Apologies were received from Councillor Candida Ronald

No declarations of interests were reported.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting held on 16^th January 2020.

RESOLVED:

The minutes of the meeting held on 16th January 2020 were presented and approved as a correct record of proceedings.

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]

There were none

To note for information individual decisions relating to the award of grants that have been taken by the Mayor the last meeting.

None reported.

Ripon Miah (Apprenticeship Levy Manager, Organisational Development) and Aelswith Frayne, (Head of Employment & Skills), presented this report.

The report sought approval of a proposed approach to transfer apprenticeship levy funds to other employers as outlined by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

From April 2019, the levy paying employers could transfer up to 25% of  annual funds to partners to support particular need areas and better utilise the funds. This budget equated to £325,000.

The following points  were also noted:

·         That this levy could support a range of placements including initiatives with local nurseries to upskill of staff, the Legal Advice Centre and solicitor training to provide housing and legal advice. 

·         The levy may only be spend on training and assessment.

·         The process for transferring funding, particularly the safeguards to prevent the misuse of funding.

Councillor Tarik Khan (Scrutiny Lead, Resources) advised of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s questions on this report. This sought clarity on the process for providing updates to the Council from receiving organisations.

In response to questions from the Sub –Committee the following points were discussed.

·         Officers were proposing to provide quarterly update reports and an annual report to the Council on the initiative.

·         The lack of any age restrictions for the places supported.

·         The costs of a placement, and the factors that influenced this -  such as the type and the length of placements.

·         That Officers worked with Council’s Work Path to identify apprenticeship opportunities and worked to recruit to positions at the Council, including hard to recruit to vacancies.

·         The accessibility of placements. The Council worked with local colleges and business in respect of the initiative.

RESOLVED:

That the Grants Sub – Committee:

1.         Approve the proposed process for determining who the employers are that levy funds can be transferred to (see Paragraph 5)

2.         Support the pilot project in conjunction with Workpath (see paragraph 5)

3.         Delegate to the Corporate Director Resources the ability to approve the transfer of levy to such organisations as successfully complete the application process in accordance with this report and

4.         Delegate to the Corporate Director Resources the ability to authorise the execution of all necessary documentation to give effect to any decision under recommendation 2.1.1 

Alice Biglow (Interim Manager, Parks and Open Spaces) presented the report regarding the allocation of funding to the Friends of the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park over three years to develop a new woodland path adjacent to Fairfoot Road, E3.

RESOLVED:

1.         Authorise the Corporate Director Children and Culture to make a grant to the maximum value of £100,000 to fund the Friends of the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in the delivery of the project under appropriate terms as are agreed with the organisation in consultation with Legal Services.

2.         Authorise the Corporate Director Place to direct the execution of any necessary documentation to give affect to the grant referred to in paragraph 1.

Alison Denning, (Festivals and Events Officer), presented the annual report on the Events Fund 2019-20. This was the final report following the funds discontinuation.

·         That the report covered the period between April 2019 and September 2019.

·         34 applications were received.

·         28 awards were made. These provided a wide range of events and activities.

·         Events took place in 10 wards and in 30 venues.

·         That Officers had encouraged the organisations to apply for the Small Grants Fund.  However, there was no specific funding stream regarding the arts in the Small Grants Programme.

·         That the organisations may apply still for funding from Small Grants Programme and may be eligible to receive funding if their activities supported one of the programmes themes.

Councillor Tarik Khan (Scrutiny Lead, Resources) advised of the Overview and Scrutiny’s questions on this report. Clarity was sought on the measures to ensure that projects previously funded through the Annual Events Fund were made aware of the small grants programme and the events were captured within this new funding stream.

In response to questions from the Sub –Committee – the following points were noted:

·         Officers reported that they have encouraged the groups to apply for small grants from the Small Grants Programme, but a lot had not been successful.

·         Members expressed support for looking at ways of providing continued support for projects supported by the Events Fund. The Mayor requested that further consideration should be given to this issue in consultation with the Chair of the Sub – Committee.

RESOLVED:

1.         That  the report is noted.

David Freeman, (Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Strategy Manager), presented the report that provided an update on VCS Funding awarded under delegated authority. Four awards were made under the Transition Fund to support the continuation of former MSG projects whilst they seek alternative sources of support. This was in line with the mitigation measures agreed by the Cabinet for the Local Community Fund

RESOLVED:

1.         Note the update on funding awarded to voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations under delegated authority since their last meeting

There were none.