Agenda and minutes

Attendance: Martin De Rosario (MDR, Chair), Michael Macleod (MM, NBC), Thomas Cliffe (TC, Track NN), Debbie MacColl (DM, NBC), Larry Barber (LB, Individual), Barbara Barber (BB, Individual), Martin Page (MP, DWP), Nicola Gregory (NG, Veolia).

Apologies: Will Heckford.

Tom Cliffe from Track NN gave a background on his career. He worked to get 16-18 year olds who has disabilities into work.

Track NN is a Northamptonshire business.

ACTION: MM to send Tom’s Track NN presentation out to the forum once received.

The aim of Track NN is to develop awareness of autism and also gain acceptance.

700,000 people in the UK estimated to be on the autistic spectrum with 8000 diagnosed in Northamptonshire.

Thomas@track.org.uk

Moved to Westbridge depot to increase the cleanliness of Northampton. Will be heading out to schools to teach people what they are doing. Veolia will be working from the bottom up to try and prevent littering and bad treatment of Northampton and Northampton’s green spaces.

Q: How are you settling in as Northampton was in a bit of a mess 90 days ago?

A: There has been some issues with the changeover and some things not being in place, especially with drivers, but everyone is settling in now and working hard to improve the town.

Q: So now you’ve got past those stumbling blocks are you starting to reach your targets?

A: Yes we are getting there, there are some things that need to be done before everything is complete, such as health and safety training.

Q: Why is cut grass left on the paths? As a disabled person, if this gets wet it is hard to walk on and stay upright.

A: They should not be, they should be blowing it back onto the grassy areas and this will be reports.

The forum also discussed about how sometimes the grass is litter picked before it is cut and sometimes it is not, it should be the case that it is always litter picked first.

TC it is about awareness, if you think there’s an issue and nothing is being done about it but actually there is a reason it hasn’t been done yet, it helps people understand and change their perspective.

NG all employees have taken the change on well and their all enthusiastic about the change and the fact they now have the right resources.

LB They used to cut the grass in the parks/fields and tip it in the corner instead of it being cut and left everywhere.

NG It should be collected and taken back to the depot.

Monday 3^rd December – it is a focus on what people can do.

Track NN are coming and EADs – disability into work.

MENCAP are coming.

Dermot Bailey is coming – GB Wheelchair Tennis player who is in work – he will talk about sports, help with the wheelchair demo and also talk about his experience in the working environment.

Northampton Sailability

NTFC to talk about accessible activities

Polio society

Call care

Errol Flynn will be showing Breathe on International Day for Disabilities.

The objectives are to for disabled people to find out what options are out there.

For employers to understand the potential of people with disabilities.

For people without disability to learn more about what life is like with a disability and gain more understanding.

ACTION: DM to contact the blind association, deaf connect, NHFT, mind.

ACTION: MM to invite Emma Mayne. She will help explain the changeover to Universal Credit.

Lucy from iDID is on the next agenda too.