Agenda and minutes
Venue: Room MP701, Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: David Knight, Democratic Services Tel: 020 7364 4878, E-mail: david.knight@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Minutes: The Chair, Councillor Mukit MBE welcomed everyone to the Grants Scrutiny sub-committee meeting.
He asked everyone to introduce themselves and commenced the meeting.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Clare Harrisson, Councillor Amina Ali, Councillor Rabina Khan and Christine McInnes, Service Head for Education and Partnership.
Councillor Danny Hassell was deputising for Councillor Amina Ali and Councillor Denise Jones was deputising for Councillor Clare Harrisson.
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST PDF 73 KB Minutes: Councillor Peter Golds declared an interest in item 5.6 ‘MSG Project Performance Update Report’ point 3.32 the Green Candle Dance Company as he is a Voluntary Director at the Company.
Councillor Denise Jones declared a pecuniary interest in item 5.6 ‘MSG Project Performance Update Report’ point 3.29 Half Moon Young People’s Theatre because her Company has provided books to the Theatre.
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING To approve as a correct record of proceedings, the minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2017. (To follow) Minutes: The Chair informed Members of the Sub-Committee the minutes from the 23rd March were not available to sign off but would be presented at the next meeting of the Grant’s Scrutiny Sub-Committee.
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CONSIDERATION OF PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS Consideration of any written comments received from members of the public in relation to any of the reports on the agenda.
[Any submissions should be sent to the clerk listed on the agenda front page by 5pm the day before the meeting] Minutes: The Sub-Committee noted that no public submissions had been submitted to the Clerk by the deadline (5pm the day before the meeting).
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GRANTS DETERMINATION SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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Mayor's Cup Community Grants PDF 89 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Sub-Committee considered the Mayor’s Cup Community Grants report which was presented by Lisa Pottinger, Head of Sport and Physical Activity.
She informed Members the Mayor’s Cup was held annually in April and was supported through sponsorship contributions from local businesses and contractors.
She referred Members to Appendix 1 of the report which listed the names of successful applicants who had applied for the Grant.
She said a total of 33 applications were received for 2016 and £17,250 in grant money was allocated to the 23 successful applicants, with each recipient organisation receiving a grant of £750.00.
Members of the Sub-Committee made the following comments and asked questions in respect to the report:
· Can the Sub- Committee be informed who the sponsors are?
· Of the applicants in appendix 1, how many are women’s football clubs?
· Reports authors need to think more widely about Best Value and Safeguarding implications rather than stating there are no implications for the council.
· Members agreed more could be done to encourage Women’s Football teams to apply for the Grant plus encourage school teams to also apply.
· Do women’s team have priority access to pitch bookings?
Lisa Pottinger AGREED to provide a list of sponsors to Members and stated the Mayor’s Cup was publicised to all football teams but there was only 1 Adult Women’s Team and 1 junior team. Hardly any Football teams outside of the school network existed. However she would examine what more could be done to get local schools to participate.
The Sub-Committee agreed to endorse the recommendations contained within the report and asked their comments be reported to the Grants Determination Sub-Committee
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Event Fund 2017/18 - Revised Guidelines and Criteria and Application Form PDF 107 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: Steve Murray, Head of Arts and Events introduced this report and stated the Revised Guidelines, Criteria and Application Form, were being simplified and was a response to the feedback received from the Commissioners decision making meeting of 8th November 2016.
He said the Event Fund was a small grant fund for community arts events which has been successfully operating for a number of years. It works on a rolling programme with financial year 16/17 still operating on monthly deadlines. However it was proposed the programme move to quarterly deadlines instead.
Members of the Sub-Committee asked the following questions:
· Looking at Appendix D page 31 which considers comparison of similar event funds in other London authorities the majority seem to have a higher amount of money available for their event funds (5k-20K)? Do you know why that might be? Do they fund larger borough wide events?
· Appendix E on page 33. What methods do organisations use to capture equalities information? Is this something practical for them to do?
· A simple Equalities pro-forma should be provided to organisations and attendees at events should be encouraged to complete them.
ACTION: Steve Murray agreed to trial a pro-forma equalities forms and said he would explore the suggestion of offering a ‘prize draw’ for completing forms with Legal colleagues especially as public monies in a form of a grant was being expended.
The Sub-Committee NOTED the report and asked the comments herein be reported to the Grants Determination Sub-Committee.
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Additional documents:
Minutes: Alison Denning, Festival and Events Officer presented her report on the Events Fund.
She stated the Event’s Fund was a small grant fund which had been operating for a number of years. The previous report dealt with the changes to be made to the Guidelines and Criteria for the fund, however this was the quarterly update on the number of applications and events which took place in the third quarter – 1st October 2016 to 31st December 2016.
She referred to the table on page 57 of the agenda pack and said a total of £14,800 had been awarded in Quarter 3.
Appendix A gave a breakdown of the number of applications received, granted and declined. She explained the applications were assessed by a Panel of three assessors before a recommendation was made to the Divisional Director to accept and approve.
She said the Events team had held 5 workshops which had been well attended and received and the intention is to roll out workshops every quarter. Members were satisfied and agreed that this was good practice in opening up the fund to organisations across the borough.
Members of the Sub-Committee made the following comments and asked questions relating to the report:
· Point 6.5 states the process of applying for a grant was difficult. What additional guidance is provided on completing equalities monitoring information? Is a sample example provided to applicants showing how to complete the form correctly? It was noted that this was a question of proportionality. Not all organisations who receive monies have the resources and manpower to fill in detailed equalities forms and that to make the process easier detailed level equalities information was not being asked of projects £500 or under and this was what the revised guidance is addressing.
· Appendix A shows events specific to particular groups. Do you encourage events to have a wider appeal to people in the borough, which ensures a mixing of people from different backgrounds to strengthen cohesion? It was confirmed that events are open to people from across the borough and there was no limitation on who can attend and that mixing of different people is always encouraged. It was also noted that certain events are specific in nature due to seasonal variations in what is run. E.g. black history month which only takes place at a particular time in the year however those events where open to all members of the public.
· Pleased to hear the workshops have been a success. Do you encourage ‘buddy up’ peer support to organisations applying? It was confirmed that this already takes place where larger charities can buddy up with smaller organisations to support them in the process.
The Sub-Committee NOTED the report and asked the comments herein be reported to the Grants Determination Sub-Committee.
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Update on Progress of the Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THEP) PDF 191 KB Minutes: The Chair, Councillor Mukit explained Officers were asking Members to provide comments in relation to this report, in email format and comments would be replied to directly.
The Chair requested Members to send comments to Christine McInnes no later than the 8th May 2017.
Cllr Hassell stated he had a number of questions which he would direct to Christine McInnes.
The Sub-Committee NOTED the report and agreed the collated comments would be reported to the Grants Determination Sub-Committee.
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Crowdfunding Initiative -Match Funding Decision Making Process PDF 187 KB Minutes: Steve Hill, Head of the Benefits Service presented his paper on the Council’s ‘Crowdfunding initiative’.
He stated a key action within the Council’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Strategy (2016-19) was to identify potential external funding sources to expand and diversify the resource base of local VCS organisations.
He referred Members to point 3.8 in the report and said it was recommended that the decision making to approve such funding be delegated to an Officer panel chaired by the Corporate Director for Resources.
He also informed Members he had attended the launch of the Greater London Authority (GLA) scheme introduced by the Mayor of London with a total fund of 400k which was open to all London local authorities to apply for to support their crowdfunding schemes. The Tower Hamlets scheme was one of the schemes that was discussed and promoted.
Members of the Sub-Committee made the following comments and asked questions in relation to the report:
· Can you explain how Spacehive crowdfunding works?
· Can to tell us the types of projects other local authorities have funded through Spacehive and what their experience has been? It was suggested that many of the schemes were on the topic of innovation but that this varied depending on the local authority.
· Up to how much money can our scheme approve?
· Has the initiative been advertised and does the local community and voluntary sector organisations know how to apply for this? It was stated that communication of the scheme was the next step and that authorisation was required first to approve the scheme.
The Grants Sub-Committee welcomed the initiative and NOTED the report.
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MSG Project Performance Update Report - Period 6, January - March 2017 PDF 163 KB Minutes: Steve Hill, Head of the Benefits Service, presented the quarterly performance report relating to the Main Stream Grant (MSG) Project for September 2015 through to August 2018.
The programme is made up of 5 broad themes covering a range of activities and services;
Project performance for this period (January to March 2017) presently shows there are 18 Red rated projects and 5 Amber rated projects.
Steve Hill proceeded to provide updates with regard to those organisations rated Red or Amber.
Theme 1 – Children and Young People There are 56 live projects within this theme of which 9 are Red rated and 2 are rated Amber.
Red rated project are: · Teviot British Bangladeshi Association (TBBA) – Opportunity – Online Monitoring Return not submitted for the quarter · Osmani Trust - Shaathi Family Support Programme – Online Monitoring Return not submitted for the quarter · Island House Community Centre - Island House YOU Project – Online Monitoring Return not submitted for the quarter · Our Base LTD - One Stop Youth Service – Online Monitoring Return not submitted for the quarter / Ongoing premises issues · Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre - Girls Can Adventure - Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre – Online Monitoring Return not submitted for the quarter · Pollyanna Training Theatre – Musical theatre and Performance Arts Course – Performance issues / further verification required · Children’sEducation Group– BernerFootball Academy – Premises issues / Performance issues (project halted due to suspension of grant) · Community of Refugees from Vietnam - East London – Home-School Liaison Project - Premises issue Amber rated project are: · CubittTown Bangladeshi CulturalAssociation – performance related issues but the organisation has submitted a significant variation request. · Half Moon Young People's Theatre – performance related as organisation has increased its fees for beneficiaries without consultation.
Theme 2 – Routeways to Employment & Welfare Advice There are 20 projects with 4 rated Red and 1 rated Amber
Three of these are due to premises issues, one due to monitoring returns not being submitted and consequently not being able to be assessed and one as the organisation owes money to the council.
There is one Amber rated project.
Theme 3 – Health and Wellbeing This theme is made up of 35 live projects, of which 5 are rated Red and 1 is rated Amber.
TheRed ratedprojects are:
· BethnalGreen WeightliftingClub – Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club Online Monitoring Return not submitted for the quarter/Premises issues · Children Education Group – Harkness Luncheon Club - Premises issues/ performance issue. · Island House Community Centre - Health & Wellbeing Project ... view the full minutes text for item 5.6 |
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Grants Forward Plan 2017-2018 PDF 47 KB Minutes: Members of the Sub-Committee were asked to note the Grants Forward Plan.
Members duly NOTED the plan.
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT Minutes: Members of the Sub-Committee were reminded that the next meeting of the Grants Scrutiny Sub-Committee was scheduled to take place on the 15th June 2017.
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