Meeting documents

To receive a report that confirms that the OPCC has identified and applied for Central Government Grants and also for members to review PCC allocated grants to assess the success rate and utilisation of secured funding.

The Panel considered a report by the Chief Executive of the OPCC in relation to Government Grants and Commissioning.

Members were informed of the opportunities available to the OPCC for grant funding and community safety funding for PCCs including a range of ring-fenced grants for specific purposes, and non-specific grants such as the Core Police Grant.  It was noted that in recent years the level of grant funding had been top sliced and part of this amount was provided as a Police Transformation Fund to those authorities who submitted successful bids for additional funding, but this also funded national initiatives as well.  From four recent bids made only one had been successful which would fund a victim lawyer and would provide £120k over a two year period. Unfortunately feedback on unsuccessful bids was not available, but anecdotally it was explained that some would be taken forward as National Crime Agency projects.

The PCC was keen to take opportunities to make strong bids, and the existing Evidence Based Policing Board had been tasked with horizon scanning for future opportunities and supporting the bidding process by generating ideas and developing bids.  It was also reported that the use of an App  is being explored which could be used to capture ideas from across the entire workforce and enable those people with strong ideas to be involved with developing their ideas into bids.

In terms of the real term impact on finances, the PCC confirmed that only part of the top sliced funding was made available to PCCs and that national lobbying and representations had been made to the Government about this.

In relation to commissioning through the Safer Dorset Fund it was explained that there were two main groups of funding; firstly around £50k was available through a Community Grant Scheme made to voluntary sector organisations for £100-£3000 projects which aligned with the Police and Crime Plan; and secondly there was a Major Grant Scheme which required more robust bids (30-40 projects) which included collaborative working with partners to meet the strategic priorities of the Police and Crime Plan.  The Major Grant Scheme methodology was discussed in detail by members who were satisfied that there was a robust process of bidding, set criteria, implementation, review, evaluation, and assessment of projects to ensure that they delivered against their original aims.  It was further explained that evaluation took place on a joint basis where bids included multiple partners. The Community Grant Scheme was less prescriptive in order to encourage communities to come forward with projects and not be discouraged by bureaucracy, but there was still a requirement to evidence outcomes.

The Chairman asked if information could be shared regarding the success of projects against priorities in the Police and Crime Plan and against what was spent, particularly in respect of value for money and return on investments.  It was confirmed that evidence was available, and published on the PCC’s website, regarding the monitoring and evaluation of projects which would be circulated outside of the meeting. 

Resolved

1. That the report be noted.

2. That further information on monitoring and evaluation of major grant projects be shared outside of the meeting.