Agenda item
Event Fund Awards Report
- Meeting of Grants Scrutiny Sub-Committee, Tuesday, 1st November, 2016 6.30 p.m. (Item 7.4)
- View the background to item 7.4
Minutes:
The Sub Committee considered the Events Fund Awards 2016/17 presented by Stephen Murray and Alison Denning.
Stephen Murray informed the Sub Committee that the report covered the 1st quarter of Event Fund applications between 1st April 2016 and 30th June 2016 and that the Event Fund is a small grant fund for community arts events which has been operating successfully for a number of years and works on a rolling programme with monthly deadlines to support small scale local events.
Alison Denning referred to paragraphs 3.1 – 3.7 of the report that identified the following –
· Annual budget for the Event Fund is £52,500;
· Maximum grant award is £2,500, however, most awards are in the region of £500 - £1,500;
· A total of £15,200 was awarded in the Quarter 1;
· Applications are assessed by 3 officers independently of each other and are initially checked for eligibility;
· If not eligible then applications are rejected and not assessed;
· If eligible then applications are scored across 7 sections on the assessment form;
· Each area attracts a maximum score of 5 with the overall application receiving a maximum score of 35 by each assessor;
· The 3 assessor’s scores are then added together to give a maximum score of 105;
· The minimum score of 63 is required to be considered for funding, but the ultimate decision is made by the Service Head for CLC.
· A total of 31 applications were received in Quarter 1;
· A total of 24 applications were awarded funding;
· A total of 7 applications were declined funding;
· 2 applications did not send in their acceptance packs despite a number of reminders and was therefore disqualified;
· From the £52,500 annual grant allocation, up to £5,000 was set aside for events to celebrate the Queen’s 90th Birthday in June 2016;
· Awards were offered up to £250, with 10 applications being received and 10 applications being awarded £250 each; and
· With the adoption of the online Grants system for the 2016/17 period, reports can be generated automatically and will be uploaded onto the Tower Hamlets Council Online Grant Portal which would allow access to the general public, Commissioners and Councillors to view the amounts awarded via the Event Fund.
The Chair enquired about the 7 events that were declined and the reasons for declining their applications and welcomed the monitoring information about the applicants but also need clarification on the over representation of certain postcode areas e.g. E1W and E2 and also what is being done to increase the applications from under-represented areas of the Borough.
Alison Denning informed the Sub Committee that the report is specifically for the 1st Quarter of the year and since then improvements have been made to monitor information and address any issues that may arise during the course of the year. She also stated that the 7 applications that were declined were based upon a number of reasons including some organisations applied for funds over the maximum limit, some budgets didn’t balance, information did not match in the applications and were contradictory, there were events that were closed to the public, some lacked evidence and some just did not meet the criteria.
Stephen Murray also commented that the geographical spread of the applications across the Borough is also monitored and sometimes applications can be denied for those reasons as well where a particular venue may be over-represented in applications.
The Chair enquired that though the reasons given for declining applications are valid, is there any support provided to community groups and applicants where English may not be the first language or the funding forms are too complicated to understand.
Stephen Murray stated that officer resource is limited but the application review process is quite flexible although there are guidelines to follow and criteria to meet. He stated that there is an online toolkit with guidelines available and where mistakes have been made on applications or budgets don’t balance, officers usually contact the organisations to seek clarification and offer advice.
Alison Denning commented that officers do speak to organisations and the funding team can be flexible with deadlines in order to support organisations, but due to the process being scrutinised and monitored by the Sub Committee and Commissioners procedures have to be tightened up and applied appropriately in all cases.
Councillor Clare Harrison enquired about background information being made available relating to applications and organisations to ensure that scrutiny and monitoring of applications and organisations takes place effectively.
Zena Cooke informed the Sub Committee that Appendix 1 included in the report identified the organisation, the project and activity together with the funding information, but both Stephen Murray and Alison Denning could bring along the score-sheets to the Sub Committee meeting, which can be referred to if any questions need to clarified relating to a particular organisation or application.
The Chair commented that he thought the forms were designed for professionals and organisations that could afford a consultant to complete the application forms rather than the grass-root organisations and volunteers that are usually the ones to complete the applications.
Stephen Murray informed the Sub Committee that workshops are held to discuss the application and funding process and organisations are invited to attend these workshops. He also stated that applications and assessments are evenly weighted across the Borough and it must be remembered that it is a small budget of £52k that is being utilised across the Borough for small grants. He stated that the team do a great job assessing the applications and looking at the criteria and awarding the grants accordingly and that overall there is value for money that is supporting community cohesion and cultural diversity projects and events across the Borough.
Councillor John Pierce thanked the Grants Team for the report and the work involved and congratulated the Team on the transparency. He stated that where there were issues with organisations and their applications that possibly more in-depth checks could take place with Board Members, the types of organisations and the frequency and amounts of funding received.
Zena Cooke commented that more in-depth checks for the Event Fund would be too time consuming and it is only a small pot of £52k and such in-depth checks should be proportionate to the amount of funding available. She also stated that the Grants Register would be submitted to the Sub Committee on a quarterly basis and that in comparison to other London Boroughs the TH budget is relatively small in comparison.
The Sub Committee agreed:
1. the report and supported the recommendations; and
2. that the Grant Fund Awards criteria be circulated to the Sub Committee.
Supporting documents:
- 6.4 Event Fund Awards Report 2016-17 Q1 cleared F&L 241016, item 7.4 PDF 201 KB
- 6.4.1 Event Fund Awards Reports - Appendix A, item 7.4 PDF 42 KB
- 6.4.2 Event Fund Awards - Appendix B Equality Analysis (EA) cleared F&L 241016, item 7.4 PDF 107 KB
- 6.4.3 Event Fund Awards - Appendix C - EA Checklist cleared F&L 241016, item 7.4 PDF 62 KB
- 6.4.4 Event Fund Awards - Appendix D monitoring cleared F&L 241016, item 7.4 PDF 485 KB