The Commission will receive a verbal update from Mr Paul Bott from Vista, on the Leicester Ageing Together Initiative.
Minutes:
Mr Paul Bott, Chief Executive of Vista updated the Commission on the Leicester Ageing Together initiative. The following points were included in Mr Bott’s update:
· Vista had been successful in securing funding to the value of £5m from the Big Lottery. This would fund 16 individual organisations with the aim of improving outcomes and reducing isolation for the over 50’s in Leicester. These organisations included local groups and national players and had been chosen by local older people.
· There would be a range of activities offered around Leicester, with a focus on communities in Evington, Belgrave, Thurncourt, Spinney Hill and Wycliffe. In addition, there would be some city wide projects as well with activities focussing on a number of groups including Afro-Caribbean communities, people suffering from hearing loss and people who could not leave their own homes.
· Vista were working with the Leicester City Council to deliver over 20 projects; almost all of which were already up and running.
· It was anticipated that during the course of five years, the programme would reach 6000 people and would create £3m worth of local employment opportunities.
· Vista would collect data from every partner which they would collate to create evidence as to what reduced isolation for the over 50’s.
Members congratulated Vista for being successful in securing the funding and thanked them for their work to reduce social isolation and loneliness. Members then made comments and raised questions which included the following:
· Disappointment was expressed that the Humberstone and Hamilton and North Evington Wards were not included in the project. It was felt that both wards were in need of the support offered because they had a considerable number of elderly residents and lack of facilities.
Mr Bott explained that they had looked at a number of factors when deciding which wards to focus on. £5m appeared to be a substantial award, but it was not enough to do all that Vista would like to do. Vista would however be looking to secure additional funding during the lifetime of the project. Mr Bott added that Vista had a legacy of being successful in securing funding. A member asked that North Evington Ward be included in a future project if further funding was secured.
· A query was raised as to how Vista would measure the success of their partner organisations’ performance.
Mr Bott responded that Vista had a contract with each of their partners. They would need to reach targets but if this was not happening, Vista would provide support and if necessary, funding would be withdrawn. There was an online monitoring tool, which would produce a substantial amount of data.
· Members queried whether there was a contingency plan if funding had to be withdrawn from one of the partner organisations.
Mr Bott advised that if after supporting the organisation, funding had to be withdrawn, there would be a commissioning exercise and the funding would be re-allocated.
· Mr Bott was asked whether there was a pathway for sharing information gained with other services and he responded that the aggregated data would be made available so that it could be used as a resource by other groups and organisations.
The Chair thanked Mr Bott for the update on the Ageing Together Initiative.
RESOLVED:
that the update on the Ageing Together Initiative be noted.