GAVCA

The Gloucester Partnership - the local strategic partnership in Gloucester - brings together partners from the public sector, private sector and the voluntary and community sector, who are all interested in improving social, economic and environmental aspects of Gloucester.

For further information about the Gloucester Partnership, please visit the Gloucester Partnership website or click here for the Gloucester Partnership Executive Group minutes, or here for the Gloucester Partnership Strategic Group minutes.

One of the VCS Advisers on the Executive Board of the Gloucester Partnership, has now stood down at the end of her term of office, namely Pauline Reynolds from the Afro-Caribbean Association, and GAVCA would like to thank her, on behalf of all members of the Gloucester VCS Forum, for the work she has put into this role over the past 4 years.

Sadly, there was little response to the recent call for nominations for elections for new VCS advisers to sit on the Gloucester Partnership, with the only nomination coming from the second existing adviser, Penny Liddicot, from GL Communities. Penny has therefore been re-elected, un-opposed, for a further two years.

However, at its last meeting in April, the Partnership agreed to merge its existing Strategic Board and Executive Board back into one body, and, since membership of this new structure has not yet been confirmed, we are still awaiting clarification as to how many places will be offered for VCS advisers. In the meantime, Penny Liddicot and Sally Pickering, who previously sat on the Strategic Board, will continue to advocate on the behalf of the VCS within the Partnership.

Furthermore, in agreeing its budget for 2012-13, the Gloucester Partnership has now cut all funding to support VCS engagement in the Partnership. This means an end to the work that GAVCA has undertaken since the Gloucester Partnership was established back in 2004 to ensure that the whole VCS in Gloucester was able to contribute its views through accountable representation on the Partnership, and was fully informed of the work of the Partnership through the Gloucester VCS Forum.

Instead, any voluntary or community group who feels that it can contribute to the joint vision expressed in the City Vision, is encouraged to get directly involved in the Task and Finish groups that are being set up to deliver this vision. At the moment, two groups are being developed, to which the VCS may wish to contribute: one is looking at how to tackle poverty and deprivation in the city and the other is working to develop a legacy from the Olympics and use to this to tackle health inequalities. If you are interested in working in partnership with other statutory and voluntary organisations in the city around these issues, please contact Lorna Robinson on Lorna.Robinson@gloucester.gov.uk   For more information on the City Vision, go to www.gloucesterpartnership.org.uk