Councillor Speight, Cabinet Member for the Communities, introduced the report and, in doing so, highlighted some of the key achievements and challenges of the Portfolio, which included:

·         That it was a difficult year for the Community and Voluntary Sector in light of the challenges to voluntary sector grants and a special meeting of the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s and the Community and Voluntary Sector had been held.

·         That through working with the Community and Voluntary Sector the Council’s first social values framework had been developed.

·          That it was crucial the council and voluntary sector were allies and worked together in order to achieve collective aspirations.

·         That £550,000 in grant funding had been allocated to support the development of community hubs.

·         Over 250 volunteers had worked on a range of projects.

·         That a number of events had been organised to bring the community together, which included; the Big Lunch event that brought over 1,000 visitors together in July 2014 and the World War One Commemorative event held at Tilbury Fort.

·         The Holocaust Memorial Day event included a moving multi-faith ceremony which served as a reminder that equality and diversity was a very real and important issue.

·         That the Thurrock Fairness Commission had been launched.

·         That the under spend of the Essential Living Fund was due to be rolled over to next year to continue to help those most vulnerable residents with the provision of white goods and furniture.

·         That the Council had worked with partners to prepare for the introduction of Universal Credit.

Members questioned the Portfolio Holder and received responses on the following matters:

·         Councillor Gledhill echoed the sentiments raised by Councillor J. Kent regarding the disgraceful damage to the Holocaust Memorial. He remarked that a year ago the Veterans Charter had been refreshed and questioned what had been done other than the Charter refresh, as he understood other ideas had been put forward.

The Cabinet Member advised that the Veterans Charter was a good piece of work which had been developed in conjunction with the community and explained that it was a living document that was constantly evolving. He remarked that he was happy to liaise with Members outside of the meeting to continue to evolve and make changes as necessary.

·         Councillor Roast acknowledged the good work of residents who were not part of the volunteer programme but who nonetheless did volunteer their time in other ways through community clubs not connected to the Council. He asked the Portfolio Holder to keep these people in mind and engaged.

The Cabinet Member observed that he was proud that Thurrock had so many volunteers, clubs and organisations who gave up their free time for the benefit of the community. He agreed that this work should be highlighted in future reports.

·         Councillor S. Little asked the Portfolio Holder to outline what was being done to put assets back into the hands of the community, for example to establish community shops.

The Cabinet Member advised that there was not a one size fits all policy but asked Councillor Little to liaise with the asset management team regarding anyone who wished to establish a community asset.

·         Councillor Worrall stated that she had worked with local schools for some years to support educational visits to Poland and Germany for young people in Thurrock. She explained that this was the first year such trips had not taken place due to budget constraints, however in the light of the mindless vandalism to the Holocaust Memorial she felt that this was something that could be re-examined so that young people could have the opportunity to learn about the atrocities of the Holocaust.

The Cabinet Member advised that he was happy to re-examine this further.

·         Councillor Redsell applauded the work of TRUP, the recycling charity. She explained that a local resident had contacted her as they had difficulty in donating furniture because they could not carry the furniture down flights of stairs. She questioned whether there was a service which could help with this.

The Cabinet Member advised that Essential Living Fund was delivered in partnership with TRUP and agreed that they did very good work.

Councillor Palmer advised that TRUP did offer a collection service for residents.