Breckland's Homelessness Prevention Forum

Breckland’s Homelessness Prevention Forum is a group of representatives from the main housing providers and general and specialist advice agencies operating in the district.

The dates for the Homelessness Forum are as follows;

All Forums will be facilitated at Brecklands Council Officers at Elizabeth House, Walpole Loke, Dereham, NR19 1EE in the Anglia Room.

If you would like to be added to the Forum circulation list, please email housing.advice@breckland.gov.uk or call 01362 656870 and ask for the Housing Strategy & Development Officer

Terms of reference

The ‘terms of reference’ for a forum or meeting may be considered to include its overriding purpose, its aims and objectives, membership, organisation, structure and administrative arrangements.

1.Purpose of the Homelessness Forum

The purpose of the homelessness forum is to inform, gather information and gain commitment from members to help improve services for customers. It is also considered good practice by the government for each local housing authority to work jointly with other services, particularly social services, but also health, education, police, youth offending team, probation, drug action teams, housing providers, support providers, faith groups and voluntary organisations, to promote the prevention of homelessness in its locality. The Homelessness Code of Guidance 2006 (CLG/DoH) states that the establishment of a multi-agency forum for key practitioners and providers to share knowledge, information, ideas and complementary practices is one of the main ways to achieve such joint working arrangements.

Given the guidance that a multi-agency forum for key practitioners and providers to share knowledge, information, ideas and complementary practices is considered one of the main ways to achieve effective joint working arrangements for the prevention of homelessness, it may be argued that the overriding purpose of the forum is to create the conditions in which homelessness in the Breckland district is kept to minimum possible levels.

We aim to achieve the best working forum by enlisting the feedback from the forum members and changing the forum using this feedback to gain the best results.

2.Aims and objectives

The aims and objectives of the forum are to

• Improve existing services and working arrangements
• Develop new services to prevent homelessness
• Develop partnership and interagency working to prevent homelessness
• Increase awareness of housing and homelessness services
• Learn of new opportunities and policy developments in housing and homelessness
• Network with other agencies

3.Consultation

There will be an annual consultation to gain valuable feedback on the success of the forum and future amendments to the ‘terms of reference’. Results of this consultation will be distributed by email, unless otherwise stated.

In addition, a ‘matters of interest’ form will be available at every event, which not only enables us to capture any matters of interest from members, but also they give us more understanding into why you have chosen certain subjects, plus gives members the chance for members to ask anonymous questions.

4.Membership

Current and potential members of the forum are listed below;

Councils

Adult Services

Children Services

Health

North Norfolk Constabulary

Youth offending team

Crime and disorder reduction partnership

DAAT

RSLs

Support providers

Faith bodies

Voluntary organisations

Private sector bodies

Advice agencies

Solicitors

Benefits department

Parish councils

Community and NNREC

Equalities organisations

This list is not exhaustive and members are invited to propose any local groups or individuals who may have a particular interest and may wish to be involved.

5.Organisation

Chair

Members will decide on who is to chair the forum. This will be done by taking a majority vote.

Secretarial support and minutes

In terms of secretarial support, we will continue to take minutes, but only to the extent of questions raised their respective answers and action points.

Planning

Agendas will be sent two weeks in advance and base our discussion matters on what forum members have expressed interest in. The agenda will be compiled by distributing a ‘matters of interest’ form at each event. Members are also able to state any ‘matters of interest’ they would like discussed at the Forum at any point.

5.Structure

Format of meetings

The format of the forum is detailed below, but it is important to note that it has been designed with flexibility in mind. For example, if there is more then one item to be included under ‘News’ then this will be included. The structure is designed to encompass any matters which are of interest to forum members on local and national opportunities, initiatives, policies and information sharing. This will be achieved through presentations, active sessions which can give rise to debate and opportunities to share information. The agenda will also include an update session on the action plans that are relevant to the forum and consultation.

• Apologies for absence
• Minutes of last meeting
• Update from officers on action plan progress

An update will be given on Brecklands DC action plans

• News – local and national opportunities, initiatives, policies and information sharing

One or more items that are made up of presentations, debates and information sharing

• Q&A

Raised at the forum or by other means

• AOB

Frequency of meetings and communication

Meetings will be held on a quarterly basis and will be distributed by email. Members should make us aware if this is not convenient for any reason and we can distribute this by mail.

Action groups

From time to time, it may be appropriate for particular client groups or issues where improvement is required to give rise to ad hoc sub-groups of the Forum for limited periods.

For further information about the Forum, or to request a copy of the minutes of previous meetings, please email housing.advice@breckland.gov.uk or call 01362 656870 and ask for the Housing Strategy & Development Officer

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