Tameside Supported Housing Forum.

Tameside Supported Housing Forum

What is the Tameside Supported Housing Forum?
Terms of Reference and aims of the forum
Key Objectives
Scope of Forum
Minutes and Presentations
Briefing Papers

What is the Tameside Supported Housing Forum?

The Supporting People Team hold a meeting called the Tameside Supported Housing Forum every quarter. Providers are encouraged to attend the meeting to learn about the latest developments of the Supporting People Programme.

Terms of Reference and aims of the forum

Background : The Tameside Supported Housing Forum is a multi agency forum of providers of housing related support services in Tameside. Most, but not all of these services are in receipt of Supporting People Funding. All contribute to the Supporting People programme in Tameside.

Objectives:

to influence the implementation and annual review of the Supporting People Strategy
to drive improvements and promote innovation in the delivery of supported housing services in Tameside
to ensure service users are involved in the review of the strategy and the delivery of the programme
to share and promote good practice in the delivery and development of supported housing services in Tameside
to ensure fair and equitable treatment of all providers by the Administering Authority

Governance structure

The Supported Housing Forum is a vital link in the governance of the Supporting People Programme. It has a direct link to the Core Strategy Group, the Joint Commissioning Group and the Local Strategic Partnership through the role of the Chair (see below).

The Supported Housing Forum will make recommendations to the Core Strategy Group on issues related to all those identified in the above objectives

Membership

Providers from all sectors are included in the membership of the Tameside Supported Housing Forum:

Registered Social Landlords
Voluntary and Community Agencies
Private providers
Local authority providers
Care Trust
Charitable Organisations

Members have the following responsibilities :

to attend and participate in meetings or to send an appropriate representative
to ascertain the views of front line staff, and management committee members (where appropriate) on the delivery of the programme
to represent these views at the forum
to share innovations and good practice with other providers
to support other providers in developing policies and procedures, with particular reference to those required to meet the needs of the Quality Assessment Framework

Chair

The members will elect a Chair and a Deputy annually.

The Chair has the following responsibilities:

to liaise with the Supporting People lead officer on the agenda for each meeting
to approve the minutes of the meetings
to effectively chair the meetings, allowing all views to be heard fairly
to represent the interests of the Forum on the Core Strategy Group and the Joint Commissioning Group
to represent the interests of the Forum and to make regular reports on the delivery of the programme to the Housing Partnership

Supporting People Team

The Supporting People team will service the meetings and support the role of the chair

The Supporting People Team has the following responsibilities

to organise the meetings of the forum in appropriate venues
to ensure all members receive timely notification of meetings
to ensure all members have access to papers and reports via a range of mechanisms, electronically and in paper if appropriate

Frequency of meetings: Bi monthly

Access to minutes and associated papers

All minutes and discussion papers produced by and on behalf of the Forum are public documents and may be freely distributed to individuals, their organisations, agencies or institutions. The Supporting People team will place them on their website.

Key Objectives

To develop and promote a common understanding about supported housing.
To promote good practice within the Supported Housing Sector.
To influence and guide the development and commissioning of new schemes, taking into consideration the supported housing needs in Tameside.
To achieve better co-ordination between statutory and non statutory agencies involved in delivering supported housing.
To influence the development of a supported housing strategy.
To work with Tameside Council, Greater Manchester Probation Service, the Local Health Authority and other agencies in developing the Supporting People Programme, by sharing information, expertise and good practise.
To promote good quality and Best Value in Supported Housing.

Scope of Forum

It is about:

Future development.
The sector as a whole, including families and single people, who have support needs that will enable them to live independently in the community.
Consultation with other groups.
Taking a multiagency approach to developing a supported housing strategy, and implementation of the Supporting People Programme.

It is not about:

Reviewing individual schemes.
Single homeless people only.
Being an open forum.

Minutes and Presentations

Below is a collection of minutes and presentations from previous meetings.

Dates of Future Meetings

Thursday 10th April 2008, 10.00am - 12.00noon, Committee Room 2.
Thursday 5th June 2008, 10.00am - 12.00noon, venue to be confirmed
Thursday 7th August 2008, 10.00am - 12noon, Committee Room 1.
Thursday 9th October 2008, 10.00am - 12noon, venue to be confirmed.
Thursday 4th December 2008, 10.00am - 12noon, venue to be confirmed.

Page last updated: 1 September 2008