Home Office Meeting Notes

Notes from MAF meeting – 24.08.2023

• WLDC – What is the latest on the extra meetings after the 4 planned at the Showground?
• HO – There are no updates yet but they are happening.
• WLDC – are the media being invited?
• HO – No but we are working with the media teams.
• WLDC – the council is being inundated with requests from residents outside of the initial remit for more dates.
• HO – There are future meetings being planned and will take place before Go Live but we want to make sure these meetings go well before we confirm any more.
• WLDC – there has been nothing issued from the HO advertising these meetings and it has been left up to WLDC to advertise which in unacceptable.
• WLDC – As there are 4 meetings and not 1 large meeting are WLDC, SPC & LCC able to attend all 4?
• Yes, 2 representatives from each organisation can attend each meeting.
• WLDC – All of SPC should be invited to attend all 4?
• HO – there is only capacity for 130 people max in the room so it is unfair to allow all of SPC in every meeting.  There will be a write up available at the end of the meetings.
• WLDC – SPC should be allowed to attend all of the meetings for clarity and trust for the residents and to ensure continuity.
• SPC – The provision to allow SPC to all 4 of the meetings is vital.  A write up issued at the end of the day will not satisfy the community.  With only 4 weeks to go until the planned Go Live date it is already too late to make any changes to the plans after these meetings take place.
• HO – We are sorry for the delay in getting this sorted.
• SPC – Linton-on-Ouse Parish Council and the HO had a meeting and at that meeting you apologised for the delay, 1 year on and you’re still delaying important community engagement.
• HO – there will be an updated factsheet and a newsletter printed out ready to hand out at the community meeting.
• WLDC – these need to be available sooner rather than later and not wait until the meeting.
• WLDC – what are the expectations of the partners attending the meeting, police, NHS etc?
• HO – We are unsure of their expectations.  We are happy to be led by SPC & WLDC.
• WLDC – The HO officers must be prepared to be in front of 100+ people taking the flack.
• LCC – The answers issued to residents need to be clear and re-assure them that they will not change.
• HO – We agree.
• WLDC – There are never any updates/responses available from the HO when stories/news are released, we have been asking for this to happen for several weeks.
• HO – We will make sure that this happens going forward.
• HO – we are updating our Engagement Plan and are trying to be more proactive rather than reactive.
• LCC – Who is responsible to contact the VCS groups?
• HO – The HO is responsible for this.
• LCC – What about donations?  There is a local group offering free bikes?
• SPC – Please do not issue bikes to the service users, the A15 is not safe.
• HO – We agree.
• WLDC – The council are very concerned by allowing lots of VCS groups into a delicate area.  WLDC do not have the availability for numerous funding requests from the VCS Groups.
• SPC – Where is the Dynamic Risk Assessment and Impact Statement and can we see it?
• HO – This will be picked up with HO colleagues to see if it is available to share.
• SPC – What support are you offering for the local residents?
• HO – Funding has been made available to the local police and services.
• SPC – This does not immediately support the community?
• HO – What support do you need?
• SPC – These have been listed numerous times since April?  There is numerous support offered to the service users but nothing to the local community.  SPC have written a letter to Robert Jennerick listing all of our concerns and they have been talked about at all of these meetings and yet the HO claim to be unaware of the concerns.
• SPC – There appears to be no Dynamic Risk Assessment.  If this was done then the HO would be aware all of our concerns which has quite clearly not happened.
• LCC – a list of concerns was raised by SPC back in April.  I would be useful for the HO to go back and find this list, look into it and use it as a starting block.
• WLDC – we expect the majority of the concerns raised at next weeks engagement meetings will be the same as what SPC issued in March/April.
• WLDC – How can we begin to detail the risks and concerns if we are not privy to the Risk Assessment so effectively, we are working blind.  There is 4 weeks before we Go Live and we are all still unaware of the identified risks.
• HO – this has been raised at wider MAF meetings but not within the Comms Team.
• WLDC – It is crucial for us all to see this document.
• HO – Thank you for your comments.