Learning disability and autism hub

Terms of reference - Surrey Learning Disability Partnership Board

Below you can find out what the partnership will do and how it will do it.

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What is the Learning Disability Partnership Board?

The Government in 2001 asked that partnership boards were setup across the country to make sure that the white paper, Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century, was put into action. The board in Surrey is made up of a group of people who are committed to working together to make the lives of people with a learning disability in Surrey better.

What are our aims?

  • To make sure services for people with learning disability in Surrey are the right services and that they work properly.
  • To influence, talk about and make recommendations on plans in Surrey and nationally so that people with learning disabilities are supported.
  • To make sure we have plans for change and that change is happening.
  • To pass information to everyone about the development of services and make sure people know what is happening and what they have to do.
  • To work together to share information from and to organisations/groups that members represent and wider networks.
  • To promote Valuing People

Who are our members?

It is important that all key people (stakeholders), who can bring about change, in Surrey are members of the partnership board.

The stakeholders will include:

  • People with learning disabilities
  • Family Carers
  • Surrey County Council
  • Health organisations, clinical commissioning groups and NHS trusts
  • Chair and co-chair of the local Valuing People groups
  • Surrey Police
  • Voluntary organisations

Surrey is a large county so there are four Valuing People groups that have been made for everyone to have a say at a local level. The chairs and co-chairs from these groups and another member of the local group will sit on the partnership board.

How will the board run?

  • The Head of Commissioning for Disabilities will co-chair the partnership board. The other co-chair will be a person with a learning disability who has been elected from the partnership board or local Valuing People groups.
  • If the Head of Commissioning cannot attend the meeting, the meeting will be co chaired by the Senior Manager of Surrey County Council.

If the person with a learning disability co-chair cannot attend the meeting then a member of the partnership board with a learning disability can chair the meeting on their behalf.

Meeting times

The meetings will be held every other month, on the first Thursday of the month from 9.30 to 12.30am.

Format of our meetings

Agenda of the meeting

The agenda of the meetings will be sent out seven days before the meeting. It will be sent out electronically unless someone has informed the Engagement and Partnership Officer that they would like a hard copy sent to them in the post.

The meeting will run as follows:

  • Coffee and teas
  • Welcome and ice breaker

Part one

  • Reminder of what was talked about at last meeting
  • Recent news items, national, regional, county and local topic presentation

Part two

  • Topic presentation
  • Group discussion on presentations
  • Feedback from discussion groups
  • Any other business
  • End of meeting

The board will follow Surrey County Council's Equal Opportunity Policy . The board will use plain English and the communication cards.

Requests to our partnership board

  • If you would like to gain a opinion or approval from the board, this request should be written to the co-chairs. They must provide a statement.
  • Papers and presentations to the board will be in easy to read/view format. The presentations and papers need to be sent to the Engagement and Partnership Officer ten days before the meeting so they can be sent with the agenda.
  • After the presentation on the reasons for gaining approval from the board, the chair of the board will provide a response.

Request to attend partnership board

Meetings will be held in public and requests to observe the meeting should be made to the co-chairs or Engagement and Partnership Officer. Due to size of meeting room, observers will be limited to four per meeting.

Meeting minutes

Notes will be taken at the meeting and a easy read version will be sent out within 15 working days. The minutes will be available on the Surrey Partnership Board website.

Responsibilities of our members and officers

  • Members of the board will be invited to the meeting
  • Each member will represent a stakeholder group. They have the responsibility to communicate and share information to the board and from the board to the group they represent
  • There should be equal representation of members across the four local Valuing People groups. The members will include family carers, voluntary organisations, provider organisations, health services and Surrey County Council
  • Members must attend three out of the six meetings. If the chair of the Valuing People cannot attend the meeting then they should send their apologies and someone from their Valuing People group to provide feedback and updates

The Engagement and Partnership Board Officer should:

  • Provide information requested by the Department of Health
  • Update the Surrey Partnership Board website pages about learning disability issues
  • Update the partnership board and Valuing People groups on key legislation
  • Make sure people with learning disabilities and parent carers are supported and know about important events
  • Promote the Learning Disability Partnership Board and local Valuing People groups

Elections of our members

  • Valuing People chairs can stand for two years and be re-elected
  • The person with a learning disability co-chair will be elected every two years
  • The chair and the Engagement and Partnership Officer will look at membership every two years to ensure the right stakeholders are represented.

People needed for our meeting to go ahead

There must be 10 members of the Partnership Board at the meeting in order for the meeting to go ahead. For decisions to be made there must be 15 members.

These must include:

  • Chair or deputy chair
  • Two Valuing People group chairs
  • Person with a learning disability
  • Carer representation

Work plan

The work plan will be updated yearly telling everyone what the board and Valuing People groups have, will do and have done throughout the year. It will include feedback from people who use services and carers. It will be placed on the website.

Managing our agenda

The Engagement and Partnership Officer will set the agenda depending on the work plan agreed at the partnership board away day. The Engagement and Partnership Officer will meet the co-chairs, chairs of the Valuing People groups regularly to review the partnership board agenda, work plan and annual event.

Making things happen

The Engagement and Partnership Board Officer will meet with the Learning Disability Commissioning Managers bi-monthly to talk about the partnership board progress.

Supporting people with a learning disability

People with a learning disability will be helped at the meeting by:

  • Getting ready for the meetings
  • Having people to support at the meeting to make sure they have a voice
  • Making sure simple language is used, no jargon
  • Having support after the meeting to talk through topics and for them to have a influence in shaping services

Sub groups

Specific sub groups may be set up to do work on behalf of the partnership board and help make changes happen. Any sub groups must report back to the partnership board regularly. Local Valuing People groups can also form action groups to help make change happen locally.

Concerns and complaints

The local Valuing People group chairs should investigate concerns and complaints about Valuing People process and feedback to chairs of partnership board.

Local Valuing People groups' terms of reference

How will we make sure that the things the partnership board does are needed locally?

Surrey is a very large county which has:

  • One local authority
  • Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership
  • 11 district and borough councils
  • Over 250 provider organisations
  • It is estimated that there are 21,000 people in Surrey that have a learning disability, of which just under 4,000 people are known to Surrey County Council. It will be very difficult for everyone to come to the partnership board therefore the local Valuing People groups are a way for people to have a say locally.

The chair and the co-chair of the Valuing People groups will attend the partnership board. There will be four local Valuing People groups that will cover different parts of Surrey

East Surrey

  • Reigate and Banstead
  • Tandridge

North West Surrey

  • Runnymede
  • Spelthorne
  • Woking

South West Surrey

  • Guildford and Waverley
  • Surrey Heath

Mid Surrey

  • Epsom and Ewell
  • Mole Valley
  • Elmbridge

What are the aims of our Valuing People groups?

  • To make sure that for people with a learning disability and families have a voice and help develop their local communities to be inclusive.
  • To provide local information to the partnership board.
  • To pass information to everyone about the development of local services and make sure people know what is happening and what they have to do.
  • To work together to share information from and to organisations/groups that members represent and wider networks.
  • To promote Valuing People

How will our groups work?

  • The local groups will include important members from the local area who can make change happen. They should be committed to improving the lives of people with a learning disability.
  • People with a learning disability and family carers must be included in the local Valuing People groups. Individuals in the groups must following the terms of reference and rules of the group.
  • The groups will meet regularly throughout the year.
  • The groups will decide what to talk about at their meetings and invite speakers on key topics of interest. The chairs of the group will also feedback what has happened at partnership board and tell the partnership board what the views of people are locally.

In order to make a decision at the meeting you must attend the group regularly.

The meeting minutes of the Valuing People groups will be sent out to all members and put on the Surrey Learning Disability Partnership Board Website.

The membership of the local Valuing People groups will be looked at yearly by the chair and group.

The Engagement and Partnership Officer and the chairs of the Valuing People group will meet regularly to talk about agendas and feedback what is happening locally and nationally.

Files available to download