Corporate & Community Services Cabinet Member – Minutes – 9 December 2011

11    (11)  FUTURE VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR (VCS) CORE FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS – The  Director of Corporate and Community Services submitted a report which outlined the need to consider the revision to the funding processes to the VCS. 

It was explained that the Council provided core financial support to five VCS organisations, the value achieved by this funding had been evaluated on a self assessment basis.  The agreements to provide funding were due to come to an end in March 2012. 

The report contained proposals that would ensure that the Council’s continuing financial support was allocated in a way that gave due regard to best value, transparency and inclusivity. 

The provision of core funding to five VCS organisations by North Lincolnshire Council (NLC) was managed by the Stronger Communities Team, a breakdown of the funding managed as of April 2011 could be seen at Appendix 1 to the report. 

The five organisations were:-

  • Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
  • Crosby Community Association (CCA)
  • Humber and Wolds Rural Community Council (HWRCC)
  • South Humber Racial Equality Council (SHREC)
  • Voluntary Action North Lincolnshire (VANL)

 

Following discussions with the Council’s Procurement Unit, it had been suggested that a revised funding allocation process could follow one of two models, either by way of a procurement regime or revised grant funding process, with the preference being a grant allocation process drawing on procurement principles. 

The report outlined that option 4 was the preferred choice and that following a revised grant application process that was open to all VCS organisations, grants would be allocated to provide coordination and support for all VCS organisations and advice and guidance for local residents. To allow for proper development of any process the new arrangements, managed through a funding agreement, would run from the 1 October 2012 to the 31 March 2016 within the boundaries of the resources available. 

Resolved – (a)  That Option 4 as outlined within the report be approved, (b) that the proposal to extend funding provision, within the boundaries of resources currently available, to the five VCS groups detailed in paragraph 2.3 of the report for the period from the 1 April 2012 until the 1 October 2012 be approved, (c) that the funding to each of the organisations be settled in accordance with the Council’s usual budgetary processes and subject to a revised funding arrangement, (d) that the appropriate consultation on these proposals be carried out with organisations detailed in this report and the VCS in general, and (e) that the Cabinet Member receives further reports on the matters detailed herein as and when appropriate.

Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.