Agenda item

The Committeewill have an opportunity to review the new arrangements being proposed for the administration of grants for the VCS sector.  The presentation will include an overview of the background to the VCS Grant review, governance processes and consultation that has taken place with the sector to date. 

Contributors:

Cllr Arif Hussain, Cabinet Member for Communities

Sarah Ashmead, Deputy Chief Executive

Hannah Thynne, Head of Policy and Improvement

Jack Pearce, Senior Policy Officer

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Arif Hussain, Cabinet Member for Communities, Roger Goodes, Service Director, Partnerships, Policy and Communications, Hannah Thynne, Head of Policy and Improvement and Jack Pearce, Senior Policy Officer to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member took the Select Committee through a short presentation outlining the VCS Grant Overview and the following main points were noted:

• £2.3m grants were inherited from the five legacy councils.  These, along with Community Prevention Grants totalling £350,000, have been reviewed, with a view to taking a longer term approach to grant funding which will allow VCS organisations to have more stability and be able to plan for the future more easily.
• The Shadow Executive agreed in February 2020 that a review should take place and that it would be helpful to move towards multi-year funding agreements in place of annual grants.  Funding for shorter term local projects could be sought via Community Boards or other external funding opportunities.
• In February 2022 a decision was made that the second stage of the review would include the development of a single register of VCS funding across the Council and a comprehensive funding guide to local and national funding opportunities.  Proposals would also be developed for the Buckinghamshire Lottery.
• In addition, services across the Council were asked to review the existing legacy grants and put forward proposals for future proposals to ensure multi-years funding opportunities which would encourage VCS activity which supports their service strategy. Consultation on these proposals would take place with local members over the Summer and the member working group would also review them ahead of a final decision.
• VCS organisations would then be notified by the end of September 2023 of any changes to their grants for the next financial year.
• Subsequently it was decided that there was limited value in producing a new funding guide as there was already a plethora of information on the Council’s website and specialist support was also available from Gail Hudson, Senior Policy Officer and via Community Impact Bucks and other larger VCS organisations.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for this overview and invited members’ questions.  The following responses and comments during subsequent discussions were noted:

• A member noted that the total budget under discussion was £2.6million that the legacy councils had considered valuable and he asked what the budget was for the next financial year.  In response it was noted that this was not a savings exercise and the base budget available for grant funding remained the same.  The review was more about focussing on a more strategic approach that would enable the Council and VCS partners to plan more readily for the medium to long term.
• A member endorsed the decision not to produce a new funding guide and felt there was more value in ensuring the efficiency of grant funding processes.  He applauded the community board grants as a progressive funding model but expressed concerns that sometimes the amount of officer time expended on small grant applications seemed disproportionate.
• A member expressed concerns about the Council’s ongoing support to some community centres and asked if officer support could be given to help them become financially viable instead of allowing them to rely on grant funding.  Roger Goodes explained that the Council was in discussion with Aylesbury Town Council with a view to devolving the operation of several community centres to them.
• A member commented that often it was cheaper and more efficient for the VCS to provide services on the Council’s behalf and questioned what might happen if a VCS organisation failed and the Council had to step in and takeover.  Again it was noted that through this new funding approach, the Council wanted to provide more certainty to VCS partners although it was acknowledged that the Council’s own funding could also be subject to change.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and the officer team for their contributions to the meeting and asked that the Committee should be kept updated.