Invitation to a webinar: Monday 11 July, 2.30 –3.30

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As part of the transformation of mental health services across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, we want to ensure that people are aware of the expanding support that is on offer to those struggling with their mental health through maternity and the first two years of the birth of their child. Our perinatal mental health team need the help of our local voluntary and community sector partners who either have an insight into this area, or work with new mothers and parents, so that together we can make sure people who need our service are aware of it and are accessing the help.

Can you help us, or know someone who would like to come along with their insight? If so, can you reply to– Poonam Beeharry who is setting up the webinar? poonam.beeharry@nhs.net

The purpose of this is to understand the health and wellbeing concerns of people living and/or working in our communities and how best to address these. The findings will help inform local policies and strategies to better support individuals and communities and address inequalities across our city and county.

The consultation will explore your views around: health, wellbeing and social needs and provisions in Leicester/Leicestershire (especially also in view of the COVID-19 pandemic); your experiences; and recommendations for improvements. Therefore, your views are incredibly important and we would like to invite you to participate in this consultation via the following secure and anonymous university weblink. The survey will take around 15 minutes and includes both ‘tick-box’ and written responses. The survey closes on Friday 8th July at 23.59h.

Please follow this link: https://leicester.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/leicestershire-health-wellbeing-priorities-consultation-5

An overview of the main findings will be freely available on the Civic University Partnership website (currently under construction). In the meantime, you can contact Prof Tine Van Bortel for more information: tine.vanbortel@dmu.ac.uk   

Health and well-being are urgent concerns that require collaboration, transparency and communication across all sectors of society. We encourage you to share the survey with as many people as you know, the more we know collectively the better we can plan for our joint futures. 

Leicester City Council Adult Social Care consultation on the draft refresh of the Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Carers Strategy 2022-2025.

The consultation is intended to find out what people think about the priorities listed in the Strategy which is for people who look after someone in their family, a friend or neighbour who relies on them for support.

We want to hear your views on this strategy.

If you live in Leicester or you look after someone who lives in Leicester, you can find out more here: Draft Joint Carers Strategy 2022-25 consultation – Leicester City Council – Citizen Space

If you live in Leicestershire or you look after someone who lives in Leicestershire, you can find out more here: Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) draft Joint Carers Strategy 2022 – 2025 | Leicestershire County Council

If you live in Rutland, or you look after someone who lives in Rutland, you can find out more here: Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) draft Joint Carers Strategy 2022 – 2025 | Future Rutland

The consultation runs until 17th July 2022.

We are also holding a drop in public consultation event at Leicester City Football Club on 13 July 2022 from 1pm-3pm

Please get in touch if you would like to know more about the consultation.

Email ASCConsultations@leicester.gov.uk

Phone 0116 454 2300

It was designed by Disabled people and based on our research where deaf and Disabled people told us that they don’t always record their support needs, and don’t always have their access needs met – Tickboxes and Tokenism? Service User Involvement Report 2022 – Shaping Our Lives

For local VCSOs striving to meet access needs but also struggling with lack of funding and increased demand, the My Involvement Profile could help them to collate access needs in one simple way.

The Profile can also be used by people who want to share their lived experience to help make local and national services better, something many of your members will be actively involved in or campaigning for.

This project is lottery funded and we need to record numbers of people requesting the My Involvement Profile, so we are kindly asking organisations not to disseminate it, but rather to ask people to contact us directly for their free copy and help notes – we can be contacted on hello@shapingourlives.org.uk

We have over two decades of experience working for inclusive involvement – visit our website for many free resources and blogs: Home – Shaping Our Lives

Statisticians for Society aims to connect professional statisticians with third sector organisations that need help collecting, analysing and presenting data.

It is free and open to charities and other third sector organisations with an annual income of less than £1million. You can read case studies of some organisations that have benefitted from the service.

We are hosting an event called ‘How data and evidence brought chamber music to Welsh communities’. The event will be held on Friday 10 June 2022 from 1pm – 2.30pm where you will have the chance to hear about the impact the initiative has had on Ensemble Cymru. This is a fantastic opportunity to find out how the charity worked with a statistician to understand their audience and gained insights into securing new audiences for their performances across Wales.

Book on event here.

Throughout this summer we’re looking to work with community groups to offer a free outdoor learning session at Bradgate Park.

Each two-hour session will be led by a Bradgate Park ranger who will take your group through an inspiring morning of activities including natural art, bushcraft skills, and wildlife exploration.

The sessions have been designed to inspire key community figures and group leaders to develop skills, gain confidence, and take ideas in delivering activities outdoors as well as encouraging time in nature, even where facilities are limited.

The woodland workshop is located within the tranquil woodland by Hunts Hill car park with nearby rest room facilities. Complementary transportation to and from the park is included in the session.

Contact Amy Chambers E: development@bradgatepark.org T: 07977 816865

Carbon Literacy Training focuses on building the knowledge and motivation for participants to take meaningful action to address climate change.

The training is accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project (https://carbonliteracy.com) which to date has approved the training of over 32,000 individuals and nearly 3000 organisations.

This training takes place online over two mornings: Friday 10th June and Friday 17th June, 9.30am to 12.30pm. Attendance at both sessions is required to complete the course. To register, use the online form here.

The training addresses:

• Understanding the core relevant points of climate science, greenhouse gases and what drives climate change
• What a ‘carbon footprint’ is, and key high-carbon activities for individuals, organisations and countries
• Key actions that can be taken individually and collectively to reduce your (or your organisation’s) carbon footprint, related to energy, travel, food and purchases
• Developing a personal action plan of your own next steps

The training format is interactive and friendly with plenty of time for questions and group discussion.

Participants who attend the whole training and complete a short form outlining their pledged actions can be recognised by the Carbon Literacy Trust as ‘Carbon Literate’

De Montfort University is an accredited ‘Carbon Literate’ organisation and has been delivering Carbon Literacy Training since 2020. In 2021, DMU was ranked as the UK’s number one university in the People and Planet league for its comprehensive and ambitious plans to work towards ‘net zero’ emissions through its energy use, travel and procurement.

If you are interested but cannot join on these dates please email zerocarbon@dmu.ac.uk to enquire about potential future dates and other support available.

A major consultation has been launched by the council on proposals to make the county cleaner greener and healthier.

Residents, businesses, councils, universities and others are being urged to help shape ambitious plans to make Leicestershire a net zero carbon county by 2045 by getting involved in a major consultation.
Leicestershire County Council is inviting people to comment on how changing the way they travel, how they run and maintain their homes, and how what they buy from day-to-day can help to protect the environment.

Running over three months, the consultation focuses on a net zero action plan which sets out key goals including:

• Reducing carbon emissions generated by transport
• Reducing energy use in buildings – plus improving energy efficiency and adding new renewable energy generation
• Supporting businesses to go green and grow the low carbon economy
• Supporting communities to tackle climate change
• Increasing the removal and storage of carbon in natural systems like soil and forests

The consultation is open until 26 July and includes a planned social media campaign with the hashtag #NetZeroLeicestershire, a Facebook live and discussions with young people – as part of the wider engagement process.

To learn more about our net zero ambitions and to fill in our survey please visit the council’s net zero web page.
For copies of the questionnaire in other formats, please email NetZero@leics.gov.uk

We are now organising a programme of workshops in June:

14th June 2022 – USKPF Overview: This will provide an overview of the fund and our approach in developing an Investment Plan

21st June 2022 – Communities & Place

22nd June 2022 – Supporting Local Business

23rd June 2022 – People and Skills

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Dates, Times and to book to attend the workshops, please complete the registration form on the following website: UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) (leicester.gov.uk)

We want those attending the workshops to come away with a strong understanding of the UKSPF process, it’s’ criteria and the commissioning timetable we will be working to in Leicester.

And as the commissioning body we want these workshops to provide us with the evidence and insight about what our city, citizens, communities and businesses need so we can present to central govt a robust and compliant UKSPF investment plan for the city by the end of July.

This Investment Plan will provide local organisations with a clear, evidenced set of priorities that the UKSPF will be expected to achieve in Leicester and a timetable against when we will spend the fund to achieve them.

This in turn will allow you or your organisation to develop ideas into project proposals. Unlike the Community Renewal Fund process of last year, there will not be a mad scramble to piece together detailed project plans in a few weeks.

Leicester City Council will not, and nor are we expected to, submit a list of funded projects this summer. Consequently these workshops are not opportunities to pitch ideas but to share your experience and insight so we can arrive at the right priorities for Leicester’s UKSPF Investment Plan.

However we do feel it is right at this stage to manage expectations. The £9m UKSPF grant we have been allocated

• does not come close to covering existing EU funded projects
• is being asked to deliver against a broader range of outcomes, and
• has replaced a city/county geography with a city/7 district model which makes pooling resources harder to do – especially in areas covering business and skills support

Essentially we are being asked to do more with less and in a more fractured funding environment. This is isn’t to say the funding doesn’t represent a significant opportunity but it is important that this context is understood not just for the workshops we will host but in mapping out your own organisations’ funding plans between now and 2024/25.