Decision details

Approve grant funding for voluntary and community groups for 2015-16.

Matter for Decision

 

The report detailed the implementation process undertaken for the new Community Grants fund and made recommendations of awards, for voluntary and community organisations, under the new scheme, for 2015-16.

 

Decision of Executive Councillor for Community, Arts and Recreation

 

The Executive Councillor resolved to agree:

 

     i.        The grants to voluntary and community organisations for 2015-16, as set out in Appendix 1 of the officer’s report, subject to the budget approval in February 2015 and any further satisfactory information required of applicant organisations.

 

    ii.        The Area Committee grants budget as set out in paragraph 8.1 of the Officer’s report, subject to the budget approval in February 2015.

 

   iii.        To establish a Transition Fund of £75,000, from 2014-15 unallocated funding, to support voluntary and community organisations through the first year of the implementation of the new priorities and outcomes as detailed in Section 6, and as allocated in Appendix 1, of the Officer’s report.

 

  iv.        That officers reviewed the Discretionary Rate Relief contributions from this fund, in discussion with the Business Rates service, and bring a report back to this committee in March 2015, as detailed in paragraph 6.1 of the Officer’s report.

 

Reason for the Decision

 

As set out in the Officer’s report.

 

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

 

Not applicable.

 

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Community Funding and Development Manager. The Executive Councillor for Communities, Arts and Recreation, Councillor Johnson, welcomed the comprehensive and targeted approach taken to achieve the desired outcomes while meeting the required savings.

 

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

     i.        Requested future analyses of the effectiveness of the grants.

    ii.        Suggested that it was unclear from the report how the grants that had been awarded aligned with the priorities. However, it appeared that the Arts had suffered disproportionate cuts.

 

In response to Members’ questions the Community Funding and Development Manager said the following:

   iii.        She appreciated that Members were unable to compare this year’s grants with the previous year, but stated that including figure for previous years would have been misleading as they were not like for like. However, officers had considered those factors when making their recommendations.

  iv.        Stated that applications that met the new criteria were allocated funding.

   v.        Said that it had not been possible to split applications into priority headings. However, she assured members that there had been a reasonable coverage across the priorities. In addition, some proposals met more than one priority.

  vi.        Confirmed that grant recipients would be subject to future evaluation and monitoring. However this would be proportionate to the size of the organisation and the grant received.

 

The Committee resolved unanimously to endorse the recommendation.

 

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

 

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

 

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.