Guidance

VAPC London: meeting minutes 23 September 2020

Updated 22 March 2024

Present

• Bill Charles (BC) – Chairman
• Heather Betts (HB)
• Jim Evans (JME)
• Lynne Calame (LC)
• Roger Hood (RH)
• Ken Courtenay (KC)
• Alex Jablonowski (AJ)
• Andrew Ross (AR)
• Nick Sharpe (NS)
• Alex Woolgar Toms (AWT)
• Matthew Seward (MS)
• Wendy Morris (WM)
• Paul Clabburn (PC)
• Jim Blake (JB)

Apologies

• Marion Knight (Secretary) MK

Welcome and introductions

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Declaration of interest

The Chairman reminded Committee members that they must declare any interest arising out of their personal/business life which could conflict with VAPC business. No declarations were made.

Minutes of 23 June meeting

The minutes had been ratified following the meeting of 23 June 2020 and were now published by the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Update from meeting of chairs’ committee on 16 June 2020

BC had provided a written report and some comments on the meeting which, like the last one, had been recorded.

Competition

BC confirmed that AWT had initiated some advertisement of the competition to and through Livery Companies.

Following a suggestion made after the last meeting BC had contacted the Secretaries of the Army and Navy Club and the Cavalry and Guards Club who as a result have taken steps to inform their members of the competition. LC offered to make further enquiry of the RAF Club and it was suggested that an approach be made to the In and Out Club.

PC agreed to make further contact with a potential candidate he had identified.

Centenary update from RH

It was confirmed that nothing was now being planned and that lack of support from the centre and regionally and the ongoing discussion relating to future strategy mean that it is not practical for London to plan its own celebration.

Office of Veterans Affairs (OVA) plans to celebrate its first anniversary was noted and contrasted with the support for a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees (VAPCs)

Updates on projects

Housing

• PC reported encouraging progress. An application is being made to Special Educational Support Services (SENSS) for a staff led collaborative research proposal titled: Homeless Veterans in London, Investigating Housing Responsibilities by Kent University with LVAPC as their non-academic collaborative partner
• this is to build on the earlier research and the workshop in 2019
• supporting letters have been provided by the Royal Legion, the Covenant in London, the LB of Hounslow and Tesco (who has indicated that in principle it can fund the travelling expenses of the PHD student). A supporting letter is being sought from Len Duval.

Employment

• AJ reported that after being instrumental in the setting up of the Barclays Veterans Steering Committee his role as our representative had become a watching brief with the possibility of a more active role on governance issues
• he reported that the committee was making the best of the present crisis and that virtual meetings may have identified an effective way forward. The website is good, and several large companies play an active part on the committee and support its work.

Health

• HB had provided a written update together with other documents. These were informative and self-explanatory and were not discussed at the meeting.

Tribunals

• in his report BC had referred to his approach to the Senior President of Tribunals. This was not discussed at the meeting but the position at present is that the Senior President has replied that when appropriate the Chamber Presidents of the First tier Tribunals dealing with War Pensions, Social Security and Mental Health will invite LVAPC to their regular stakeholder events. BC has put himself forward as the person to whom such invitations should be sent and will reply to the Senior President.

Round table

• BC had reported on this. He attends on behalf of LVAPC.

London recovery board

• Len Duval encouraged participants at the round table to write to this body to promote its understanding and implementation of the Covenant.

Volunteers

1. In his paper BC identified the need for volunteers for the following roles / tasks:

• volunteers to take part in the Vets UK transformation project as requested in the email from Andy Dowds that had been circulated,
• a successor for PC and members of a housing group,
• a successor for AJ as the LVAPC representative on the Barclays Vets Steering Group and members of an employment group,
• a successor for AJ as Treasurer,
• two signatories for the mandate,
• a Communication Representative for the Veterans and Families Support (VFR) hub

1. BC also reported that one member had indicated his willingness to take over next year from JME as Vice Chair and suggested that if anyone else was interested they should indicate this quickly.

2. Some members explained that the impact of Covid 19 on their work meant that they have little time to spare for LVAPC.

3. AWT and RH volunteered to take part in the Vets UK project.

4. NS volunteered to take over from AJ as our representative on the Veterans Steering Group (which was agreed) and to revert to BC on the VFR communications role.

5. JB indicated that he was happy to assist on employment issues and LC agreed to pass on some information and contacts she had that might assist in respect of employment issues in and out of London.

6. It was suggested that MK might agree to be a signatory and BC indicated that he would be happy to be one and to ask her.

7. BC invited all to inform him over the next 10 to 14 days whether they were or were not volunteering for any of the above roles / tasks. He acknowledged that other pressures would make this impracticable for some, but their knowledge of current issues based on their work and their general experience would remain valuable to LVAPC.

The way ahead

Background to discussion

• this had been discussed at the last meeting and BC had circulated a paper to MS, HB, AWT and LC to try and identify approaches that LVAPC could adopt. This has not yet identified any strategies to be put to the full committee
• decisions are made more difficult by the continuing uncertainties relating to the strategy being formulated through the Chairs and the position of the OVA (Office of Veterans Affairs) and Veterans UK
• the meeting shared the concerns expressed at the meeting of the Chairs on the announcement, without prior discussion with VAPCs, by the Office for Veterans Affairs of its appointment of a Veterans Advisory Board. This announcement compounds the uncertainties because it is unclear how the Office of Veterans Affairs (OVA). thinks the role of this board (which does not appear to have a statutory base) fits with statutory role of VAPCs

Discussion

• this was wide ranging and reflected a common view that the future role of VAPCs as a federal whole and that of London needed to be addressed and that it was a pity that this had not been determined as part of centenary celebrations (100 + 10). Rather, the lines of communication between and the definition of the overarching role of the federal body of VAPCs and their relationships with the Office of Veterans Affairs (OVA) and Veterans UK remained blurred
• greater clarity would assist in identifying things that LVAPC could get behind. The time that members could spend on LVAPC affairs was limited and in the case of some severely limited by the impact of Covid 19. And absent clarity of purpose their task in approaching third parties in respect of both (i) services provided only to Veterans, and (ii) services provided to the public at large to which the Covenant applied were made more difficult
• it was a common view that the announcement by the Office of Veterans Affairs (OVA) of its creation of an advisory board indicated that there was a risk that the OVA was proceeding on the basis that part of the statutory role of the VPACs would be done by another body without help from or consultation with the VAPCs region by region or more centrally and/or that the OVA does not properly recognize the role and potential of regional VAPCs as advisory bodies
• the question was put whether LVAPC should wait until the overarching federal strategy was set and/or until after the meeting with the Minister in mid-November or whether it should take steps now to identify and pursue a new project or projects
• reference was made to the old approach of having three groups “Awareness”, “Advocacy” and “Assistance” which historically had identified the Employment and Housing projects. These groups have not met for some time and their membership would have to be re-constituted. No-one suggested that this should be done now, although this approach, or something like it, might be a possibility in the future to ensure that possible courses of action were considered between full committee meetings.
• it was concluded that LVAPC should not wait and see what happened at the meeting with the Minister
• from the possibilities suggested (including approaches to businesses signed up to the Covenant, or to particular hospitals and /or NHS projects, or to particular charities, or focused on the housing project) a consensus was reached that the next step should be for an approach to be made to Armed Forces Champions inviting their views in response to a questionnaire on (i) what the most important issues were for Veterans in their areas in light of the Covid effect on services and generally, and (ii) their approach to the performance of their role and how LVAPC might be able to help them. NS offered to provide assistance in formulating a questionnaire which would be easy and quick to answer. BC would prepare and circulate a draft for comment.

Date and venue of the next meeting

• 15 December 2020 at 11am – remotely.
• BC and MK need to liaise to confirm how this will be done and that the RAF Benevolent Fund is kept up to date.