Guidance

VAPC south east England: meeting minutes 10 February 2020

Updated 11 July 2023

Present

• David Anderson (DA) (Acting Chairman)
• Craig Jones (CJ) (Secretary for this meeting)
• Robin Draper (RD)
• Ian Talbot (IT)
• Terry Roper (TR)
• Joan Ferrer (JF)
• Alexandra Sard (AS)
• Kath Hutton (KH)
• Andrew McHugh (AMH)

In attendance

• Rob Rowntree, Dep Hd VetsUK(RR)
• Patrick Lyster-Todd (PLT)

Apologies

• Alex Platts
• Roger Nield (RN)
• Kate Steel (KS)
• Dr Soundararajan Jagdish (SJ)
• Paddy Nicoll (PN)
• Carron Snagge

Welcome

DA thanked RR for coming to update the committee on Vets UK matters and welcomed PLT, a potential future member, to the meeting.

SEVAPC Resignation and Future Membership

DA reported to the Committee that:

• Chris Reynolds had resigned
• the search for a new chair had started (Sec’s note: the application window is being kept open until 30 Mar 20)
• there were currently 6 applications to join the Committee and it was hoped to interview before the end of Feb 20, but there was a problem finding an independent member
• there is a desperate need for a secretary. KH and AS thought they might know someone who would take on the role and DA asked them to investigate.

Minutes of last meeting

KH agreed to send the Chairman an input on the Veterans Outreach Service presentation she gave the last meeting for the minutes.

It was agreed that the once this input was included the Chairman would approve the minutes.

Matter arising

DA and RR led a discussion of the need for VetsUK to see examples of correspondence to Veterans which lacked empathy or clarity to help them improve. Members were encouraged to foreword any examples they had to DA.

JF advised that there was a Veterans Court Diversion Service awareness event on Tuesday 17 Mar 20 in Winchester and encouraged attendance.

RD raised concerns that the VWS had resource issues which were hampering their ability to support Veterans. RR commented that finding candidates for roles had been challenging and onboarding was often slow; however, a manger has been recruited, the candidate was considered strong and there is optimism of a longer-term improvement.

VetsUK

RR provided an update on VetsUK, including that:

The Govt remains committed to supporting Veterans to have a positive and respected profile in society and to support them well.

Veterans should be positively advantaged. Railcards, first buy scheme, guaranteed interviews and NHS mental health fast track were examples of that priority.

Govt was addressing the challenge of verifying veterans status. Work is ongoing to enable this through a government portal. ID cards have been delayed so this can be done correctly first time.

The aim for Veterans to be able to see all their records in one place.

OVA is embedding into the Cabinet Office, has its own budgets and is developing its networks.

Overall, the whole veterans’ environment is currently dynamic, with many and fast changing initiatives running.

Centenary celebrations

IT led a discussion regarding the proposal to convene a forum as the SE contribution to the VAPC Centenary celebrations. The purpose, location and funding need further refinement and there was concern that getting traction for a VAPC focused event may be challenging and a wider Veterans agenda might get greater support. The current plan is for the forum to take place on 26 June and the Royal Maritime Club identified as a potential venue. It was agreed that:

• IT will continue to develop the concept for when the new Chair is in place and more was known about funding arrangements
• KH undertook to book the RMC for the event.

Reservists paper

TR briefed the Committee that Reservists were in every respect veterans who faced the additional challenges of moving between their military and civilian lives and that he considered the OVA should be given the capacity to provide a focus on Reservist Veterans.

An active discussion ensued regarding the support given to Reservists post deployment and where there are shortcomings. After which, KH and AS suggested that TR might make contact with Cdre Mel Robinson, Director RNR. It was agreed that TR would continue to work on consolidating the information on which to base a submission.

(Sec’s Note: TR has left the SEVAPC: the Committee will therefore have to consider whether we retain the knowledge to progress this issue.)

Armed forces champions

AMH presented a short report on his work to identify the Armed Forces Champions in the SEVAPC region. He highlighted that his work had been supported by SERFCA and that it is a perishable record.

The requirement for the list had been a challenge from the previous MinDPV. Having now met the target (thanks to AMH’s efforts) the point of the exercise was not evident. DA undertook to try and clarify and if necessary write to MinDPV’s office.

Members updates

CJ briefed progress with the new charity, Fighting with Pride, included mention of discussions with Min DPV and the Director of the OVA.

KH briefed developments with Solent bid for the High Intensity MH service. She will circulate the Breaking Barriers Report. It was noted that there is a clinical lead for veterans at QA Hospital.

Future of VAPC role

DA led a discussion about the future development of the SEVAPC. It was acknowledged that individuals were doing good work but that there was a need to add value as a Committee. It was also noted that there was considerable discussion taking place on the future purpose and ‘command and control’ of VAPC (perhaps through the OVA) nationally. Notwithstanding, the Committee agreed we should develop our own thinking based on 2 current core activities:

• supporting those individual veterans who need our help
• highlighting significant issues (be they strategic, systemic, individual failure or successes) to VetsUK, local authorities, third sector, OVA, MOD, OGDs or Ministers as appropriate.

DA undertook to build on his note on this subject and circulate it out of committee. The aim being to provide the new Chair – when appointed – with a good starting direction for his/her Committee.

Date of next meeting

It was agreed that, the next meeting will be held on either 11th or 18th May, depending upon venue availability. CJ is approach Blind Veterans UK about using their facilities for the meeting. (Sec’s note: Blind Veterans have stopped hiring out their committee rooms due to the threat of Covid 19. Since the virus has now been declared a pandemic and taking Government advice into account DA has decided that planning a meeting in May is not sensible at present. The date for the next SEVAPC meeting will be kept under review.)