Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor C Richards be elected Chair Pro Tem for this meeting.

COUNCILLOR C RICHARDS (CHAIR PRO TEM) PRESIDED

The Democratic Services Officer advised that there had been an error on the agenda.  Agenda Item 4 – Communities for Work (ESF) had been incorrectly marked to follow.  On the advice of the Monitoring Officer the item had been withdrawn.  It was therefore suggested that Members consider accepting the matter as an urgent item.

RESOLVED that the urgent item entitled ‘Forthcoming European Social Fund Application for Communities for Work be accepted as an urgent item.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors N S Bradley and D Phillips.

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, the following interests were declared:

Councillor S E Crouch – Personal – Minute No. – Overview of Current Third Sector Funding Arrangements – Employee of Swansea University – Taliesin Arts Centre is a grant recipient.

To approve and sign, as a correct record, the Minutes of the External Funding Panel held on 3^rd June, 2015.

The Head of Finance and Delivery provided an overview on the background, list of grant programmes, contracts with Third Sector organisations, Trust Funds, current procedures, financial and governance checks, Third Sector in Kind Support, Letters of Support, development of new controls and procedures, joint working with the Third Sector.

Member’ asked questions of the Head of Finance and Delivery who responded accordingly.

Key issues arising from discussions included:

·       The requirement for an all embracing framework which covers all necessary information;

·       The involvement of Cabinet Members in supporting grant applications.

AGREED that:

a.     A full review of programmes offering grants to the third sector by the City & County of Swansea be undertaken;

b.     Following the completion of the review of funding programmes and discussions with the departments/fund holders, the Panel will receive recommendations on which of these the Panel could consider for decision, monitoring or receiving information;

c.     The Panel note the intention to establish a database of core documentation for individual third sector groups;

d.     The Panel undertake a monitoring role in grants processes and standardise overall criteria and process;

e.     The Panel note the process adopted to coordinate formal letters of support for funding bids from the City and County of Swansea; and

f.      The Panel note the current Compact between the City and County of Swansea and the Third Sector and receive updates on Third Sector Development work.

The Head of Poverty and Prevention presented a report which sought approval for the running of the Communities for Work Programme within the Tackling Poverty Unit, alongside Communities First cluster teams.

She advised that the Communities for Work (CfW) was a Welsh Government Programme tackling poverty through sustainable employment providing intensive employment mentoring and support.  It would deliver across all 5 of the Communities First Clusters in Swansea, operating as a separate but complementary programme to Communities First.  The Programme would focus on reducing the number of 18-24 year olds who are NEET and increase the employability of economically inactive and long term unemployed adults who have complex barriers to employment.

She detailed the recommendations, financial, legal and human resource implications.

Members discussed the report and the following issues emerged from discussions:

·       The Programme is guaranteed for 3 years with a possibility of an extension to 5 years;

·       The 16 employees would be Council employed staff and therefore the Council would be subject to paying redundancy costs/redeployment should their employment last over the period of the Grant.  During the 3-5 years of employment, the Welsh Government would cover redundancy costs;

·       As is the case with all temporary grant programmes, there are procedures in place to give staff at risk notices prior to the end of the grant;

·       Performance would be the responsibility of the Welsh Government, however, the Manager would be accountable for monitoring within the cluster area.  The job description for the manager would be to ensure adequate data collection on regular basis and monitoring. 

·       There is synergy between Job Centre Plus and Communities for work and they are intended to compliment each other;

·       Preparing individuals for work needs to be embedded early on in childhood;

·       Council departments need to make greater efforts to work in partnership;

·       Maintenance and monitoring of an audit trail is essential and it was recommended that single team model was preferred due to the nature of the reporting and audit requirements for any European funding arrangements.  Having one team manager would lower the risk and improve performance;  

·       Lessons had been learned from the Coastal experience and work had been done to create a harmonised approach, especially with regard European Funding;

·       European Funding had been structured to achieve outcomes, thus minimising the risk of funding being stopped;

·       Regular monitoring reports would be submitted to Members for consideration;

The Chair thanked the Head of Poverty and Prevention for her work and the European Team for the work they are doing.  She stated that a communication plan would be required for publicising the programme.

RESOLVED that the report be approved.

The European Programme Officer provided an update on the European and other External funding report to the 3 June, 2015, External Funding Panel.

Members’ noted the progress in respect of WREN, Heritage Lottery Fund – Enterprise, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Priority 4, Objective 4 proposal for Kingsway Employment Hub, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Priority 4, Objective 4 Welsh Government ‘Use it or Lose it’ scheme submissions URBACT III, Parks for People and Alternative options for funding City Centre Regeneration. 

Members noted that Neath Port Talbot were leading on Work ways Plus which was aimed at young people aged 16 plus.  The Scheme would seek to engage 920 participants, with a total of 1500 participants over 3 years.

The following key issues were raised:

·       If individuals are being supported by Job centre, they are not eligible for workways +;

·       Some Community First Wards were not included in the Cluster;

·       The term ‘Community First Wards’ was defunct as reference was now to clusters and each has a pocket of clusters.

Councillor Richards (Chair Pro Tem) left the meeting.

RESOLVED that:

1)    Councillor R Francis-Davies be elected Chair Pro Tem for the remainder of the meeting; and

2)     the recommendations be approved.

The Grant Co-ordinator provided an update on the Grants accepted by the City and County of Swansea which were not subject to individual approval by the Panel.

The Grant Co-ordinator detailed the changes to the grant procedure. 

Members asked questions of the Officer who responded accordingly.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.