Councillors and committees

Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: The Army Reserve Centre, Guildford Road, Farnham GU9 9QB

Contact: Sarah Goodman 

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and brief by CO of 4PWRR

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    Minutes:

    Lt Col Steven Garmory welcomed all to the Army Reserve Centre Farnham and gave an overview of the history and current work of 4PWRR.

     

2.

Welcome and Apologies

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    Minutes:

    Helyn Clack (Chair) welcomed all and invited those who hadn’t previously attended to introduce themselves. Apologies were noted as above.

     

3.

Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising pdf icon PDF 289 KB

4.

11 Security Force Assistance Brigade Update

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    • Strategic Update
    • Task Force Commander Update

     

     

    Minutes:

    Strategic Update – Col John Baynham

    A verbal update was given to the board outlining changes and focus of 11 Brigade. They continue to be extremely busy and recent operations have included:

    • Ongoing support with training for Ukrainian forces (5000 trained to date with target of 10,000 by end of the year)
    • The Queen’s Jubilee and funeral
    • Migrants in Calais
    • On standby to support winter resilience where needed

     

    Irish Guards are now back in 11 Brigade following public duties with London District and will continue their role as a Task Force Commander for Surrey.

     

    Engagement:

    • SE Leadership Challenge – 400 people attended the Longmoor event over two days in October from schools, explorers and employers (many of which were from Surrey)
    • Employer Recognition Scheme – Surrey is doing well with organisations registered as Bronze, Silver and Gold.  It was noted that a number of Surrey local authorities are wishing to proceed to silver this year when the application process opens.
    • Schools Engagement Programme ongoing across the county in seven Surrey schools.

     

    A reminder to all that the Armed Forces Covenant Trust Fund has money available under the following programmes:

     

    Closing date: 14 Nov 2022

    Grants of up to £10,000 for community projects that reduce isolation and promote integration

     

    Closing date: 14 Nov 2022

    Up to £100,000 over up to 3 years.

     

    It was noted that councillors are well placed to inform projects or charities in their local area who may be eligible to apply for funds.  Sarah Goodman is happy to discuss any potential bids and provide support.

    Action All: Spread the word about this funding opportunity.

     

    Events to note:

    • 20 Oct 2022 - SERFCA Lord-Lieutenant Awards Ceremony at Guildford Cathedral.
    • 9 Nov 2022 – Heritage Day event at Brookwood Cemetery.  Seeking to involve further education colleges and community representatives such as members of the board.  Will highlight the unique nature of service.

     

    Action: Louise Punter to link in with Richard Moore and support with further education contacts where helpful.

     

    TASK FORCE COMMANDER UPDATE:

     

    ATC Pirbright - Lt Col Shamus Kelly

    Debbie Goldsmith provided a verbal update on behalf of Col Shamus regarding ATC Pirbright:

     

    Events to note:

    • 27 September 2022 - Hosted an engagement and training day with the Surrey Armed Forces team for Armed Forces Champions and Covenant leads across the county.  It was a very positive and productive day, doing much to build understanding and strengthen partnerships.

     

    • 28 October 2022 - Royal British Legion Surrey Poppy Launch 2022

    ATC Pirbright will again host the launch of the poppy appeal in Surrey.  All members of the board have been invited.

     

    • 15 March 2023 – Surrey Armed Forces Covenant Conference

    Annual event will be hosted again in Granby Hall.

     

    Remembrance – main focus for ATC Pirbright will be events at Brookwood Cemetery and supporting Guildford, Woking and Knaphill.

     

    Pass Off Parades

    Members of the Board were invited to attend a pass of parade at Pirbright. Action:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

SERFCA Update

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    Minutes:

    Verbal update given by Col Patrick Crowley, with a brief preliminary introduction to SERFCA for those new to the board - SERFCA supports reserves and cadets and connects defence with the community, working closely with 11 Brigade.

     

    Events:

    • Oct 2022 – First ever Employer Recognition Scheme Regional Awards held on board HMS Warrior.  Was a big and successful event.

     

    • 20 Oct 2022 – Lord Lieutenant Awards in Surrey taking place at Guildford Cathedral.  Board members welcome.

     

    • 5 Dec 2022 – Reserve units and local community engagement units will meet with Armed Forces Champions in Farnham Reserve Centre at the Annual Surrey SERFCA Committee Meeting

     

    Defence Employer Recognition Scheme

    The Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) encourages employers to support defence and inspire others to do the same.Surrey is well represented but it would be great to be able to make further awards.

     

    A number of borough council in Surrey are keen to gain silver and Col Patrick confirmed that the next round should now be open to applications.

     

6.

Recognise and Remember pdf icon PDF 440 KB

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    ·         Armed Forces Week

    ·         Remembrance

    ·         Veteran Hubs (attached)

    Minutes:

    Verbal update given by Brig Paul Evans.

     

    Armed Forces Week 2022

    A number of events were held across the county.  The event at Guildford Cathedral was very well attended.

     

    Recognise and Remember Task Group

    Productive meeting held on 16 Sept 2022, focusing on two main areas:

     

    Remembrance 2022

    Discussed what events were happening including looking at some of the challenges including guidance around road closures.  The Board discussed the difficulty when recommendations from the local Safety Advisory Groups did not recommend road closures when locally it was anticipated that Remembrance Events are likely to be particularly well attended this year.  There was a call for Surrey Police to be more positive and pro-active with guidance in this area.

     

    Action: Chair to contact Police Commissioner and SCC Emergency Planning team to discuss.

     

    Veterans Hubs

    A number of veterans hubs in Surrey are struggling for want of a small amount of funding.  Two possibilities raised:

     

    Action: Brig Paul Evans to share details with the board of those hubs which might need funding support. 

     

    Action: Set up a task and finish group to work out how hubs and attendance could be improved.

     

7.

Armed Forces Act 2021 pdf icon PDF 353 KB

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    ·         Forces Connect Awareness Training/new Covenant Duty:

    o   Surrey Leaders and Surrey Chief Executives

    o   Front line staff and Service Champions

    o   Armed Forces Champions and Covenant Leads

    o   Elearning induction

    o   Surrey Commissioning Board

    Minutes:

    A verbal update given by Canon Peter Bruinvels

     

    Work is ongoing to support the new legislation in Surrey in a number of ways:

     

    Forces Connect Armed Forces Awareness Training / new Covenant Duty

    Training sessions continue online and in person. 

    Action: Share Peter’s training slides

     

    Surrey Leaders and Surrey Chief Executives

    An update was provided by Canon Peter Bruinvels at their meeting.  There was a noted enthusiasm for ERS scheme.

     

    Surrey Commissioning Board

    Attended a Surrey Commissioning Board meeting to see how new duty can be included in commissioning processes going forwards. 

     

8.

Veteran Friendly GPs pdf icon PDF 301 KB

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    Minutes:

    There are currently only 11 Veteran Friendly GPS in Surrey and work is ongoing with partners from Surrey Heartlands to increase this number whilst ensuring it is a meaningful exercise.  The paper circulated with the agenda set out the actions currently in place to support this workstream which includes presentations at forthcoming meetings with GPs.  It was noted that an item has also been requested at a future meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

     

    Action: Board members were asked to promote this initiative as appropriate including asking their local surgery if they are Veteran Friendly.

     

9.

Education Update pdf icon PDF 698 KB

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    ·         Attainment (attached)

    ·         Early Years

    ·         Military families to benefit from £3,000 of childcare support

    Serving personnel across the United Kingdom will be entitled to free wraparound childcare from September. The Wraparound Childcare (WAC) scheme will provide up to 20 hours per week of free childcare before and after school during term time for eligible military parents with children aged 4 to 11 years. Military families to benefit from £3,000 of childcare support - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    An update was provided which covered the following:

     

    ·         Recent results have shown big improvements at KS1 and KS2 for service children however at Early Years service children are still achieving less well than their civilian peers.

    ·         To help address this some eligible settings are being encouraged to apply for a grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for additional interventions.

    ·         Officers are looking at best practice for use of Service Pupil premium in schools and eligibility around reservists.

     

    Action: Lord Lieutenant please share paper with DLs to support their early years work.

     

10.

Employment Support

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    ·         Work experience – SCC

    ·         Promoting opportunities to spouses based at ATC (Pirbright)

    ·         Military pathway into Police – skills mapping vs Police degree and use of learning credits

    ·         Jobcentre Plus services for the armed forces and their families

    As part of the Armed Forces Covenant, DWP is improving the way current and former members of the armed forces and their families access Jobcentre Plus services. This includes having an armed forces champion in every Jobcentre Plus District who ensures that we provide support that meets the needs of the armed forces community.

    This publication explains the role of the armed forces champion and the improvements to the way members of the armed forces and their families access our services.

    Minutes:

    ·         Work Experience – SCC are exploring work experience options for both service leavers and service children.

    ·         Woking Borough Council are looking to see how best to promote local job opportunities to spouses based at Pirbright.

    ·         Military Pathway into the Police – Tom Budd to raise internally and with colleagues nationally how ex-service skills could be mapped against the Police degree to provide a positive pathways into the Police.

    ·         Continuing to work closely with Job Centre Plus in Surrey and they have some good opportunities for armed forces community. The Armed Forces Champion of DWP is now part of the Recognise and Remember Task Group.

     

11.

AOB

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    ·         2023 Conference – provisional date 15 March 2023 at Army Training Centre (Pirbright)

    Minutes:

    Agreed date for Surrey Armed Forces Covenant Conference – Wednesday 15 March 2023 at ATC Pirbright

     

12.

Date of next meeting

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    10am-12pm on Thursday 20 April 2023

    Minutes:

    10am Thursday 20 April 2023. Venue TBC