To monitor the reported achievements resulting from Community and Voluntary Grant allocations for 2017/18

The Head of Community Services submitted a report which allocated grants to community and voluntary organisations through the Community Grants Programme.

Cllr Simm, Board member for Culture and Communities presented the report; she said that there was a growing level of need due to County Council and government cuts to grant funding. She praised officers for being proactive at understanding voluntary groups’ needs and coming up with solution to improve them. The City Council has not cut its grant budget.

Cllr Brown, Board member for Customer and Corporate Services explained that a lot of the grant funding goes to assist financial inclusion groups. Advice agencies work has become more urgent due to County Council cuts and it is fantastic we can continue to support this work.

The Grants and External Funding Officer explained that there was a change in the proposed grants list in Appendix 2. The Rose Hill Junior Youth Club grant for £9,900 was no longer needed as they had been successful at securing the money elsewhere, so there was extra money to allocate.  It is recommended to grant £2,500 to Oxfordshire Play Association for a play day at Blackbird Leys which leaves £7,400 unallocated. The Board might want to allocate this money tonight.

Cllr Simm recommended the money be added to the budget already allocated for Stay and Play sessions to be held in the children centres for a year. The Board agreed.

Cllr Sinclair welcomed the 3 year focus on commissioning she said that awarding only annual amount makes it difficult for 3^rd sector groups to operate.

Cllr Price thanked officers for the work done, he said awarding the grants and monitoring how the organisations spend the money was a huge job.

The City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Approve the recommendations for the 2017/2018 commissioning programme as set out in Appendix 1

2.    Approve the recommendations for applications received to the grants annual open bidding programme as set out in Appendix 2

3.    Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Organisational Development and Corporate Services in consultation with the Board Members for Customer and Corporate Services and Culture and Communities to allocate the residual funding in the Advice and Money Management commissioning theme.

4.    Agree to grant £7,400 to the Stay and Play sessions and £2,500 to Oxfordshire Play Association