Guidance

VAPC London: meeting minutes 19 May 2021

Updated 22 March 2024

Present

• Bill Charles (BC) – Chairman
• Alex Woolgar-Toms (AWT)
• Nick Sharpe (NS)
• Matthew Seward (MS)
• Jim Blake (JB)
• Caroline Flynn Macleod (CFM)
• Robin Herzberg (FRH)
• Carl Hunter (CH)
• Oliver Leeming (OL)
• Nick Mazzei (NM)
• Wendy Morris (WM)
• Larry Stone (LS)
• Charles Perrett (CP)
• Annabel Goulding (AG)
• Frances Wyhowska (FW)
• Marion Knight (Secretary) MK

Apologies

• Ken Courtenay (KC)
• Matthew Neave
• Rebecca Lefort (RL)
• Alpa Raja
• Brian Willmore
• Bishnu Gurung (BG)(who tried to but was unable to connect to the meeting)

Apologies for absence/other appointments and leavers

Apologies received from KC. KC will be leaving the Committee July 2021 and as the focus of today’s meeting is the Way Forward he felt it was not appropriate for him to attend.

BC informed the Committee that since the last meeting Heather Betts had resigned from the Committee and NS would also be leaving after this meeting. BC thanked both for their Commitment to the LVAPC.

JB has now been reappointed as a committee member following his interim co-opted status and there have been three further appointments to the Committee since the last meeting two are unable to attend (Alpa Raja and Brian Willmore). Bishnu Gurung attempted to join but we could not make the connection.

Focus of the meeting

BC thanked NS for the preparation he had done, including the slide deck he shared with the Committee on the call.

NS explained that the purpose of the call and his slides were to address the following: strategic intent for the LVAPC, to outline the areas of focus, the potential engagement, alignment of the Committee members to these areas and next steps. He stressed that the slides were suggestions after discussion with BC and hoped that they helped to focus debate. It was agreed that they did that.

Through the slides, NS pointed out 3 areas of focus, the. leadership of the LVAPC, team responsibilities and individual responsibilities

It was generally agreed that:

• the starting point was the Way Ahead on the assumption that the Functions issue would be resolved

• the members should work in teams on projects and that the 9 areas of focus identified (Employment, Financial Education and Pensions, Marketing and Communication, Outreach, Housing, Charity Engagement, Health Functions issue and Legislation, and Training and Development and training development were all relevant.

General discussion

FW – believed it was important that the committee find out at grass roots level how much understanding there was about VAPCs and their purpose and believed with the business contacts she has that she could play an important role by doing her own fact finding and reporting back to the Committee.

OL – generally agreed with the 9 headings. He is particularly interested in the training and development and employment areas. He believes it is important to do a mapping exercise across the London Boroughs. He also thought it is important that key messages are fed back to the Veterans Minister, advocates relationships with Regimental Associations as Regiments often support families in the Veteran’s Community. He believes the financial education piece is extremely important. He is keen to support the Employment and Health and wellbeing areas as a committee member.

AG – She is keen to be involved in the Financial Education area and BC suggested that she might lead this group. She is keen to understand the current state of play in this area as a starting point for utilization of ideas.

CH – believes the Regimental association is important and is keen to be involved in the political involvement strand of the Committee and is happy to join CFM on this strand of work. (He also raised the definition of a veteran and would like to investigate whether a change is viable. MS cautioned that the definition was well-established, and change would not be supported by many and might involve change in the Veterans Strategy and statutory amendment. JB referred to the existence of international definitions. BC asked whether the problem was a real or an imaginary one and suggested that at this stage CH should not wear his “LVAPC hat” if he investigates this).

CFM -agreed she is happy to lead the Parliamentary engagement strand for the London VAPC, but she stated she did not underestimate the scale of the challenge and believed a starting point would need to be a campaign to let parliamentary colleagues know who the VAPCs are and what value they add. An engagement plan would need to be put together for this purpose. MS also said he would like to help with this strand.

MS -stated he felt he could add value to the Charity Engagement strand of work, due to his role with Royal British Legion and CFM also stated she felt she could add value to this strand of work as she already has connections with charities, including Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SAFFA).

LS – Felt it was very important the LVAPC engages with London Boroughs and need contact names from the boroughs for co-ordination. He suggested a headline pitch should be “what we are about “ by way of introduction. LS and NM are happy to draw up a paper on Communications and Marketing. LS said he would be happy to support the Employment strand as well.

CP - felt he could add value by engaging with Companies and he has strong links with the Navy specifically and he can very much introduce people on the Military side to the LVAPC work. He also stated it is important to engage with London Boroughs.

AWT- commented he believes the groupings and the mandates for these looked promising. He believes the most natural area where he can add value is the pensions strand.

BC thanked everyone for their valuable contributions to today’s meeting and was going to suggest group leaders for each strand of work and make suggestion on each area based on today’s discussion. BC invited the committee members to send e mails to him with their suggestions of where they would like to participate.

AOB

MS will take over from NS in organising the next Microsoft Teams meeting for the 23rd June and it was agreed by Committee this meeting would start at 4pm (a suggestion prompted by a request from BG).

2 other meeting dates are set for September 22nd and December 15th. Committee members are keen to meet in person from September, conditions permitting and would like meetings to take place in the afternoons going forward. MK will contact Jaqueline Burt at the RAF Benevolent Fund to understand whether physical meetings can be arranged for the September and December meetings and whether they could accommodate the Committee’s request for afternoon meetings. MS and CP also have contacts with regards meeting rooms if the RAF Benevolent Fund cannot accommodate.

BC thanked NS once again for his work on today’s meeting and his contribution to the Committee whilst he has been a member