51 Grants to Voluntary and Community Organisations PDF 126 KB
To consider a report by the Lead Member for Communities.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Committee
considered a report by the Lead Member for Communities on a review of the
grants to the voluntary and community sector to provide some certainty as to
their future funding in advance of the budget setting process for Dorset
Council. As part of the introduction of
the report, the Lead Member asked for Recommendation 2 in the report be removed
as there had not been an opportunity to gather enough information and assess
the impact of a change in funding for Local Town Partnerships and that the
funding for these bodies would roll forward in the same way as other
funding. A robust review would then be
undertaken of all grants early in the new financial year. Steve Mackenzie, Chief Executive of Purbeck
District Council and lead officer for the report, summarised the remit of the
exercise undertaken so far and also clarified that most of the funding
arrangements were managed through Service Level Agreements which were due to
end on 31 March 2019 except for East Dorset arrangements which were due to end
on 31 March 2020. Further clarification
was provided regarding the requested budget level which took account of an
additional £52,698 in relation to the funding for the Citizen’s Advice Bureau
in North Dorset and Weymouth & Portland which had not been included in the
figures. This increased the gross budget
to £2,006,722 and the requested budget to £1,545,113.
On discussing the
report, it was suggested that a caveat be added to the remit of the review of
grants to ensure that there was a clear outcomes focus and evidence base for
the continuation of funding. Reference
also had to be made to the community benefits created as a result of the
funding, together with an impact assessment of the additional income generated
as a result of the use of the funding.
All groups would be notified of the roll forward of funding and it would
be made very clear that there would be a robust and fair review of all funding
in the 2019/20 financial year.
Decisions
1. That grants
which are given to organisations on a continuing basis are rolled forward for
2019/20, subject to the grants to pan-Dorset organisations being reduced to
take account of the loss of Christchurch.
2. That
comprehensive reviews of the grants be undertaken, to inform the budget setting
process for 2020/21 and provide certainty to the sector.
Reason for
Decisions
That there was a clear approach to grants to voluntary and community organisations in 2019/20, so that recipient organisations and Finance Officers could plan accordingly.