Tuesday, 1 July 2008

At 8:30 this morning I met with Des (Youth Connexions Personal Advisor) at Bushey Hall School to complete an “observation” on his work with young people. I stayed until nearly 11:00 during which time only one of his three scheduled appointments turned up. This was dispiriting - but not unexpected at a time when many young people can think only of exams and summer holidays.

Back at WCVS, I talked with Helen about the future of the Volunteer Centre. The Centre is accredited as part of the national network and uses the Volunteer Centre branding which has some value. But overall, the benefits seem to be outweighed by the costs of administration and plain bureaucracy. In some instances, this bureaucracy even seems to deter people from volunteering. We need to find a way to cut through all this. There are a few fairly radical solutions, and I will consult my trustees, staff and members about these over the coming months.

I also had several discussions with colleagues in other Herts CVSs about our bid to host the Hertfordshire LINks contract.

Before leaving the office, I talked with Vanessa (as our H&S Officer) and Anne (as our Fire Officer) to review our safety snagging list.

Next, I responded to some legal and employment queries from some of our member organisations.

Quality Assurance

Vanessa and I also had a final talk through the draft quality assurance framework we are developing for Watford's voluntary sector. I stayed late and circulated for consultation a draft “Quality assurance framework for Watford’s voluntary sector”. The intention is that this will provide a comprehensive framework for our quality assurance work in Watford. It also provides a framework for other voluntary groups to use. There is also plenty there for our statutory partners to adopt as best practice.

Health Inequalities Fund

Before leaving the office, I also circulated inviations to workshops to discuss Watford's £10,000 Health Inequalities Fund. This is money set aside by the PCT for innovative work in Watford tackling smoking and promoting exercise for the over-45s. We are working with the PCT and WBC to try and ensure that voluntary groups collaborate on how to use the money rather than compete: the workshops of vooluntary and community groups are intended to produce a consensus on which projects will deliver the most benefit. We shall see.