The project coordinator, Kate Harris, came into post mid January 09. This allowed a number of scheduled activities for Coventry to commence in earnest. We started off with a focus on Quality but first of all we carried out a simple baseline survey activity of our membership to get some feedback on the usage of Quality Assurance Systems and the incidence of board/committee vacancies.

We achieved a 20% response rate in order to give a reasonable feel for where the sector was at in Coventry. The responses showed that there was a willingness to implement an appropriate QAS and groups recognised that such systems helped them to develop and improve; both essential requirements for meeting the challenges of today and into the future.

Interestingly 50% of all groups who responded stated that there had a board vacancy, in some instances, these were in key board officer roles. In the majority of cases groups were clear about the necessary skills and competences for vacancies however some respondents hadn't carried out any form of board skills audit so were not able to state their requirements.

This information will assist us to focus on relevant support options for the project in Coventry and will serve as a useful ‘baseline' point for the project i.e. we know what the starting point is!

January - Managers Meeting Point; overview of the project by the project coordinator and the relevance of Quality Assurance Systems (QAS) for groups in Coventry.