Agenda item

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

Representatives of Citizens’ Advice North Herts, North Herts CVS and North Herts Minority Ethnic Forum provided presentations on their respective organisations and, following each presentation, Members asked questions.

Audio recording – 5 minutes 14 seconds

 

The Chair invited the first Public Speaker, Ms Rosie Waters, Chief Executive Officer of North Herts Citizens’ Advice Bureau to speak about their organisation. Ms Waters thanked the Chair for the opportunity and provided a verbal presentation which highlighted the following:

 

·                They advised people on a range of issues including housing, debt, benefits, employment and they were active in every community across the district.

·                7,193 residents in North Herts had been helped by their services last year which was a 7% increase on the previous year.

·                Their services had positive, lifechanging and sometimes lifesaving impacts and helped the Council to address their Thriving Communities priority. 

·                Many clients reported better mental and physical health after using their services.

·                Their services significantly reduced demand for statutory public services.

·                1,380 people had been reached via their preventative workshops and events.

·                They had worked to make their service more accessible and they supported digitally challenged residents to navigate increasingly online public services.

·                Housing advice they provided had saved the Council an estimated £200,000.

·                Their Energy Champion provided trusted information to residents and they had applied for grants to expand their green energy offer in this area.

·                They offered value for money as every £1 invested returned an estimated £11 to residents and £18 in wider, socioeconomic benefits.

·                Financial outcomes of £2.8 million had been achieved by their services.

·                The previous Council grant had helped them to attract an additional £600,000 of funding from other sources.

·                A new, multi-year grant from the Council would help them to maintain their capacity and develop their services further to improve the lives of residents and help the Council to achieve its priorities. 

 

N.B. Councillor Martin Prescott entered the Chamber at 19.37 and Councillor Sam Collins entered the Chamber at 19.41.

 

The following Members asked questions:

 

·                Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham

·                Councillor Bryony May

·                Councillor Daniel Allen

·                Councillor Val Bryant

·                Councillor Sadie Billing

 

In response to questions, Ms Waters advised that:

 

·                Residents could contact them through multiple channels including telephone, email and face-to-face and could also access their self-help online materials.

·                They would reach those that did not already use their services through their communication strategy and increasing the comfortability of their services.  

·                Volunteer recruitment decreased dramatically after the COVID-19 pandemic and had not recovered to the same level since. 

·                To increase recruitment, they had made volunteering easier and more flexible.

·                Young people were underrepresented in their client numbers and they would address this by improving their digital accessibility and engaging schools to introduce schemes such as their financial capability programme.

·                The North Herts Cost of Living Alliance was a monthly meet up attended by partner organisations in North Herts as well as Officers from the Council Revenues and Benefits Team with the aim of working together to better help residents that were struggling with the cost of living.

·                Disability benefit claims had reportedly increased.

·                Housing issues in North Herts were more prevalent than in neighbouring districts and boroughs as housing affordability was becoming worse in their district.

 

The Chair advised Members that the North Herts Citizens’ Advice Bureau AGM would be taking place on Thursday 23 October and that they were welcome to attend.

 

The Chair thanked Ms Waters for her presentation and invited the second Public Speaker, Ms Hannah Gray of North Herts CVS to speak about their organisation. Ms Gray thanked the Chair for the opportunity and provided a verbal presentation accompanied by visual slides, and highlighted the following:

 

·                Their organisation supported volunteering, faith and social enterprise groups in North Herts to enrich life.

·                They had 1200 representatives from local groups and charities in their network.

·                Over 1000 hours of direct support had been given to these groups.

·                Detailed advice had been given to organisations on their governance to ensure that they were compliant.

·                Independent advice had been given to Baldock Community Association to ensure that Baldock Community Centre would provide a service in the future.

·                They had set up a monthly CEO Network meeting as a space for CEOs to come together to share ideas, form partnerships and support each other in addition to a Volunteer Manager Network to aid volunteer recruitment.

·                They held their Annual General Meeting and Funding Summit in September which enabled groups to meet with funding providers.

·                An event on Local Government Reorganisation was organised by them and hosted by the Leader of the Council.

·                Training provided by them helped to boost the skills, experience, knowledge and resilience of managers and volunteers.

·                MPs were lobbied when the changes to National Insurance were introduced.

·                Funding was obtained to build a social value calculator which would allow groups to better demonstrate the social value they provided for free.

·                They ran multiple projects including GoVolHerts, Community Transport, Staying Connected, Reach out Hertfordshire, Breakaway Playschemes and Volunteering for Health which helped to drive volunteering in a variety of sectors.

·                Council grant funding they received enabled them to fulfil their core services.

·                They wanted to provide greater advocacy for groups, work with the Council to provide a conference for Community Centres and run even more events.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Daniel Allen, Ms Gray advised that the Social Value Calculator would be launched on 20 October and it was developed by the University of Hertfordshire but built for and by the voluntary sector in North Herts to ensure that it was simple and intuitive for all groups to use.

 

Councillors Tamsin Thomas and Ruth Brown put on record their thanks to North Herts CVS for their work. 

 

N.B. Councillor Ralph Muncer left the Chamber at 20.03 and returned at 20.06.

 

The Chair thanked Ms Gray for her presentation and invited the third Public Speakers, Ms Myeesha Alam and Mr Mohammed Alam of North Herts Minority Ethnic Forum to speak about their organisation. They thanked the Chair for the opportunity and provided a verbal presentation accompanied by visual slides, and highlighted the following:

 

·                Established in 1998, the forum was an umbrella organisation that provided services to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and created a shared space for them to celebrate their heritage.

·                They provided advocacy services, employability and skills development programmes, senior and youth services and health and wellbeing activities.

·                They partnered with local authorities, consulted BAME groups, and acted as a hub to bridge the gap between communities. 

·                Their aim was to encourage newcomers to adopt and embrace British values, democracy, rule of law and tolerance of other communities while remembering their own culture.

·                Their team was comprised of 3 staff, 10 trustees and many volunteers.

·                Most of their projects ran on short-term funding from six months to a year but a small number operated on long-term funding sustained by donations.

·                They worked in partnership with others such as Hertfordshire Constabulary who recognised them as a third-party reporting centre for hate crime.

 

The following Members asked questions:

 

·                Councillor David Chalmers

·                Councillor Jon Clayden

·                Councillor Chris Lucas

 

In response to questions, Mr Alam advised that:

 

·                They were a small charity based in Hitchin conducting activities across the district and Stevenage. 

·                Their core funding came from grants from the National Lottery Community Fund and the Council which they were grateful for. Additional funding was also received from Rowlands Foundation and Hertfordshire Community Foundation.

·                Their Fundraising Team was comprised of two trustees and one volunteer.

·                No reports of hate crime had been made to them in the last six months.

·                Volunteer recruitment often came through previous users of their services who were confident enough to use the skills they had acquired. 

·                Activities were community based due to language barriers, however, they held some events with a mix of communities which were well attended.

·                They used social media to promote community events and had received several donations from these to give to asylum seekers.

 

Councillor Tina Bhartwas noted that it would be of great benefit for all Members to engage with the events that the Minority Ethnic Forum held.

 

The Chair thanked the Public Speakers for their presentations.