Cabinet, at its meeting on 15 November 2023, will consider a report from the Head of Community Services demonstrating the impact of Oxford Community Impact Fund and seeking agreement to the criteria/weighting for assessing the 2024/25 Oxford Community Impact Fund grants. Cllr Ajaz Rehman, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities, Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services and Paula Redway, Culture and Community Development Manager, have been invited to present the report and answer questions. The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations.

Cllr Ajaz Rehman, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities, presented the report which demonstrated the impact of the Oxford Community Impact Fund and sought Cabinet agreement to the criteria/weighting for assessing the 2024/25 Oxford Community Impact Fund grants as set out in paragraph 5 of the report, with the additional requirement for applicants to comply with the safeguarding arrangements specified by the Council.  He highlighted that following the simplification of the application process last year, and increased promotion of the availability of funding, there had been a significant increase in applications with over 20% of grants being awarded to new applicants.

Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services, further advised that the applications were scored by the grants team based on the overall impact of the work and the likelihood of the funding being available from alternative sources, and the recommended funding amounts put forward for agreement by Cabinet.  The Big Ideas grants were agreed by Cabinet but the small and medium grants, as per the constitution, were agreed by the Head of Community Services (as the senior officer with budget responsibility) in consultation with the Executive Director and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities.

Ian Brooke and Paula Redway, Culture and Community Development Manager, answered questions as follows:

·       Appendix 4 to the report provided information regarding funding leverage as reported in the grant monitoring form for Big Ideas grants for 2022/23, however future reports could provide further information regarding the breakdown of funding leverage per size of organisation.

·       Whilst some of the percentage of funding could be considered low for larger organisations, it provided confidence to other lenders for increased funding for those organisations to benefit from.

·       All applicants would be impacted by the new safeguarding obligations, and the team had worked with the Safeguarding Coordinator to ensure that the process was robust and proportionate, and that the criteria was linked to the safeguarding framework.

·       Support would be provided to applicants to ensure they receive guidance on completing the application forms.

·       Scoring of applicants was undertaken by Officers with an understanding of the area of work to be funded and were linked in with the Council’s priorities.

The Committee resolved to make the following recommendations on the report for Cabinet:

1.    That the Council, within the report includes a breakdown between ‘Fully Funded’, ‘Partially Funded (50%)’ and ‘lower funding’.

2.    That the Council, within the report, notes the minimum requirement for organisations that don’t work with children, young people or vulnerable adults.