CouncillorSirajul Islam – Councillor Sabina Akhtar was deputising

Councillor Leema Qureshi - Scrutiny Lead Resources

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests form and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services

Councillor Sabina Akhtar, declared a Non Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in agenda item 6.3, One-off Restart Small Grants for Community Languages Providers as the Cabinet Member for the subject area. (Cabinet Member for Culture, Arts and Brexit)

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting held on 21^st April 2021

To note the record of the information discussion of the Committee held on 23^rd June 2021.

RESOLVED:

1.          The minutes of the meeting of the Sub – Committee held on 21^ST April 2021  be approved as a correct record of the proceedings.

The notes of the informal discussion of the Sub – Committee held on the 23^rd June 2021 were also noted

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.

RESOLVED:

1.          To note the Sub – Committee’s  Terms of Reference, Quorum, Membership and Dates of meetings for the Municipal Year 2021/22 as set out in Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to this report

Michael Ritchie (Place Shaping Team Leader, Strategic Planning, Place) presented the report. This related to the allocation of funding to the Toynbee Hall in relation to the Historic England’s High Streets Heritage Action Zone( HSHAZ).

It sought authority for LBTH (the lead partner for HSHAZ) to grant Toynbee Hall who were the local Cultural Consortium lead funding for the Petticoat Lane Cultural Programme.

The programme would be for a three year period to deliver a range of activities as part of a wider HSHAZ programme. The delivery of activities would be collectively decided by the Community Decision-Making Group’, and Toynbee Hall will ensure that the funds are spent by the Group according agreed parameters and checks. 

The Sub – Committee noted the scrutiny questions circulated on the items. It was also noted that the Committee worked with Toynbee Hall in relation to the administration of other grants such as the grant awarded to the organisation by the Committee in February 2021, as part of the HSHAZ programme. This new grant was a separate grant, which HE had made additional funding available for. It was therefore felt that since the Council already worked with Toynbee Hall, that this addressed the issues raised by the scrutiny questions about the effectiveness of the community decision making and value of money. The Sub – Committee welcomed the initiative.

RESOLVED:

1.          Authorise the Corporate Director of Place to issue a third-party HSHAZ Local Cultural Programme agreement of £90,000 between LBTH and Toynbee Hall as the Cultural Consortium lead.

2.          Authorise the Corporate Director Place to enter into the grant agreement and any such other agreements required to affect the grant and the use of the grant as detailed in paragraph 1.

Judith St John (Director, Commissioning and Culture, Children and Culture).presented the report

The Committee were advised of the background to this report – resulting from a Cabinet decision in December 2019 regarding Community Language Services. Due to which, it was resolved that following the closure of the service, this one off grant be made to help organisations deliver community language classes. Due to the impact of Covid 19 and the closure of classes, it has only recently been possible to bring forward this programme.

The following issues were noted.

·       The proposal seeks authority for the East End Community Foundation - EECF (who already run the small grants programmes on behalf of LBTH) to manage this small grants programme of approximately £120,000.

·       The aim of which was to support voluntary sector providers of community languages classes (mother tongue classes) with a one-off small restart grant, focused around 4 themes which were noted.

·       The EECF has an excellent track record of working with the Council and administering Grants on behalf of the Council.

·       There were around 35 - 40 provider organisations in Tower Hamlets that would be eligible for this funding.

·       This would be a closed application process with a maximum grant of £3,000 per grant.

·       There would be an additional fee of 8% fee to EECF for the administration of the funds.

·       The Council had put in place criteria, ensuring the delivery of value for money amongst other key issues. 

·       If successful, it was proposed that the application process start in early September and run until early October 2021, with the intention of providing the organisations with a decision on their application by the end of November 2021. LBTH has representation on the  on the EECF Board .

The Sub – Committee noted the scrutiny questions circulated on the items. Regarding the first question about organisations that had previously changed their name, it was confirmed that the existing community language providers would still be able to apply if they met the criteria. Regarding the question on match funding – it was noted that this was a one off grant and that there is no plans to provide or require any match funding.

The Committee discussed a number if issues as set out below:

·       The Sub – Committee noted the need for the applicants to provide a viable business plans and the requirements around this

·       That the fee charge was in addition to the £120,000 grant funding to be provided to organisations.

·       The proposal to set a limit of £3k per award per organisation.

·       Members requested that in the event of any surplus in the grant money available to organisation following the evaluation process, this is evenly distributed between the successful applicants.

·       It was also noted that since organisations may have changed their name, that more than 35 providers may apply for a grant so this needed to be taken into account. 

·       The organisations who had previously received support, (as defined in the criteria) would be contacted and also offered help  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.3

Awo Ahmed (Programme Assessment and Monitoring Officer, Corporate Strategy & Policy, Communities Team, Governance), presented the report

This report provides an update on funding awarded to voluntary and community sector organisations under delegated authority since the last meeting of the Sub - Committee.

This also sought agreement, for changes to the eligibility criteria in respect of  the new theme of the Small Grants Programme, Recovery from Covid-19 Loneliness and Isolation. It also sought agreement to approve an extension of the grant variation for the Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grants Programme

Members welcome the update.  It was felt that it provided a welcomed overview of the Council’s grants programme and the work that is carried out in this regard.

RESOLVED:

1.          Note the update on funding awarded to voluntary and community sector

(VCS) organisations under delegated authority since their last meeting.

2.          Note the grant funding agreed through Individual Mayoral decision and

cabinet from the Mayor’s Covid Recovery Fund.

3.          Note the new theme of the Small Grants Programme, Recovery from

Covid-19 Loneliness and Isolation. And agree, for this theme only, the

eligibility criterion for applications, relating to turnover not exceeding

£250,000 per annum be waived.

4.          Approve the extension of the grant variation for the Infrastructure and

Capacity Building Grants Programme that was approved at Cabinet on 21^st October 2020 for a further 12 months, from October 2021 to September 2022.

None