Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Business start-up adviceLearning disability supportOur plans for the year aheadOnline safety events at County Hall in MatlockBargains that benefit the environmentStress Awareness MonthBusiness start-up adviceAre you thinking of starting your own business but need some advice? The Vision Derbyshire Business Start-Up Support Scheme can help. A team of local expert business advisers offers free, one-to-one impartial support and advice covering a wide range of topics tailored to your needs. Grant funding is also available if you meet the eligibility criteria.Talking to a business adviser can be invaluable in helping you to make important decisions about your business idea and to put plans in place.The team has supported more than 1,000 residents across Derbyshire to build plans to start their own business. Several of these are now employing more people and going from strength to strength, including Suzanne Lloyd, of Virtue Virtual Assistance, Chesterfield. She said: “Working with a business adviser has helped me challenge my own perceptions of what opportunities may be available. Doors have opened that I didn’t know would be possible. The support I’ve received has been invaluable.” This scheme is running in the Amber Valley, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, High Peak, North East Derbyshire and South Derbyshire local authority areas. Funding has been received through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to continue until at least March 2025.Learning disability supportIf you support someone with a learning disability and/or who is autistic, we want to let you know that we’re considering a proposal to consult on changing the support we provide. On Thursday (11 April), councillors will be asked to agree to seek people’s views on plans to redesign the way we provide day opportunities and short breaks.Following a previous consultation, we transformed services to create new day opportunities to help people with learning disabilities and/or autism lead safe and fulfilling lives in their community.This work has shown that they want to be as independent as possible with equal access to opportunities and services such as housing, leisure activities, jobs, health and transport.To help us get the best value for money for our services, at a time of increasing financial pressures for councils nationally, we need to review how people’s assessed care needs are met and to what extent we provide those services ourselves.Our plans for the year aheadInterested in reading about our ambitions, values and objectives for the year ahead? Then take a look at our updated Council Plan for 2024 to 2025.Key sections also highlight the outcomes we seek to achieve and the approach we will take to achieving them by working with and for communities and in collaboration with partners.Online safety events at County Hall in MatlockIf you, or anyone you know, works with children or young people, a free event in Matlock about online safety could be of interest.Derby and Derbyshire Safer Communities team is teaming up with the UK Safer Internet Centre and South West Grid for Learning to deliver the talk about online safety in the Members’ Room of Derbyshire County Council’s Smedley Street headquarters on Monday 29 April.There are two identical sessions to choose from, either 9.30am-11.30am or 1.30pm-3.30pm.South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) is a leader in online child safety, a founding member of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety as well as an advisor to governments and a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre. Open to anyone who works with children and young people, the event will give you the latest in research, legislation, technology, tools and resources along with exclusive access to the presentation and resource materials.Safety online is constantly changing and this event will provide all the latest information and detailed resources. The team will also be available to answer any of your online safety questions. Tickets are limited and issued on a first-come, first-served basis.Bargains that benefit the environment We’ve opened a re-use shop at our household waste recycling centre in Bolsover. The shop will stock good quality items collected at the county’s recycling centres and sell them at low cost to give them a new lease of life.Items like:FurnitureCrockery, pots, cutlery, kitchen goodsBooks, CD’s Records, DVD’s – all should be originals and not copiesOrnamentsPictures, picture frames and pieces of artGarden furniture, garden tools, garden ornamentsPremium clothing and footwear – donated directly to the shopToys and board gamesThe shop will be open in tandem with the recycling centre and will be run by contractors H W Martin who operate eight household waste recycling centres for us.Proceeds from sales at the re-use shop will go towards running costs of the shop and any profits will be shared equally between the county council, H W Martin and charitable causes.The county council’s share of any profits will be put back into its waste management budget which pays for services like the running of household waste recycling centres.If the shop proves popular then we will consider opening further stores at other household waste recycling centres across the county.Purchases can be made using cash or electronically.Re-use is even better for the environment than recycling as it means items can be put to good use without having to use energy to re-process them and turn them into something new.Pic: Louise Bradley with some nearly-new roller skates on sale at the re-use shop.Stress Awareness MonthStress is something that we all experience at some point. Whether it’s a work deadline, financial worries or something more serious.Low-level stress can sometimes be helpful or motivational but equally too much stress can affect our mood, our body and even our relationships.There’s lots you can try to help reduce your stress levels.plan ahead for stressful days or events – planning long journeys or making a list of things to remember can really helpuse time-management techniques to help you take controlTry talking about your feelings to a friend, family member or health professionalYou can get help and advice around dealing with stress on the NHS website here: www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/understanding-stressIf you’re feeling stressed, worried or anxious then you can call the Derbyshire Mental Health Helpline for free, any time day or night, on 0800 028 0077.Find out more online here: www.derbyshirehealthcareft.nhs.uk/services/helpline-and-support-serviceThere’s also lots of advice online at the Derby and Derbyshire Emotional Health and Wellbeing website here: derbyandderbyshireemotionalhealthandwellbeing.uk |