
back out of the dog pound. A lot of
money is being spent on resources but they also need the public to come forward
with information on people who are allowing their dogs to foul. They are bringing in an on the spot fine and
this money can be put back into resources.
It was mentioned that school children could be educated
about this matter, because it is usually children that want dogs.
More people can now be given the authority to give out
fines to the people letting their dogs foul such as park rangers.
A number of ways to highlight this are:-
Bring up at the Area Panels.
Health Promotion in Schools.
Posting something on the website.
Homewatch idea.
Fixed fine penalties.
Putting something in the local paper about how many
prosecutions there have been in each area.
Page in the Weekly News to highlight the issue with regards
to Health.
Pauline asked if there was anything else on environmental
issues.
It was asked about the air quality in the area but it was
said that a result of the recent Health Study showed that there was no problem
with the air and that Halton was in line with the national standard, but there
is an ongoing process to bring this down.
Pauline thanked Wendy on behalf of everybody.
3. New
Developments/Information Sharing
Pauline asked if anybody had any new developments that they
wanted to bring up.
Having a big crack down on the drinking of young
people. Need to find out what young
children want to do to get them off the streets. Something needs to be provided for young
children to give them something to do.
The biggest problem is how are the kids getting hold of drink and who is
selling it to them. Drink is becoming a
huge problem with the young and we need to know how we can address this.
Pauline asked if this was a focus this group could take
on. Pauline said if everybody would like
this to be put on the next agenda to discuss what we can do. This was agreed.
Debbie informed everybody that tonight was Halton
Together’s Network meeting at Halton Stadium if anybody could attend.
4. Date of Next
Meeting
The next Family Forum meeting will be held on
Information Exchange
|
Name and Organisation |
Comments |
|
Gill Farrell, Family Liaison
Officer at St |
New into post in February
2004. Employed by Cheshire Country
Council but via a consortium bid.
Working in Halton as a Family Liaison Officer with travellers and
their families. I am in the process of setting up
a homework club, and I am involved with the ‘art club’. I look at school attendance and will work
with older children to encourage school attendance. |
|
Irene Webster, Acorn Community
Nursery |
We are a 70 place nursery open
from We have 15 places which are funded
by Sure Start. |
|
|
In April we are to become the
centralised referral service for all drug services in Halton – statutory and
non statutory. Family Services is a
team that offer therapeutic intervention and practical support for drug using
parents (+ alcohol), their partner and children; the user does not have to
come into service, the family will still receive support if they want
it. We also have a Womens Group, again
for drug users and/or women affected by their partners drug use, the next
group begins Tuesday 16th March and runs for 12 weeks, one day a
week, travel and childcare costs are paid. For information or advice call
(01928) 574500. |
|
Thomas M Glynn, Unitask
Ltd/Kingsway T&R Association |
Unitask have applied to WREN for
funding for project on Kingsway Estate working with Halton Borough Council
and Community watch being set up on
Kingsway with Dave Potts and Police.
Should be up and running by July 2004. |
|
George MacFarlane, |
We are starting a community bike
programme up on our estate, mostly for children. We have received funding from the Reading
Millennium Award Scheme. Also Kings
Cross and Groundwork are helping us with this project. |
|
Pauline Ruth, Halton Children’s
Fund |
We have been told our funding is
going to be cut from April by up to 15% as the Government made a mistake and
“over committed” our money. Therefore,
the Management Board has had to make very difficult recommendations on which
services to close. We are still
waiting for the confirmation letter which will give us the exact amount we
will receive – this is now 2 weeks later than promised, which makes forward
planning very difficult. |