COVENANT
One of the first responder vehicles
Launch event – RAF, Army, Chairman
Reflec
Reflections of B B
uckinghamshire County Council signed the Armed Forces Community Covenant in July 2012 but it has
always been far more than just a ceremonial act. Perhaps the greatest win of all has been that key partners across Buckinghamshire are now working together and forming new relationships allowing us to not only deliver the action plan but also utilise funding from the MOD Community Covenant grant fund to support projects which bring the civilian and military communities together.
It has also importantly led to a more strategic working relationship with the two RAF stations with a feeling that we can now better align our aspirations and activities and that Service charities in Buckinghamshire feel they now have a proper forum to be heard and truly help veterans across the county.
Life before the Community Covenant Buckinghamshire has always had strong and proud links with the Armed Forces; the two RAF stations in Halton and Wycombe, together with the Language School in Beaconsfield (now decommissioned) and a vibrant Reservists population (7 Rifles Regiment).
28 Envoy Winter 2014
Our significant links with the Armed Forces in Buckinghamshire mean that a substantial number of veterans and their families chose to return to the county to settle here.
What did we do?
The County Council has driven and led the work on the Community Covenant. In total we have more than 25 organisations involved – all committed to a strong partnership between the Armed Forces and civilian communities in Buckinghamshire.
Firstly, we worked with the RAF, Navy and the Army to identify what the main issues and problems were. We then took this to the partner group to look at what we could practically do to resolve and improve these issues and this formed the basis of our action plan.
Here are a few examples of what we have delivered over the past 2 years: • We have extended the national criteria of the Fair Access Protocol so that Service Families can be allocated a school place in Buckinghamshire prior to moving to a catchment area. This has been recognised nationally as best practice.
• We have created a Welcome Pack as well as new web pages targeted
at armed forces personnel and their families stationed in Buckinghamshire, leaving personnel who are choosing to stay in Buckinghamshire as well as for organisations who support the armed forces.
• The Joint Strategic Needs Analysis has been updated and now includes a section on veterans and service personnel.
In early 2014, we received a bronze award from the Improvement and Efficiency Social Enterprise (IESE) for our work to date, and have been sighted in the RBL Best practice guide to Community Covenants as well as being asked to speak at the MOD conference in November 2012. This has been a great achievement for the short life of the Community Covenant since it was signed and is testament to the genuine collaborative and partnership working that we have been able to achieve.
We have successfully applied for over £400,000 worth of funding for a variety of projects. Here are a few examples of some of our successful projects: • two 4 x 4 first response vehicles to support the South Central Ambulance Service to deliver emergency care in rural areas run by volunteers from the two RAF stations.
www.raf-ff.org.uk 2 years on from signing the Armed Forces Community
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