Agenda and minutes

(Directorate of Governance) To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

The Panel noted that Cllr Lea was substituting for Cllr Boyce.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a pecuniary interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and pecuniary interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Panel.

Resolved:

(1)        That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2015 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Director of Governance) To note the Panel’s Terms of Reference.

The Panel considered its Terms of Reference, as agreed at the last meeting.

J Chandler highlighted that the Care Act 2014 no longer referred to vulnerable adults, but described them as “adults with needs of care and support”, and suggested that the Panel’s Terms of Reference should be amended accordingly. The Panel concurred.

Resolved:

(1)        The Terms of Reference for the Panel be revised to refer to “vulnerable adults” as “adults with needs of care and support”.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached report (GAR-002-2014/15).

C Overend introduced a report on the review of the current Grant Aid Scheme for Voluntary and Community Organisations.

C Overend presented the additional information requested by the Panel at its inaugural meeting on 14 January 2015. This included:

·         the criteria used in the ‘Scorecard’ system for determining Grant Aid applications;

·         the relevant Council targets impacted by the Grant Aid Scheme;

·         a copy of the Grant Aid application form, which included the Guide for Applicants and the criteria to qualify for a three-year Service Level Agreement;

·         a list of the groups currently in receipt of a three-year Service Level Agreement, with a description and the amount per annum; and

·         a list of Groups who had received one-off Grants each year from 2009/10 to 2013/14, which had indicated the following annual expenditure:

Ø  2009/10 = £57,720;

Ø  2010/11 = £53,340;

Ø  2011/12 = £51,743;

Ø  2012/13 = £46,751; and

Ø  2013/14 = £49,049.

C Overend drew the attention of the Panel to the omission of two groups from the list of those in receipt of a three-year Service Level Agreement: WAY2000 and Epping Forest District Swimming Club.

C Overend reminded the Panel that the Review was being carried out as a result of a £11,517 reduction in the budget for the Grant Aid Scheme in 2015/16. This had reduced the budget to £83,453, of which £43,453 was expenditure already committed via three-year Service Level Agreements that ran until March 2016. This left the balance of £40,000 available for the consideration of applications for one-off Grants. In addition to this, the Council also had three-year Service Level Agreements with the Epping Forest District Citizen’s Advice Bureau and Voluntary Action Epping Forest which totalled £152,500.

The Panel discussed possible revisions to the current Grant Aid Scheme to deal with the budget cut for 2015/16, which Officers advised equated to approximately a  22% reduction in the funding available for one-off Grants. The proposals included: allocating proportionally less money for each Grant approved, for example a 22% reduction; a reduction in the maximum grant available from the current £5,000, for which a 22% reduction would equate to £3,900; restricting the number of Grants approved by geographic area within the District; giving priority to those Grants pertaining to District-wide activities or at least those covering several parishes; abolishing the  extra grants currently given to the Epping Forest District Citizen’s Advice Bureau and Voluntary Action Epping Forest, who were already in receipt of the two biggest Grants via three-year Service Level Agreements; and removing specific sectors from the scope of scheme, for example local halls.

C Overend reported that other funding schemes had also seen their available finance reduced, which had impacted those applications seeking match funding. The District Council did not liaise directly with those Town and Parish Councils that also offered Grant Aid Schemes, although requests to other bodies for funding were considered during the application process, especially when the Grant from the District Council would not be enough to fund the entire project. A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, together with paragraphs (6) and (24) of the Council Procedure Rules contained in the Constitution require that the permission of the Chairman be obtained, after prior notice to the Chief Executive, before urgent business not specified in the agenda (including a supplementary agenda of which the statutory period of notice has been given) may be transacted.

In accordance with Operational Standing Order 6 (Non-Executive Bodies), any item raised by a non-member shall require the support of a member of the Committee concerned and the Chairman of that Committee. Two weeks notice of non-urgent items is required.

The Panel noted that there was no other urgent business to consider.

(Director of Governance) Further meetings of the Panel are currently scheduled for 31 March 2015 and 16 April 2015.

The Panel noted that its next meeting was scheduled for 31 March 2015.