Guidance

VAPC East Midlands: meeting minutes 23 March 2020

Updated 24 October 2024

Location

Virtual WhatsApp meeting hosted by MW

Present

• Barry Smith (Chairman)
• Michael Whitehead
• Dick Hurwood
• Stavros Melides
• Larry Henson
• David Taylor
• John Berry
• Sam Wileman
• Tom Smith
• Andy Holt

Apologies

• Helen Drew-Bradley
• Gillian Ekins
• Jim Wright
• George Ellison
• David Wilson

Co-opted member

Bill Dixon-Dodds

Welcome

The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting which was the first virtual meeting the committee had undertaken. The platform adopted proved to be unstable so unfortunately, all members were unable to join and contribute simultaneously as had been hoped. Hence, personnel were engaged in a serial fashion, in groups, as connectivity waxed and waned through the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed 4 new members to the committee: Sam Wileman, George Ellison, Andy Holt and Tom Smith. Each had gone through the new Public Appointments process and had been appointed for 3 years.

The Members Appraisals for Dick Hurwood, Stav Melides, David Taylor and Jim Wright had been submitted to the Minister and a decision on their continuance in post was awaited.

The Chairman highlighted that his Ministerial appointment had been approved and that he would be in post for 3 years until March 2023.

The Chairman highlighted that his first decision was to appoint Dick Hurwood as his Vice Chair.

Declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest that would affect the work of the Committee.

Apologies for absence

The Chairman accepted apologies from those who were unable to attend the meeting. He emphasised that individuals’ attendance at committee meetings was a performance indicator that he was charged with monitoring by Vets UK. As this was the first attempt at a virtual meeting the ruling on having a quorate of members attending was taken as applying in a serial sense.

VWS update

Efforts would continue for VAPC members to accompany VWS managers on their client calls once these recommenced. The focus for co-ordinating this activity would now transfer to the Chairman.

Because of the impact on face to face meetings and travel due to the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus, the normal VWS update was unavailable. It was noted that face to face contact with veterans by caseworkers was suspended and that medical screenings for AFCS/WP claims had also been suspended. However, our contact had been maintained with the organisation and it was noted that there remained an enduring need for support to vulnerable veterans despite the likelihood of a lockdown in the UK.

EMVAPC retains the role of providing an overview of the VWS work in this region and a request to provide an input into the next meeting on 15 June 2020 would be made.

Confirmation of minutes of the last meeting held on 20th January 2020 and matters arising

The minutes were confirmed.

Item 6.2 JSP 100 - MW had distributed the link to JSP 100 to all members.

Item 6.2 - Invitation to DTS Representative Detailed discussions on our concerns about the lack of awareness within the Armed Forces community on the impact of JSP 100 had taken place with the lead for the DTS in our region. His recent public briefing at the Northamptonshire Covenant Conference had addressed many of our concerns in terms of the military chain of command recognising the needs of the spouse and family as well as that of the Service Leaver.

Input for Chair of Chairs Conference - April 20

Chairs Conference Virtual Session - A number of briefs had been received and distributed as background to the upcoming Chair of Chairs conference in April. Members were asked to provide any input on the various papers back to the Chairman as expeditiously as possible.

Sub-committee reports

Communications

Michael Whitehead highlighted that the Communications pilot study, which included our VAPC, was up and running and how it would assist committee work. He explained to members how to get onto to the Veterans & Families Research hub where the pilot is hosted.

Health

Dick Hurwood as Sub Committee (SC) head reported:

• there was continuing delay on the establishment of the NHS England AF Network in the East Midlands; it had been due to launch in Nov 19 but was postponed due to the impact of the election. His interventions with the NHS lead for the activity had not received any response and the current Public Health crisis would exacerbate the delay in his view. He would continue to engage with NHS England on this issue
• the rollout of Veterans’ accredited GP practices was continuing but like many other initiatives the impact of Covid-19 on the NHS as it re-configured for the health crisis the pandemic was forecast to deliver, was currently sidelined
• the recent changes to the way NHS practices were working in the primary care sector utilizing social prescribers to work with support networks, (including 3rd sector partners), to provide welfare support to veterans, after their needs had been identified by their GPs, was also threatened by the likely imposition of a nationwide lockdown. New rules on social distancing would also prevent face to face contact with these individuals. Maintaining support for these vulnerable individuals would be a key challenge for the health and care system during the pandemic.

Governance

Barry Smith as Policy & Governance SC head had circulated his report before the meeting and it is attached. He reported that the government response to the consultation exercise undertaken last year on the Veterans Strategy had been published by the Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA), together with an action plan for the next 2 years. There had been a number of information requests from the OVA as well as a request for briefing papers from the new Chair of Chairs to support his engagement activities with the new team within the OVA. However, the impact of COVID-19 on routine meetings meant that the upcoming schedule of AFC Partnership Boards meetings across the region had collapsed.

Welfare

There was no update brief from the Welfare SC.

Recruitment update

The Chairman emphasised that the Cabinet Office ruling on membership tenure would mean that a further recruiting round would be required in autumn 2020 to replace those members due to retire in 2021. Members were asked to help identify new candidates for the committee and encourage them to apply once the recruiting round is opened up.

Update on centenary of the WPC/VAPCs

Work was continuing to define the centenary celebrations of the War Pensions/VAPC construct on 1 Jun 21. Gillian Ekins had been asked to lead for our committee the engagement activities with the VAPC100 committee which met routinely on Skype.

Codifying best practice in NHS secondary care

The detailed analysis of the various initiatives underway within the UHL by the non-executive director, who is the AFC lead within the hospital, remains parked. The delay by NHS England in the start up of the AF Network in the E Midlands has reduced the impetus to roll out these best practice initiatives across the region. The work that needed to be done to capture the full complement of different initiatives that various Health Trusts had implemented across the region was also on hold due to the impact of Covid-19.

Sustaining VAPC statutory roles and functional roles during the COVID-19 emergency

The Chair asked that the committee members engage in the maximum way possible with their networks to maintain an overview of the support that was being provided to the veteran community during the crisis from all of the different elements of the various support agencies, both statutory and 3rd sector.

Any other business

The Chairman reminded members of the expenses policy and the need to process all claims through the Secretary.

VE Day Celebrations. The Chairman highlighted that the formal elements of VE Day were to be cancelled but that informal events at a community level were being identified as suitable activities that could take place despite the social distancing measures that were likely to be in place.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting is to take place at 10.30 am on 15 Jun 2020. It would be planned to be delivered on a platform that would allow full participation by all committee members.