Decision details

The report presents the findings of a review of how we support our voluntary and community sectors, and seeks Member support for a number of recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of our support.

RECOMMENDED that the Officer Scheme of Delegation in the Council’s Constitution be amended to reflect the changes at Resolution 1 below by, replacing paragraph 2.8 (“Determine applications for capital grants, including Local Area Capital Grants, and allocate core grant funding”) and paragraph 2.9 (“Approve Councillor Community Awards in accordance with the agreed criteria”) with:

(i)            “Determine applications for the small and medium sized grants fund on the basis of the financial limits and criteria determined by the Executive”, with authority delegated to the Head of Service with responsibility for Voluntary Sector funding, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder with responsibility for the Voluntary Sector funding.

(ii)          And “Enter into and manage service level agreements for commissioned VCS services on the basis of the financial limits and criteria determined by the Executive”, with authority delegated to the Head of Service with responsibility for Voluntary Sector funding, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Voluntary Sector funding.

(iii)         Removing the Councillor Community Awards Scheme from the Constitution with effect from the 2019/20 Municipal year.

RESOLVED that:

(i)            The Council’s financial support arrangements for the Voluntary and Community Sectors (VCS) be replaced, on a cost neutral basis, with: (a) A Small Grants Fund of £45,000 from 2020/21 (£30,000 for 2019/20), offering grants of up to £2,000, based on the criteria for award set out at Appendix 2 to the Executive’s report; (b) A Medium Grants Fund of £50,000 offering grants for expenditure from 2020/21 of £2,000 - £20,000, based on the criteria for award set out at Appendix 3 to the Executive’s report; and (c) A Commissioning Fund of £285,000 for expenditure from 2020/21, targeted at some of our currently core funded VCS partners whose services are central to our corporate priorities, as set out in paragraphs 11 and 12 of the Executive’s report and Table 11 of Appendix 1.

(ii)          The Head of Community Partnerships, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Community Partnerships and other Executive Members and Heads of Service as appropriate, be authorised to strengthen the Council’s offer of ‘in kind support’ to the VCS by: (a) Developing and introducing a policy for free / discounted use of Council meeting rooms; (b) Developing and introducing an employee volunteering policy, with an emphasis on skills based volunteering; and (c) Responding to specific in kind support requests from VCS partners.

(iii)         The Head of Community Partnership’s proposals to improve dialogue with the Council’s VCS partners, set out in paragraph 16 of the Executive’s report and paragraph 8.4 of Appendix 1, be endorsed.

(iv)         The Head of Community Partnerships be authorised to implement proposals to increase skills based volunteering, amongst the business community, local residents and the Council’s own workforce.

(v)          The Head of Community Partnerships be authorised to raise public awareness of the activities of the Borough’s VCS in order to give greater recognition of the value of volunteering to local residents.

(vi)         The Head of Community Partnerships be authorised to undertake a programme of activities to assist with the development of the skills and performance of the Council’s VCS partners.