The Head of Community Services has submitted a report proposing the allocation of grants to community and voluntary organisations through the Community Grants Programme.

Recommendations:

That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.          Approve the recommendations for the commissioning programme as set out in Appendices 1 and 2.

2.          Delegate authority to the Head of Community Services, in consultation with the Executive Members for Customer and Corporate Services and Culture and Communities, to approve the recommendations for applications received to the grants open bidding programme for the period of 2018-21 and allocate funding to art and culture organisations that apply for funding through this theme from April 2019.

3.          Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Organisational Development and Corporate Services in consultation with the Executive Members for Customer and Corporate Services and Culture and Communities to allocate the development fund in the Advice and Money Management commissioning theme for the period of 2018-21.

The Head of Community Services had submitted a report proposing the allocation of grants to community and voluntary organisations through the Community Grants Programme.

Cllr Sinclair, Board Member for Culture and Communities introduced the report which sought, among other things, to provide consistency and stability to the beneficiaries of grants through the move to three rather than annual allocations.

The Grant and External Funding Officer said that the annual open bidding process was in its final phase. The deadline for submission of bids was passed and those submitted would be reviewed the following week.

The Chair noted that Scrutiny Committee had welcomed the response to its recommendations about grant allocations.

Cllr Smith, Board Member for  Leisure, Parks and Sport, noted the importance of robust monitoring given the move to three year allocations. The Grant and External Funding Officer confirmed that such monitoring would be in place

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.         Approve the recommendations for the commissioning programme as set out in Appendices 1 and 2;

2.         Delegate authority to the Head of Community Services, in consultation with the Executive Members for Customer and Corporate Services and Culture and Communities, to approve the recommendations for applications received to the grants open bidding programme for the period of 2018-21 and allocate funding to art and culture organisations that apply for funding through this theme from April 2019; and

3.         Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Organisational Development and Corporate Services in consultation with the Executive Members for Customer and Corporate Services and Culture and Communities to allocate the development fund in the Advice and Money Management commissioning theme for the period of 2018-21.

The Committee noted that the Board Member for Culture and Communities had sent apologies as she had a prior engagement.

The Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services reminded the Committee on the key points that emerged from the review of the community grants programme in 2017. She said that the underlying principles were to provide a degree of consistency and stability necessary for forward planning by those organisations in the grant programme; to maintain a close alignment with Council priorities; and to make the grant application process open to new organisations. She highlighted the new 2018 Development Fund, which allowed advice services to make partnership bids, as an example of the Council’s continued commitment to investment in a sector which had experienced significant cuts in funding from other organisations.

The Head of Community Services explained the reasoning behind the proposed officer delegation to approve applications to the Annual Open Bidding programme.  He said that the main objective was to minimise the delay in issuing grants to organisations.

The Grants & External Funding Officer reported back on the work done to address the scrutiny recommendations on the Review of Community Grants Programme decision in November 2017, which included a focus on promoting  BAME engagement with the grants programme. She said that four workshops had been held to explain the grants process and these had been promoted within the BAME community.  In total 8 out of the 17 workshop attendees and 10 out of the 22 small grants programme applications were from the BAME community.

The Committee noted that the Council required all organisations in the grants programme to be fully inclusive although it was recognised that some organisations were dedicated to a particular BAME issue.

The Committee noted the report and acknowledged the valuable contribution made by volunteers.