BCAN Homeless Forum

Draft Agenda

15 January 2004

Open

Introduction and apologies

Confirm or change agenda

Notes of previous meeting

Matters arising from previous meeting

Information Share

BCAN Web site: www.bcan.org.uk

Contact details

News of people and organisations

Anti-Begging Initiative

Update on the Council Policy

Questions and Answers

Developing the BHF

Feedback from the circulated documents

Membership and fees?

Training

Review and feedback from volunteer training session 4

First Aid training

Improving the Service

The wider picture

Gaps and opportunities

Close

Shared documents: policies, guidelines, etc.

Items for next agenda

Any other business


News

Voscur

The new Voscur Director resigned before starting, so the post is being re-advertised.  If anyone is interested in applying, the new deadline is 27 January.

NCVO

The draft Charities Bill announced in the Queen’s speech should be published this Spring.  The DTI should shortly produce a bill to create Community Interest Companies during this session.

NCVO is concerned about several aspects of the Active Community Directorate’s Infrastructure Review of the voluntary sector, including the needs of non-service delivery organisations. They published Model for the Future as an alternative approach, and have now produced a four page Infrastructure Review Summary & Comparison Paper.  Copies of these two documents are available.

If you receive Government funding, you should respond by the deadline of 9 February 2004 to the draft new version of the Compact Funding Code of Good Practice, issued 3 November 2003.

BSRT

It was reported that Trinity College made little response to a request for help, but the Autumn/Winter 2003 edition of the Caring at Christmas newsletter says that they filled (or helped fill?) one of the missing Thursday slots.

Local

Does everyone have a copy of the Bristol Compact (November 2003)?  You should! If you have problems getting hold of a copy, let me know.

Anyone who works with vulnerable adults should also have a copy of No Secrets in Bristol, and make sure you have procedures in place that follow the guidelines.  A summary leaflet is also available.

Employment Law

Would it be helpful to look at the Employment Equality (Religions or Belief) Regulations 2003 at a future meeting?

Faith Based Regeneration

The Faith based Regeneration Network represents seven of the major faiths in the UK.  The network has two events coming up: a conference in Preston on Regenerating Communities through Faith (26 February), and the launch (25 March) of the Toolkit for Practitioners in London.