Grant Aid 2007/2008

Neighbourhoods and Community Care Directorate

Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership

Council Grant Aid Report 2007-08

1 Purpose

1.1 The purpose of this report is to seek approval for recommended grant aid spending from the Council Grant Aid budget for 2007-08. The report deals with grant aid for the voluntary and community sectors funded exclusively from the Council’s core revenue budget.

2 Background

2.1 The Council’s Grant Aid budget is managed within the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service, which is part of Neighbourhoods and Community Care Directorate.

2.2 The Grant Aid Budget is divided into three discrete funds: the Revenue Grants Fund, the Council Small Grants Fund and the Lunch Clubs Fund. This report deals with the arrangements for all three funds in 2007-08.

3 How the recommendations were reached

3.1 In line with arrangements contained in the report Improving the Management of Grant Aid approved by Cabinet on 5th February 2003, grant applications to the Revenue Grants Fund were assessed by officers in the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service and presented to an Annual Grants Advisory Panel comprising the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director, the Cabinet Member for Adult Services, the Cabinet Adviser for Inclusion and relevant Council officers.

3.2 The Annual Grants Advisory Panel formulated the recommendations to Cabinet for Revenue Grant awards over £10,000 and made recommendations to the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director for Revenue Grant awards under £10,000. A list of recommendations for awards over £10,000 are attached to this report as Appendix 1 (page 6). The awards agreed by the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director for grants under £10,000 are reported for information in Appendix 2 (page 27). A report of the impact of the awards from the Revenue Grants Fund is prepared after the end of each financial year. Copies of the Revenue Grants Fund Annual Report are circulated to all elected members and the report is published on the Council’s website.

3.3 The recommendation for the Small Grants Fund allocation is included at the end of Appendix 1 (page 26). Applications to the Small Grants Fund are made throughout the year. Decisions on grants up to £500 are delegated to the Small Grants Officer on behalf of the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director. Decisions on grants between £500 and £3,000 are made by the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director on the recommendation of a monthly Small Grants Advisory Panel, chaired by the Cabinet Advisor for Inclusion, and composed of officers and voluntary and community sector representatives appointed by the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director. Awards made from this Fund during the year are reported each month to Area Panels and a comprehensive report is produced after the end of each financial year. Copies of the Small Grants Fund Annual Report are circulated to all elected members and the report is published on the Council’s website.

3.4 The recommendation for the Lunch Clubs Fund allocation is included at the end of Appendix 1 (page 25). Applications to the Lunch Clubs Fund are invited from existing clubs on a year on year basis in advance of each financial year. Decisions on awards under £10,000 are delegated to the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director on the recommendation of an Annual Grants Advisory Panel of officers and members convened for the purpose. The Annual Grants Advisory Panel formulates recommendations to Cabinet for Lunch Club awards over £10,000. Awards from this Fund may be varied during the year because of a change in a lunch club’s circumstances and new awards may be made from unallocated spend within the budget. A comprehensive report of the awards made from this Fund is produced after the end of each financial year. Copies of the Lunch Clubs Fund Annual Report are circulated to all elected members and the report is published on the Council’s website.

3.5 Every Council grant is awarded for a specific purpose and subject to a set of general grant conditions approved by Legal and Governance Service and Internal Audit. The Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director may also attach additional conditions to a grant where these have been identified as appropriate during the grant assessment process.

4 Proposed grant spending 2007-08

4.1 Cabinet is recommended to agree that the grant expenditure proposed in this report is likely to promote or improve the social well-being of Sheffield and specifically of the beneficiaries of the various grant aided activities and services.

4.2 Recommendations for proposed grant spending are attached to this report as two Appendices. Appendix 1 lists for approval recommendations for grants over £10,000 to be awarded from the Revenue Grants Fund and the allocations for the Council Small Grants Fund and the Lunch Clubs Fund. Appendix 2 lists for information Revenue Grants under £10,000 approved by the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director on the recommendation of the Annual Grants Advisory Panel. The Revenue Grants listed in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 have been inflated by 2%.

4.3 It is recommended that a grant is made to Victim Support (page 16). This grant is being transferred from the management of the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Community Safety Team.

4.4 It is recommended that increases are made to the following grants: Chinese Community Centre (page 12), Deaf Advice Service Sheffield (page 18), Langsett Advice and Area Resource Centre (page 20), Sharrow Citizens Advice Bureau (page 21), Sheffield and District Afro-Caribbean Community Association (page 14), South East Sheffield Citizens Advice Bureau (page 23) and Tinsley Advice Service (page 24). The reasons for these increases are appended to the organisations’ entries in Appendix 1. The grants to Darnall and District Advice Service (DADAS) and South East Sheffield Citizens Advice Bureau (SESCAB) are adjusted to account for the transfer of a post from DADAS to SESCAB.

4.5 It is recommended that reductions are made to the grants to the Black Women’s Resource Centre (page 8) and Sheffield Credit Union (page 6). The reasons for these reductions are appended to the organisations’ entries in Appendix 1. They reflect a tapered withdrawal of funding as the organisations move towards greater self-sustainability.

4.6 A national contract held by the Sheffield Debt Support Unit will end at 31st March 2007. This has implications for the future direction of that organisation. It is recommended that Council continues to support the Sheffield Debt Support Unit as part of its Financial Inclusion Strategy and that the organisation is asked to work with Sheffield Advice Link to establish a one stop access point for debt advice in the city during 2007.

4.7 It is recommended that the grant to Sheffield Gypsy and Traveller Support Group (page 14) is withdrawn because the organisation no longer has the capacity to deliver activities in line with the purpose of the grant. It is further recommended that an amount of £35,000 is ringfenced within the unallocated element of the Revenue Grants Fund to support project work with Gypsy and Traveller families as identified by the Gypsy and Traveller Multi-Agency Task Group, which is chaired by the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director.

4.8 Changes to the arrangements for Legal Services Commission funding for advice centres will have a significant impact on the advice services funded from the Revenue Grants Fund at some point in the future. It is the Council’s intention to meet with the affected organisations during 2007-08 to discuss the implications of these changes and a shift towards commissioned services.

5 Legal Implications

5.1 The grants envisaged in this report are aimed at contributing to the social well-being of the City, and would, therefore, be authorised by the Council’s power to promote economic, social and environmental well-being (Section 2, Local Government Act 2000). In exercising this power the Council has to have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State. In the course of preparing this report that guidance has been considered and nothing within the report is at odds with it. The guidance will also be considered as part of the decision making process for applications to the Council Small Grants Fund.

5.2 In exercising the wellbeing power the Council must also have regard to the provisions of its community strategy prepared pursuant to Section 4 of the 2000 Act. The Council’s community strategy, the City Strategy 2005-10, has been considered in the preparation of this report. The proposals in this report are in harmony with the strategy and assist its implementation. The community strategy will also be considered as part of the decision making process for applications to the Council Small Grants Fund.

5.3 The Council Grant Aid budget comprises a Revenue Grants Fund, a Lunch Clubs Fund and a Small Grants Fund, which support aspects of the City Strategy’s priority themes: ‘Attractive, Successful Neighbourhoods’ ‘Good Health and Well Being for All Communities’ and ‘Inclusive and Cosmopolitan City’. The proposed Council grant aid expenditure 2007-08 addresses a number of the key policy challenges identified in the City Strategy 2005-10, in particular, promoting ‘stronger communities with active citizens in all neighbourhoods’, ‘supporting the independence, health and well-being of older people’, supporting and developing ‘ those organisations that are best placed to reach the most vulnerable groups in the city, including building capacity in the voluntary, community and black and minority ethnic sectors’.

6 Equality Implications

6.1 Some of the proposed grants are to groups serving members of ethnic minority communities in circumstances where the activities funded by the grant will help to meet their special needs regarding their education, training or welfare.

6.2 An equality impact assessment has been completed for this report and a copy of this document is available on request. Positive impacts have been identified for women, disabled people and Black and ethnic minority people. No negative impacts have been identified. Organisations funded from this budget are asked to provide information about the equality impact of the grant awarded in their monitoring returns. This information is collated and reported in the annual reports of each fund on an annual basis. These reports are circulated to all councillors and published on the Council website.

7 Financial Implications

7.1 The provisionally approved Grant Aid budget 2007-08 described in this report assumes a 2% inflation increase and totals £3,386,676.

7.2 The financial implications arising from the proposals contained within this report can be summarised as follows:

	£
Proposed Provisional budget	3,386,676
Revenue Grants (including to be allocated element)	2,931,676
Lunch Club Fund	255,000
Council Small Grants Fund	200,000
Proposed total expenditure	£3,386,676

7.3 As recommended in the Grant Aid Report 2004-5 and agreed by Cabinet, any balance up to £100,000 remaining uncommitted in the current year’s Grant Aid budget at 31st March 2007 will be treated as an earmarked reserve. Should the balance be in excess of £100,000, the excess will be considered for approval in line with the Financial Framework, as part of the overall Council’s Revenue Outturn Budget report.

7.4 It is further recommended that up to 50% of any amount treated as an earmarked reserve in 2007-08 is ringfenced to form a Crisis Contingency Fund to which organisations facing a short-term funding crisis may apply for a one off payment. For example to provide a bridging grant to sustain the continuity of a service or post between the award of two external funding sources. It is recommended that the decision about the amounts and terms on which any such grants are offered in 2007-08 or any further grants from any unallocated element within the Revenue Grants Fund be delegated to the Neighbourhood Renewal and Partnership Service Director in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Services.

8 Recommendations

8.1 Cabinet is asked to approve the grant aid recommendations listed in

Appendix 1 for grants over £10,000 and the operation of the Lunch Clubs Fund and the Small Grants Fund.

8.2 Cabinet is asked to approve the recommendations at Sections 4 and 7 above.

8. 3 Cabinet is asked to note the approved expenditure in Appendix 2 for Revenue Grants under £10,000.

Joanne Roney

Executive Director Neighbourhoods and Community Care Directorate

Downloads

Appendix 1 (Word File 96KB)

This document contains Appendix 1 to the Grant Aid report (95.5 KB)