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Council Minutes
November 2007
28th November 2007
MINUTES OF THE ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY-FIFTH MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL
HELD ON WEDNESDAY 28TH NOVEMBER @ 1.30 p.m.
IN CRC’S BOARDROOM @ THEIR OFFICES IN THE LINEN GREEN CENTRE, MOYGASHEL, DUNGANNON.
1824/07 PRESENT: Action:
Mr M Campbell, Mr J Deery, Mr W Erwin, Mr S Farry, Ms H Francey, Mr C O’Halloran, Ms M Hetherington, Ms E Gallagher, Mr E McCartan (Chair), Mr T McCusker , Ms M Muldoon, Dr D Stevens, Mr M Wardlow, Ms C Wilson, Mr R Wilson.
1825/07 APOLOGIES:
Mr T Kennedy, Mr D O’Loan, Ms S Gordon.
1826/07 IN ATTENDANCE:
Dr D Morrow [CEO], Ms J Irwin {Deputy CEO], Mr J Dennison [PD/EU Programme], Mr J Fitzsimons [P/D DFAP], Ms M Mackin [PD/Funding & Dev Programme], Mr R Mullan [P/D Communication & Resources], Ms D McGlade [P/D Policy Dev Programme], Ms G Attwood [P/O Policy Dev Prof], Ms H Scott [P/Secretary].
1827/07 OBSERVER:
Mr D Haire (OFMDFM)
1828/07 MINUTES:
The Minutes from the previous meeting (27 Sept 2007) having been circulated, were taken as read. A minor typographical amendment was noted to page 10.
1829/07 WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS:
The Chairman extended a warm welcome to new members Mr Campbell, Mr Farry and Mr Deery.
The CEO reminded members of the first of a two-day induction (CIPFA “On Board”) which would take place on the 7th December and the second which would take place on 15th January.
1830/07 MATTERS ARISING:
(1) Stratagem [Mins 1822/07, Item 2 refers]: Ms Wilson enquired if there was an update on the “Shared Future Foundation”.
1830/07 Matters Arising continued: Action:
Stratagem continued: The CEO confirmed that he had met with Mr Oliver and that the project seemed still to be at the planning stage. He said that the main donor was the Prince of Lichtenstein and his Foundation.
The CEO suggested that there might be some specific areas which would be of interest to CRC, e.g. policy and research. He said he would keep members up-dated
(2) Hazelwood “fence” [Mins1822/07, Item 3 refers]: The CEO outlined the background. He said there was a need to develop alternative mechanisms for the decision process re dividing fences. He confirmed a group had been established which had met last week which included representatives from NIHE, BCC, PSNI, DSD etc. The CEO stated that it hoped to establish a strategy and he would keep members updated re this.
1831/07 CHAIR’S BUSINESS:
1 Victims (29/30 October) Live Issues conferences (23rd November): The Chairman told members that these two major conferences had been well received, well organised and the feedback had been positive. He congratulated the Funding and Development and EU Programme teams for their hard work in making these events a resounding success. He said relevant papers (e.g. CEO’s speech, John Paul Lederach’s keynote) were on the CRC website for anyone interested.
2 Website: The Chair said that the CRC website had been revamped and updated and encouraged new members to have a look at it. He pointed out that other papers from CRC events e.g. Donald Shriver’s Public Lecture (16 October) were also available.
3 Annual Report: The Chair said that the latest CRC Annual Report had been sent out and copies of the second part (Financial report) were tabled (at this meeting).
1832/07 PEACE III UP-DATE:
[Paper CRC/125/11/07/01]
The CEO told members that EU staff had made progress and that the focus of the new Peace III Programme had become narrower as funding decreased. He said that Peace III was the last of the major Peace money benefits and that CRC’s task was two fold and it had a role in two Measures, Priority 1.1 (as a development and support body) and in Measure 1.2 as the Intermediary Body distributing grants.
1832/07 Peace III Up-date continued: Action:
The CEO advised that in both Measurers CRC would be working with Border Action and that Programme staff were doing a series of information road shows as well as planning and programme meetings.
Governance arrangements: The CEO said that the General Purposes Committee (met 27 November) had come up with a proposal that four Council members represent Council (in its partnership role with Border Action).
1833/07 A PROGRAMME FOR GOVERNMENT:
[Paper entitled ‘Building a Better Future: Draft PfG 2008-11’tabled at meeting refers]
The CEO did a presentation to Council under the following headings:
§ Principles
§ Strategic priorities
§ Priority
§ Key goals
(it was noted that, in the Programme for Government, there are no specific
goals relating to community relations)
§ Draft Budget
§ CRC draft response
§ Key tasks:
§ Next steps/recommendations
During a general debate the following was highlighted:
Ø The concept of sharing should be “incentivised” and consistently argued for;
Ø A need to re-present the evidence (e.g. the figures) of the nature of this (divided) society;
Ø A re-stating of principles e.g. non-violence, good relations and equality and build this into a framework of evidence;
Ø There is no mention of A Shared Future in the Draft Programme for Government;
Ø Neither Good Relations nor Shared Future appeared on the formal proposals of many Departments.
Mr Haire (CRU) advised that there was a requirement within the Review of Public Administration District Councils to integrate Good Relations legislation in its planning.
The Chair expressed the view that the Council needed to be masters of its of future regardless of whether the term ‘A Shared Future’ was dropped by local government, the CRC should stick to the issues and argue its case.
1833/07 A Programme for Government continued: Action:
The CEO told members that various prominent people were being asked to write articles about specific areas of interest e.g. education, economy, housing, equality and policing.
The CEO asked if members would take the CRC’s draft response (tabled at meeting) away, and read over and, if appropriate feedback any views/suggestions to Gemma Attwood (Policy Development Programme) by 14th January 2008.
PfG postcard campaign- specimen circulated at meeting refers
A general discussion followed. Some members expressed the view that the Council “needed to do something” and sooner rather than later – others favoured a more considered “evidence based” argument. A general consensus was that the difficult issues would not go away and politicians would inevitably need to address these.
Agreed actions:
(i) Revamp existing paper (adding statistics and evidence-based
material). Deadline end of next week.
(ii) Will not do a postcard campaign (at present)
(iii) Will seek to get articles written about specific areas of concern
(iv) Will talk to members of the Practitioner’s Forum about the PfG to ascertain their views and concerns.
1834/07 GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE:
[Paper CRC/125/11/07/02 plus papers tabled at meeting refer]
Papers tabled:
§ Recruitment of Chair of Council (cover page and 1-11 page paper)
§ Corporate Strategic Plan (cover page and 1-18 page paper)
§ Council Committees (recommendation and 3 page paper)
§ Risk register up-date – no paper was tabled as a draft had been submitted to the September 2007 Council meeting. Mr Fitzsimons informed members that an amended paper would be brought to the January
Council meeting which would take into account changes required by Programme for Government and Audit requirements.
Ms Irwin
Staff sickness: Mr Fitzsimons reported that in the July to Sept (2007) period there had been an increase from 2% to 4% in the quarter. He said that the situation would be monitored.
1834/07 General Purposes Committee (Risk Register) continued: Action:
Memorandum and Articles of Association: Mr Fitzsimons reported that detail discussions had taken place in the presence of Solicitor Fiona Cassidy. He said that a lot of work still remained and that the up-dating of these documents continued to be a work in progress. Mr Fitzsimons confirmed that he would continue to liaise with the Solicitor and said he hoped to provide a further draft to members at the next GP Committee meeting in 2008.
Implementation of Strategic Plan 2007-10. The CEO said that this had been delayed by Purdah prior to elections and that the plan had been drawn up with A Shared Future in mind. He informed members that at the GP Committee (yesterday 27th November) it had been recommended that the Plan (as draft) should be adopted as CRC’s interim strategy.
It was agreed that the 2008 - 2011 Plan should be adapted to cover whatever emerges from this budgetary cycle which would include CRC’s enhanced role.
It was also agreed that there would be no formal launch of an Operational Plan this year.
The CEO informed members that there was currently 7 CRC Committees plus IFI’s Community Bridges Programme. He said that, because of changes to CRC’s structure some of these Committees would no longer be effective and that it was agreed that future committees should be designed ‘bespoke to purpose’.
1835/07 OPERATIONAL PLANNING:
[Papers CRC/125/11/07/ 03(i)m, 03(ii) & 03(iii)refer]
Equality Scheme update - 03(i)
Ms Irwin informed members that the Group would meet on 17th December to plan the next round of training any changes would be brought to Council members at the next meeting.
Equality Impact Assessments: Ms Irwin reported that work on the full EQIA of grant processes had already begun and there would be a further meeting with Dr Kremer (QUB) had been arranged for 29th January to progress the work.
Performance Indicators - 03(ii)
Ms Irwin informed members that there had been no comments/amended on the 07-08 paper (presented at the September Council meeting). She confirmed that the attached was therefore the final version.
1835/07 Operational Planning continued: Action:
Mr Erwin said he thought there were too many Indicators, some of which should be “Performance Measures”.
The Chair suggested that Mr Erwin liaise with Ms Irwin.
Mr Erwin
1836/07 DEALING WITH THE LEGACY OF THE PAST:
[Papers CRC/125/11/07/04 & draft No. 3 dated 28.11.07 tabled at meeting refers]
The CEO outlined the background to this submission, he indicated that although the Victims Committee had a lead role, other Committees had also been involved.
The CEO thanked staff, in particular, Messrs Attwood and Mackin for their work and he asked new members to read the document and to forward any suggestions or comments to Gemma Attwood (as detailed in the paper) by the deadline date indicated (07.12.07)
1837/07 PATHFINDER – White City Community Development Association:
[Paper CRC/125/11/05 refers]
The CEO outlined the background to this application. He pointed out that there had been a typographical error (see Recommendations) and the dates should read “approximately £6130 in 2007/08 (two months)” and £30645 in 2008/09”.
Mr Wardlow suggested that the application should include a reference to the two schools involved.
It was agreed to amend the application accordingly.
The agree addition to ‘Considerations’ paragraph to read: “The schools should be integrat5ed into the planning of this project”. CEO
Amount recommended: Total = £36,775 (in two tranches)
Amount agreed: £36,775.00
1838/07 CEO’S REPORT:
[Paper CRC/125/11/06 refers]
The above report outlines the main areas of work.
Welcome to new staff: The CEO welcomed Naomi Doak (EU Research Officer]; Damien McNally (Core Funding Evaluation Officer] and Paul Killen (District Council Officer).
1838/07 CEO’s continued: Action:
Premises: The CEO informed members that the Agents had confirmed that a further suite of offices would be available in Glendinning House at the end of February. He said that this would resolve the problem of inadequate office space and that Architects would be engaged to redesign CRC’s spaces.
Events: The CEO said that there had been a number of high-quality seminars lead by people distinguished in their fields, Dr Donald Shriver (Ethics for Enemies seminar), Trevor Philips (Chairman of the Equality and Human Rights for GB and Professor John Paul Lederach.(Live Issues conference).
1839/07 FINANCE:
[Papers CRC/125/11/07, 07(i), 07(ii) and 07.1 refer]
Mr Fitzsimons confirmed the usual papers:
Notes to Profile of Expenditure - 07(i)
Profile of Expenditure - 07 (ii)
Mr Fitzsimons reported that the budget was broadly in line with expectations for this time of year and all Programme expenditure was on course.
Mr Fitzsimons reported on the following:
Media/Publications grants are split – media grants were slow to come to payment stage.
Publications grants - fully committed.
Pathfinder grants – full spend anticipated
Core Funding – in line with projected spend
Victims Core Funding – full spend anticipated
Small Grant Expenditure Review - 07.1
Mr Fitzsimons pointed out that there were peaks and troughs in terms of grant spend. He said that it was usual to have heavy spend during the summer months.
It was confirmed that the 2006/07 Annual Accounts were tabled at the June 2007 meeting and re-tabled at the September 2007 meeting,
The CEO informed members that new internal auditors had been appointed and that Mr Fitzsimons would be meeting them shortly.
The Chair thanked Mr Fitzsimons and his staff for their work in maintaining robust financial recording systems.
(Ms C Wilson left the meeting @ 3.20 p.m.)
1840/07 SECTOR REPORTS:
[Papers CRC/125/11/07/08 to 11 refer]
These sector reports are for member’s information:
Funding & Development Programme
(Paper CRC/125/11/07/08 refers)
European Programme
(Paper CRC/125/11/07/09 refers)
Policy Development Programme
(Paper CRC/125/11/07/10 refers
Communication & Learning Resources
(Paper CRC/125/11/07/11 refers)
IFI Community Bridges
(Paper CRC/125/ 11/07/12 refers)
1841/07 AOB:
(1) Council Committees: Paper entitled ‘Council Committees’ tabled at meeting refers.
The CEO informed members that Item 4 (Communications Committee) in the above paper was likely to be amended after agreement at the General Purposes Committee that the Policy Development, Communication and Research Committees be merged into one large Committee. He indicated that this would represent the biggest change to current Committee arrangements. The CEO said this was due to the fact that it was felt that there were inter-connecting and overlapping themes that could better managed by one Committee made up of Council members and people with expertise in relevant areas.
(2) Recruitment of Chair {Mins1813/07 refer] : The Chairman asked that any member(s) who had an interest in this position should declare it and leave the room.
(Mr McCusker, Mr Wardlow and Mr Wilson left the boardroom 4.30 p.m.)
The Chair thanked the members leaving the boardroom and suggested that there was no need for them to wait as this was the final Agenda item
The Chair asked members if they were content with the ‘Recruitment of Chair’ papers that had been tabled at the meeting.
1841/07 AOB continued: Action:
Members indicated that they were.
The CEO stated that the matter of a new Chair has been considered by the General Purposes committee which had agreed a time table.
He said it was hoped to provide an up-date on progress by the next Council meeting. The CEO advised members that an advertisement would appear in the local papers next week and the deadline for replies would be “tight.” He said an interview panel would be appointed on the basis of people available and with the necessary expertise.
The CEO said that he would appreciate if members could indicate their availability because he wanted to avoid delays in the short-listing and interview process.
(Mr Farry left the meeting at 4.10 p.m.)
The CEO advised members that if it was not possible to complete the recruitment process in the time allotted, the January Council meeting might need to be moved to February.
1842/07 PROPOSED DATES OF NEXT COUNCIL MEETINGS:
31st January – Boardroom, Murray Street
27th March – Boardroom, Murray Street – because of an early Easter this now moved to: Thursday April 10th
29th May – Boardroom, Linen Green Centre, Moygashel, Dungannon
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