Agenda item

At its meeting on 24^th January 2024, Agenda item 19 Minute number 294, Community Chest Grant Awards Cabinet resolved:

That Cabinet

(1)        Rescinds the decision made at its meeting of the 18^th October 2023 to allocate an equal amount of the Community Chest Fund to each of the Borough’s 16 wards.

(2)        Approves the proposed list of Community Chest Grants attached at Appendix A of the report.

In accordance with the Call-In Procedure for Cabinet Decisions, the procedure has been activated. The following documents are included:

Call-In Form (Note an additional Microsoft Word Version has been included for clarity)

Copy of Cabinet Report from 24^th January 2024 – Community Chest Grant Awards

Extract from Minutes of Cabinet 24^th January 2024 – Minute Number 294

Recommended – That the Committee does ONE of the following:

To release the Cabinet decision in full for implementation; or

To release the Cabinet decision in part for implementation, and refer the outstanding part of the decision back to the decision making body for reconsideration, setting out in writing the nature of its concerns; or

To refer the decision back to the decision making person or body for reconsideration, setting out in writing the nature of its concerns. The decision maker shall then reconsider amending the decision or not, before adopting a final decision

As per the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Procedure rules for items called-in, the Chair invited the sponsors of the call-in to speak first.

Councillor Mike Booth summarised the reasons for the call-in. He stated that whilst he had no intention to seek to overturn any of the grant decisions made, he felt that there were mistakes made in the process and bringing this to scrutiny was an opportunity to learn from these mistakes. In particular, Cllr Booth said he was seeking clarity on how, when and why the decision was taken to change from the previously agreed £5,000 allocation per ward.

The Chair invited the Portfolio Holder, Councillor Peter Britcliffe to respond. Cllr Britcliffe referred to paragraph 3.3 of the Cabinet report. Having received the applications, a Cabinet Working Group consisting of Acting Leader of the Council and Deputy Leader (Councillor Peter Britcliffe and Councillor Steven Smithson) was convened to evaluate the bids and make recommendations to Cabinet for determination. In light of the nature of the applications received, it is the view of this Working Group that the original intention to allocate the grant on the basis of £5,000 per ward is misguided.

The reason that this conclusion was reached is that it is clear that for the most part the organisations that made applications do not run on “ward lines” and instead offer facilities and services to beneficiaries that are much more rooted in communities of interest. Put simply, the types of organisations that applied for funding – e.g. cricket and boxing clubs, drama clubs, the Hyndburn Green Spaces Forum, the Sea Cadets, Scout Groups etc. are open to residents across the Borough and do not define themselves in terms of the Council’s electoral divisions.

He added that a judgement had to be made and they felt that removing the £5,000 allocation per ward was the fairest way to ensure the most worthy projects, most of which operate across ward boundaries, could receive funding. He said that the delay to this decision had consequences and urged the committee to release the decision in full.

The following questions were submitted by the Committee:

Who was involved in the Cabinet Working Group to evaluate the bids and what criteria was used to make the decisions on successful bids?

Will the Community Chest be repeated again next year?

Do the sponsors of the call-in have any suggestions of how they would have allocated the funds differently?

Could County Councillors provide financial support to any failed bids?

Will failed bids be signposted to other sources of funding?

Could the Judicial Committee for external funding be re-established if the fund is repeated?

Where people informed of the change in criteria?

How were the bids prioritised and were bidders aware of the priorities?

Will there be monitoring/reporting from successful bidders?

Some projects have received less money than they requested. Does this cause potential issues with organisations not being able to deliver on their intended use of the funding?

The Chair invited the sponsors of the call-in to sum up.

Councillor Mike Booth said he thinks the call-in was a worthwhile exercise and the change of decision warranted the additional scrutiny. He said that it was clear that the initial framework for the funding was wrong, and the Council should learn from this going forward. Going forwards, the Council should be clear in its priorities for community funding schemes.

The Chair invited the portfolio holder to sum up.

Councillor Britcliffe said he urged the committed to release the decision in full to avoid small organisations further delays in receiving funding.

The Chair thanked the portfolio holder and sponsors of the call-in. The Chair moved that the decision be released in full. This was seconded and voted on.

Resolved        -           That the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee releases the Cabinet Decision which was subject to call in, in full for implementation.