Learning disability and autism hub

Terms of reference - Surrey Learning Disability Partnership Board

Below you can find out what the partnership will do and how it will do it.

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What is the Learning Disability Partnership Board?

In 2001 the Government asked that partnership boards were setup across the country to make sure that the white paper, Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century, was put into action. This is when the board in Surrey started.

In 2015, a national plan called Building the Right Support was published to develop community services and close inpatient services for people in England.

The vision of Building the Right Support:

Children, young people and adults with a learning disability and autistic people have the right to the same opportunities as anyone else and should be treated with dignity and respect. People should have a home within their community and get the support they need to live healthy, safe, and ordinary lives, that include relationships, education, training, employment, access to good screening and healthcare.

In 2022 the Government published Building the Right Support Action plan to build on and develop further the work that had been undertaken, bringing together in one place the commitments made by different organisations including health, social care, education, housing, and criminal justice.

The board continues to work on delivery of these commitments to people with a learning disability in Surrey.

The board is made up of a group of people who are committed to working together to make the lives of people with a learning disability in Surrey better.

What are our aims?

  • To influence, talk about and make recommendations on plans in Surrey and nationally so that people with learning disabilities are included.
  • In line with Surrey County Council's guiding mission to residents that no one is left behind, to tackle inequality and target resources to those who need them most.
  • To ensure a strength-based approach, focusing on skills and abilities when planning support.
  • To make sure services for people with a learning disability in Surrey are the right services and that they work properly.
  • Working with universal services to support access by people with a learning disability.
  • To make sure we have plans for change and that change is happening.
  • To share information with everyone about developments and make sure people know what is happening and what they must do.
  • To work together to share information from and to organisations/groups that members represent and wider networks.

Who are our members?

It is important that all key people (stakeholders), who can bring about change, in Surrey are members of the partnership board.

  • The stakeholders will include:
  • People with learning disabilities
  • Family Carers
  • Surrey County Council
  • Health organisations, clinical commissioning groups and NHS trusts
  • Chair and co-chair of the local Valuing People groups
  • Voluntary organisations
  • Members of Surrey People's Group
  • Provider representatives

Surrey is a large county so there are four Valuing People groups that have been made for everyone to have a say at a local level. The chairs and co-chairs from these groups and another member of the local group will sit on the partnership board.

How will the board run?

Two people will work together to chair the Partnership Board.

One will be a person with a learning disability who has been elected from the Partnership Board or local Valuing People groups.

The other will be the Head of Commissioning for Disabilities in Adults, Wellbeing and Health Partnerships.

If the Head of Commissioning cannot attend the meeting, the meeting will be co-chaired by a Senior Commissioning Manager.

If the person with a learning disability co-chair cannot attend the meeting, then a member of the partnership board with a learning disability can chair the meeting on their behalf.

Meeting times

There will be 5 meetings a year. The time of the meetings will be from 10.15am to 1pm.

Format of our meetings

Presentations will be sent out 2 weeks in advance of the meeting to self-advocacy groups and organisations. They will be given the opportunity to send in questions / comments if they are not attending the meeting.

The meeting is a hybrid meeting held on teams and in person at Woodhatch Place or another Surrey County Council office.

Agenda of the meeting

The agenda of the meetings will be sent out 2 weeks before the meeting. It will be sent out electronically unless someone has informed the Engagement and Partnership Officer that they would like a hard copy sent to them in the post.

The meeting will usually include:

  • Two topics / areas of work
  • Expert by experience
  • Report from
  • Valuing People Groups

The board will follow Surrey County Council's Equal Opportunity Policy.

Requests to our partnership board

  • If you would like to gain an opinion or approval from the board, you should contact the Engagement and Partnership Officer who will talk to the co-chairs.
  • Papers and presentations to the board will be in easy read format. The presentations and papers need to be sent to the Engagement and Partnership Officer.
  • Requests to observe the meeting should be made to the Engagement and Partnership Officer. Observers will be limited to four per meeting.

Meeting minutes

Notes will be taken at the meeting and easy read minutes will be published on the learning disability and autism hub within 15 working days. Members of the board will be sent an email with the link when the minutes are available online.

Responsibilities of our members and officers

  • Board members that represent a stakeholder group are responsible for communicating and sharing information to and from the board for the group they represent.
  • Members must attend three out of the four meetings. If the chair of the Valuing People group cannot attend the meeting, then they should send their apologies and someone from their group to provide feedback and updates.
  • Board members are responsible for signposting people and cascading information from the board to others.

The Engagement and Partnership Officer should:

  • Update the Learning Disabilities Partnership Board website pages about learning disability issues.
  • Update the Learning Disabilities Partnership Board and Valuing People groups on key legislation.
  • Make sure people with learning disabilities and parent carers are enabled to participate in meetings.
  • Promote the Learning Disability Partnership Board, local Valuing People groups and Surrey People's Group.

Elections of our members

  • Valuing People chairs can stand for two years and be re-elected.
  • The person with a learning disability co-chair will be elected every two years.
  • The chair and the Engagement and Partnership Officer will look at membership every two years to ensure the right stakeholders are represented.

People needed for our meeting to go ahead

There must be 10 members of the Partnership Board at the meeting for the meeting to go ahead.

These must include:

  • Chair or deputy chair
  • Two Valuing People group chairs
  • Person with a learning disability
  • Carer representation

Work plan

The work plan will flow from the Learning Disability and Autism program board together with feedback from people with learning disability and carers. It will be updated yearly telling everyone what the board and Valuing People groups have, will do and have done throughout the year.

The work plan will be placed on the website.

Managing our agenda

The Engagement and Partnership Officer will set the agenda depending on the work plan agreed at the partnership board away day. The Engagement and Partnership Officer will meet the co-chairs and chairs of the Valuing People groups regularly to review the partnership board agenda and work plan.

Supporting people with a learning disability

People with a learning disability will be helped at the meeting by:

  • Getting ready for the meetings.
  • Having a clear agenda.
  • Offering the option to discuss agenda items in groups prior to the meeting and submit questions / comments.
  • Use of communication cards.
  • Providing break(s).
  • Presentations will be sent out in advance of the meeting and be in easy read, including images.
  • Having people to support at the meeting to make sure they have a voice.
  • Making sure simple language is used, no jargon.
  • Presenters giving time for questions on each slide.
  • Having support after the meeting to talk through topics.

Concerns and complaints

Any concerns or complaints received through Valuing People groups should be investigated by the chairs of that group and fed back to the Partnership Board chairs..

Local Valuing People groups' terms of reference

How will we make sure that the things the partnership board does are needed locally?

Surrey is a very large county which has:

  • One local authority.
  • Two Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) – Frimley Health and Care ICB and Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership ICB.
  • Three NHS Trusts – Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
  • 5 district hospitals.
  • 11 district and borough councils.
  • Over 250 provider organisations.
  • It is estimated that there are 21,000 people in Surrey that have a learning disability, of which just under 4,000 people are known to Surrey County Council.

The chair and the co-chair of the Valuing People groups will attend the partnership board. There will be four local Valuing People groups that will cover different parts of Surrey.

East Surrey

  • Reigate and Banstead
  • Tandridge

North West Surrey

  • Runnymede
  • Spelthorne
  • Woking

South West Surrey

  • Guildford and Waverley
  • Surrey Heath

Mid Surrey

  • Epsom and Ewell
  • Mole Valley
  • Elmbridge

What are the aims of our Valuing People groups?

  • To make sure that people with a learning disability and families have a voice and help develop their local communities and universal services to be inclusive.
  • To provide local information to the partnership board and to cascade information from the board through their networks.
  • To pass information to everyone about the development of local services and make sure people know what is happening and what they must do.
  • To work together to share information from and to organisations/groups that members represent and wider networks.

How will our groups work?

  • The local groups will include important members from the local area who can make change happen. They should be committed to improving the lives of people with a learning disability.
  • People with a learning disability and family carers must be included in the local Valuing People groups. Individuals in the groups must follow the terms of reference and rules of the group.
  • The groups will meet regularly throughout the year.
  • The groups will decide what to talk about at their meetings and invite speakers on key topics of interest. The chairs of the group will also feedback what has happened at partnership board and tell the partnership board what the views of people are locally.
  • The groups will cascade information from the group and partnership board through their networks.

The meeting minutes of the Valuing People groups will be published on the learning disability and autism hub and members will be informed when minutes go up by email including a link.

The membership of the local Valuing People groups will be reviewed each year by the co-chairs and group.

The Engagement and Partnership Officer and the chairs of the Valuing People group will meet regularly to talk about agendas and feedback what is happening locally and nationally.

Reviewed and agreed at Surrey Learning Disability Partnership Board January 2024

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