Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance of the following duly constituted Reserve Member:

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Panel;

(b)               all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

Agenda Items 7 and 8 - Update on Commissioning, Small Grants Applications Form and Draft Timetable

Councillor Ann Gate declared a disclosable non-pecuniary interest in that her husband was a Director at Soul Survivor and on the board of Harrow Citizen’s Advice bureau.  She would remain in the room whilst these matters were considered and voted upon.

Councillor Nana Asante declared a disclosable non-pecuniary interest in that she was a member of the Voluntary and Community Sector Forum and that she had taken part in the Scrutiny Review regarding Support to the Voluntary and Community Sector.  She would remain in the room whilst these matters were considered and voted upon.

Deven Pillay, representative from the voluntary and community sector declared a disclosable non-pecuniary interest in that he was Chief Executive of Harrow MENCAP.  He would remain in the room whilst these matters were considered and voted upon.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2012 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2012 be taken as read and signed as a correct record, subject to the following amendment, paragraph 2 of minute 101 on page 103 to read:

The Divisional Director of Community and Culture stated that EHT funds were administered by Harrow Council on behalf of the Trust and that there was £24,237.64 currently available in the fund and the total amount requested by applicants to the fund amounted to £40,678.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents or organisations under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 51 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were put, or petitions or deputations received.  The Chairman had received an email from CAB outlining their concerns about the changes to the Grants Programme.  The Panel agreed to receive the email when the item was discussed.

Report of the Corporate Director Community Health and Well-Being.

The Panel received a report of the Corporate Director Community, Health and Wellbeing which set out proposals for amendments to the grants application form and proposed draft timetable for the Small Grants programme 2013-14.

The Divisional Director highlighted the following in relation to the application form:

·                    amending the current eligibility criteria for small grants in the light of feedback following consultation with the Third Sector in September 2011;

·                    the equalities monitoring information now included the protected characteristics as described in the Equality Act of 2010;

·                    the evidence of need question had been simplified;

·                    the project/activity outcomes section had been simplified into 3 columns instead of 4;

·                    the question relating to unit had been removed;

·                    a new question 7e, relating to any additional information to be submitted had been inserted.

Following discussion, the Panel agreed that the requirement for groups to submit  professional references, essential policy documents and information relating to financial reserves should be retained.

Panel Members made the following points:

·                    the question relating to details of a group’s financial reserves should be retained and clearer guidance provided as to what was required, as this was a good test of a group’s robustness and would play a role in helping organisations to develop;

·                    the size of the reserve itself was not as important as whether organisations were able to demonstrate that a reserves policy was in place.  This information would also prove useful if a cap were to be placed on the maximum amount of small grant funding available.

The Divisional Director stated that, in her view, information relating to a group’s reserves could indicate the stability and ability of an organisation to deliver stated outcomes and that supporting documents were not required to be submitted until after notification of grant award.

The Adviser to the Panel stated that a robust assessment and appeals process was key in ensuring a fair and transparent process.  Further training should be provided to assessors to reduce any inconsistencies in the result.

An officer advised that the assessment process had the requisite checks and balances to ensure consistency.  However, officers were open to suggestions about improving the process.  The Portfolio Holder for Community and Cultural Services stated that any assessment process would have some discrepancies due to differences of opinion amongst the scorers and moderators.  The Adviser stated that the assessment process was not a precise science, however, in his view, there would be greater consistency in the results if fewer people were involved in the process.  The Chairman stated that the scoring of applications during the assessment process was in question and had resulted in a number of discrepancies and many successful appeals.

A Member stated that she had been informed at a recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee that 80% of appeals had been successful.  An officer stated that she was not sure that this figure was correct and undertook to inform the Panel of the exact figure.

The Panel requested that, if possible, the draft timetable for the Small  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.

Report of the Corporate Director Community Health and Wellbeing.

The Panel received a report of the Corporate Director Community, Health and Wellbeing which set out proposals for commissioning and Small Grants and on the development of plans for moving from the Main Grants Programme to an Outcomes Based Grants and a Small Grants process in 2013/14.

The Chairman of the Panel read out an email from the Chief Executive of Harrow Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).  The email contained a briefing document for Councillors and MPs setting out Harrow CABs concerns relating to proposed changes to the Council’s grants process and its possible adverse impact on CABs ability and the ability of other key voluntary sector organisations in Harrow to continue delivering their current level of service provision.

The Divisional Director Community & Culture advised that:

·                     the number of grant applications received had increased in recent years and the maximum amount of grant funding had been capped;

·                     there were over one thousand voluntary/community sector organisations operating n Harrow and some of these were delivering services without any grant funding;

·                     the Grants budget for 2012/13 had been ringfenced.

The Portfolio Holder for Community and Cultural Services made the following points:

·                     the date of the July meeting of the Panel had been postponed at his request, as in his view, this had been a key opportunity to take on board feedback from the voluntary and community sector about a commissioning based grants process and added that the Grants budget for 2012/13 was protected;

·                     although he was pleased that CAB were consulting with the Council, however, he pointed out that a decision to place a £50K cap on the grant as claimed by CAB had not yet been made and that a scaled reduction of funding over the three period had largely been welcomed by organisations at the consultation event.  The Council had proposed that grant funding be allocated over a period of 3 years with a tapering in years 2 and 3.  It was not possible to predict what level of grant funding would be available in the next few years.  He added that the Grants process was a competitive process and therefore no single group’s funding could be guaranteed.

The Chairman stated that there could be a sense of entitlement amongst some groups that had been consistently successful in securing grant funding over recent years.  However, groups should be aware that success in securing grant funding one year did not guarantee success in subsequent years.

A Member of the Panel stated that some groups could feel that they were entitled to core funding.  Some groups might no longer be able to continue operating at the same level if their funding was reduced.  She suggested that the grant application form be amended to ask groups whether additional funding was being sought from other sources and if so, whether they had been successful. 

Members of the Panel made the following points:

·                     information provided by groups about match funding should be used to score their grant applications;

·                     it was important that regular impact assessments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108.

Report of the Corporate Director Community Health and Well-Being.

RESOLVED: That this item be deferred until the next meeting of the Panel.

In accordance with the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 48.2 (Part 4D) of the Constitution, it was

RESOLVED:  At 9.59 pm to continue until 10.30 pm.