Agenda and minutes

            Apologies for inability to attend were reported from the Chairman (Councillor Maskey) and Councillor Lavery.

            After discussion, the Committee adopted the recommendation as set out and agreed to provide the sum of £190,000 to Belfast City Centre Management for the financial year 2011/2012.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1    Relevant Background Information

1.1Members agreed at the January 2011 Committee meeting to receive a presentation from Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau on their 2011/2012 Business Plan and financial support requested from Belfast City Council.  A copy of their business plan is attached as Appendix 1.

1.2The Tourism, Culture and Arts unit within Development Department is responsible for developing and marketing Belfast as a tourist destination.  The unit delivers a range of  product development initiatives, manages the visitor signage and the Belfast Tourism Monitor research contracts and delivers £1.4 million funding to the culture and arts sector to animate the city (for visitors and citizens).  Marketing and visitor servicing are outsourced to BVCB to deliver. BVCB is a public–private partnership with over 500 private sector members.  The main funders are BelfastCity Council and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Funding from these two organisations allows BVCB to lever additional funding from the private sector through joint marketing initiatives and this represents good value for money for BelfastCity Council.  In 2009/10 period total private sector income was £1,086,578.

1.3The BVCB Board is representative of the sector and includes both private sector and elected representatives from Belfast City Council.  Other councils in the Greater Belfast area (and beyond) also make smaller contributions but have no representation on the board.  NITB sits as an observer, as do a range of interests including retail sector representatives.

1.4This year, Belfast City Council is contributing financial support towards the following activities: 

      Marketing and Communications   £1,336,000

      Visitor Servicing                               £529,465

1.5A progress report of achievements to date (January 2011) is attached as Appendix 2.

1.6BVCB’s 2011 – 2014 Business Plan was developed by an external consultancy team comprising ASM Horwath, EFA Tourism and City Marketing and Kappa Consulting.  It is based on the Council’s Belfast Integrated Strategic Tourism Framework 2010 – 2014 and was developed in consultation with the tourism sector across the city.  The plan is seeking £1,413,000 towards Marketing/Communications and the same level of support towards visitor servicing, £529,465, in 2011/2012 period.  The increase in marketing/ communications appears to be attributed to events marketing. This will be treated separately to their annual request for funding as specific marketing initiatives may be agreed with the city events team during the year.   Therefore the assumption is that the level of support sought for marketing is £1,336,000 as BVCB have been advised that budgets will remain at last year’s level.

1.7The independent consultancy team has offered a fresh approach to BVCB’s planning process and the team has identified a number of key challenges to be addressed by BVCB during the next 2-3 years.  These are explored in the issues section.

1.8The targets established for 2011/2012 period within the plan are to grow total overnight stays by 3.9% to 4,056,000 and day trips by 4.4% to 7,730,000.

2    Key Issues

2.1The key issues identified in this report are as follows:

2.2Belfast Visitor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1    Relevant Background Information

1.1The Belfast Welcome Centre (BWC) opened in April 2001.  It provides a focal point for visitors to Belfast by offering general tourist information on Belfast and Northern Ireland, ticketing, retail and accommodation bookings and it plays a key role in delivering spending targets for Belfast and spreading the economic benefits of tourism across the City. 

1.2The BWC currently deals with approximately 385,000 enquiries per annum (of which 310,000 are from visitors to its premises at Donegall Place).  Annual revenue costs (approx £1.6 million per annum) are part funded by BCC (£479,465 per annum) and the NITB (£158,000 per annum) with the balance of funding arising from profit on retail sales and commissions on ticket sales/accommodation bookings.

1.3The ten year lease of the current premises at Donegall Place expired on 31 July 2010, but is renewable.  The current premises are on the first floor and it has been a long term aspiration of the BWC to relocate to a more suitable ground floor location.

1.4Members have been fully briefed on the possibility of relocating the BWC.  TTC and Allan Balnaves produced an initial report demonstrating the potential of the BWC relocation to ground floor, presented to Development Committee on 13 January 2010.  ASM Horwath were appointed in October 2010 to undertake the economic appraisal and presented initial recommendations to Development Committee on the 10 November 2010.

1.5Having considered the views expressed by the Members at the above meeting the consultants are now in a position to present their final report for the Committee’s consideration.

2    Key Issues

2.1Rationale for Relocation

      The Belfast Welcome Centre was opened in April 2001 and is now 10 years old. During this period, tourism across the city has grown and the total number of overnight trips to the City region has trebled.  The tourism product has changed across

      the City, a new Belfast brand has been adopted, visitor patterns have changed and the use of technology has become a must for all tourism destinations – to attract visitors and service visitors once in a destination.

2.22012/2013 will be a key year for Belfast as the new Titanic Belfast attraction will be opened.  This, alongside recent private sector investment into the city e.g. Merchant Hotel, demonstrates the recognition of Belfast’s importance as a tourism destination and a Gateway to the rest of the region.  London 2012 also presents opportunities that will not be present in future years, specifically in relation to the number of international media who will visit the UK to cover the Olympics.  The Belfast Welcome Centre plays a strategic role in signposting visitors from honey pot areas to other parts of the city and therefore will play an important part in spreading visitors and benefits across the city in 2012 and thereafter.

2.3The Belfast Welcome Centre needs to be updated and it has long been their aspiration to move to a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

            The Director of Development informed the Committee that, due to the unavailability of the Chairman (Councillor Maskey) on 9th March, it had been suggested that the March meeting of the Committee be moved from its scheduled date.

            Following discussion, the Committee agreed that the meeting be rescheduled for Tuesday, 16th March commencing at 4.30 p.m.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1    Relevant Background Information

1.1The Department for Social Development (DSD) has recently launched a consultation on Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and Licensing of Pavement Cafes.  The deadline for the submission of responses to this consultation is 28th February 2011.

1.2Given the range of issues associated with both items, it is proposed to prepare separate responses to the two elements of this consultation i.e. one response relating to BIDs and a separate response focusing on the licensing of pavement cafes.  The latter consultation will be led by the Health and Environmental Services Committee while the Development Committee will lead on the BIDs response.

2    Key Issues

2.1The consultation paper sets out the key principles behind a BID, examples of the types of BIDs that can operate, an overview of the benefits for all parties involved and some guidance as to how to ensure a successful BID.

2.2The specific roles of a council are defined.  These include:

-     Provision of key information to the BID partnership (ratings information and baseline service information) to assist with the development of BIDs proposals and calculation of the levy

-     Organisations of formal BIDs ballots

-     Collection and enforcement of the levy.

      The consultation paper also suggests that local councils will ‘play an important facilitating role’ in the development of a BID in their area.

2.3The consultation paper defines a BID as means of allowing ‘businesses within a defined area to vote for collective investment in specific additional services in order to improve the commercial environment within that area’. Additional services or projects are funded by a local business levy and all businesses within a potential BID have the opportunity to vote on proposals before the levy is imposed.

2.4The paper reinforces the message that BIDs are led by businesses but they also note that there is generally a significant degree of cooperation and collaboration with the relevant local authority. 

2.5In preparation of this draft response, discussions have taken place with Belfast City Centre Management (BCCM) to gauge the level of interest and awareness of BIDs within the BCCM area.  In addition, a number of meetings have take place with Department for Social Development to understand their expectation of BIDs and to identify how they see BIDs fitting within their wider regeneration and town centre development initiatives.

2.6It is understood that the BCCM have been undertaking a significant degree of consultation with their members on the BID proposals.  Feedback suggests that members are widely supportive of being involved in a BID and note that they would like to see BIDs resources being used towards a range of services including:

-     Cleaner and greener – targeting specific issues such as chewing gum, flyposting and recycling campaigns

-     Marketing and promotion – buy-in to agreed marketing campaigns and resources for additional city dressing

-     Safety and security measures – development of the City Centre Beat initiative and support for additional safety  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

            The Committee was reminded that the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster was undertaking an Inquiry into Northern Ireland’s designation as an Enterprise Zone. It was pointed out that a briefing session, at which the Committee’s views on the Inquiry had been ascertained, had taken place on 8^th February and that the Members’ comments had been included in the Council’s response. Accordingly, the Committee endorsed the undernoted submission:

“Appendix I

Northern Ireland Affairs Committee:

Northern Ireland as an Enterprise Zone

Draft BelfastCity Council response to the Inquiry – January 2011

Introduction

1    Belfast City Council welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry on Northern Ireland as an Enterprise Zone.

2    We note that this inquiry is taking place as part of a wider piece of work by the Committee on rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy which was expected to be completed by the end of 2010 but which has not yet been released.  These comments are therefore made in the absence of the wider contextual study and analysis.

3    The term ‘enterprise zone’ was introduced in the 1980s to denote ‘an experiment in urban policy to stimulate economic activity by giving businesses as much freedom as possible in which to operate[1]’.  These zones were geographically designated areas, established for a period of 10 years, in which companies could benefit from a series of tax allowances, relaxation of planning restrictions and rates relief facilities.  In total, 38 sites were designated, including sites in Belfast – of which one area is now in the ownership of Belfast City Council - and Derry in Northern Ireland.

4    Having read the comments of the Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and the Prime Minister David Cameron in relation to the current proposals, it is our understanding that the expectation is that the policy will apply across all of Northern Ireland as opposed to geographically-designated locations.  Therefore we are working on the premise that any new proposals would focus on growing the size of the private sector and creating additional investment across the region as a whole as opposed to a number of targeted interventions.  Our subsequent comments are made based on this assumption.

5    We have also assumed that the activities proposed for the Enterprise Zones will have to be achieved within existing (and already reduced) budgets, as opposed to any additional expenditure becoming available.  As a council, we would have significant concerns around any proposals which may reduce the business rates income to the council, given that this is a major driver of our wider service delivery to the ratepayer.  If additional rate relief was to be introduced as an element of the Enterprise Zone, would we want to ensure that the shortfall to councils would be made up by central government or the Northern Ireland Assembly, as is the case for the recently-introduced Small Business Rate Relief Scheme.

6    Given the relatively short timeframe allowed for the response, we have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report and endorsed the associated Council response as set hereunder, subject to it being strengthened to emphasise the importance of environmental technologies as a future growth sector.

“1.  Relevant Background Information

1.1The Northern Ireland Executive announced the first phase of its consultation on a new regional economic strategy entitled ‘Priorities for Sustainable Growth and Prosperity’ in January 2011.  The deadline for submission of comments is 24 February 2011.

1.2The work is being led by the Northern Ireland Executive Sub-committee on the Economy, which is headed up by Minister Arlene Foster MLA. A two-stage approach has been adopted.  The reason for this is that the work of the UK government on rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy is awaited and the Committee considers that this has the potential to significantly influence the content of the economic strategy. The draft economic strategy will be subject to a further public consultation later in 2011.

1.3A copy of the document is attached as Appendix 1.  A draft Belfast City Council response is attached as Appendix 2

2.   Key Issues

2.1The framework for growth focuses on the twin challenges on rebalancing the economic towards higher value-added private sector activity and the need to undertake a more immediate rebuilding phase, to address the impact of the global downturn on the local economic and labour market. Priority has been placed on driving export-led economic growth.

2.2The document contains a range of themes and priorities on which view are sought.  It is proposed that, based on the comments received, and taking account of the UK’s government’s work on rebalancing the regional economy, a draft economic strategy will be issued for consultation later in 2011.

2.3The consultation document has been issued by the Northern Ireland Executive Sub-Committee on the Economy.  This is in direct response to criticism with regard to the lack of implementation and delivery of previous strategies.

2.4The document identifies the key challenges in Northern Ireland’s economic performance: low productivity levels, little improvement in gross value added (GVA) over time, lagging behind other UK regions in emerging from recession, disproportionate levels of private sector job losses and significant parts of the population with low skills levels. 

2.5The document is framed around a series of 21 key questions on which it is seeking commentary.  These include:

1.Do you agree with the key economic challenges that are expected to influence the performance of the Northern Ireland economy over the next 10 years?

2.Are there any additional aspects that should have been included and which need to be addressed in the full economic strategy?

3.Learning from what has worked in economically successful regions across the world and adapting measures to Northern Ireland’s circumstances will be key to meeting the challenges.  Are you aware of other successful initiatives around the world from which we could learn?

4.What evidence is there that these initiatives were successful and would be appropriate to meet the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

“1    Relevant Background Information

1.1Members will be aware that they have given endorsement at previous meetings to developing an agreed approach to employability initiatives across the city and to sharing information on performance across a range of initiatives.

1.2A separate report deals with requests for ESF (European Social Fund) support which will contribute towards some of the operational objectives of a city-wide plan.  A number of applications have recently been received to provide support for the governance and management of this work, as well as a wider programme of activities. 

2    Key Issues

2.1Under the auspices of the Task Forces for West Belfast and the Greater Shankill areas, a number of structures and initiatives were created to address the significant challenges of economic deprivation and low skills and employment levels in those areas.

2.2Two groupings were established to address the employability issues in particular.  These were:

-     Employers’ Forum

-     Employment Services Board 

2.3Employers’ Forum

      The Employers’ Forum was established in 2003 by Business in the Community (BiTC), with the support of Bombardier Aerospace.  The Forum provides an interface with up to 40 employers, working within 6 sectoral ‘clusters’.  These include construction, engineering, contact centres, retail and IT.  The employers are committed to helping those furthest from the labour market to find work by providing support to help develop employability skills, identifying opportunities for work experience and ultimately providing sustainable employment opportunities.  Through the Employers’ Forum, a number of initiatives have been developed with local employers to improve the job-readiness of the long-term unemployed, with a view to moving them into the world of work.  Since its inception the Forum has supported 991 long term unemployed into jobs.

2.4The Forum has, to date, been funded by the private sector, principally Bombardier Aerospace.  The current funders are Bombardier and Northstone.  Business in the Community (BiTC) who operate the Forum are seeking funding from Belfast City Council of £40,000 per annum towards the operation of a city-wide Employers’ Forum.  This would enable the roll-out of the learning from west Belfast and Shankill across the city.  The principal activities to be undertaken would include:

-     Engaging employers to provide training, work experience and placements as well as jobs to long term unemployed across the city

-     Providing a forum in which employers may share experiences, ideas and support relating to key labour market issues across the City

-     Engaging more employers to participate in providing opportunities to the long term unemployed.

2.5The Employment Services Board

      The Employment Services Board (ESB) aims to ‘link and broker the needs of unemployed people in West Belfast and Greater Shankill to employment and enterprise opportunities and to review and develop the range of support interventions available.’

2.6The Board consists of a range of representatives from the statutory and community sectors who are dealing with issues affecting the employment of those furthest from the labour market.  There is Member and officer representation from BelfastCity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

            The Committee was reminded that the Council was a major funder of advice and information services by means of a consortium model, based on geographic providers located in North, South, East, West and Central Belfast.  The Community Development Manager explained that advice funding throughout the City was made up from two sources, with the Department for Social Development providing £469,902, and Belfast City Council contributing £355,729, giving a total for 2010/11 of £825,631.  That approach had been established in 2005/2006, and assisted over twenty organisations, which included both the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the independent advice providers.  This finance was allocated to the consortia on a pro-rata basis based on a deprivation-weighted index as outlined:

·         North Belfast:         27.33%

·         South Belfast:         13.51%

·         East Belfast            16.82%

·         West Belfast:          32.34%

·         City Centre:            10%

            The Community Development Manager reminded the Committee that the North Belfast Advice Partnership had consisted of seven providers.  She pointed out that, in May, 2010, the Lower North Belfast Community Council had withdrawn from the Group and that the North Belfast Advice Partnership had initiated a process to secure a new partner organisation to deliver advice in the Lower North Belfast Partnership area.  She advised the Members that expressions of interest to provide this service had been received from two groups, viz., First Steps and the Loughview Community Association Project.  Following a lengthy selection process, both organisations had been deemed not to be in a position to meet fully the requirements of being an advice provider.

            She reported that the North Belfast Area Partnership had been providing advice services, on an outreach basis, to the York Road/Shore Road area, using part-time staff to provide advice at six different locations.  Given the delays experienced in identifying a suitable provider for advice services in the Lower North Belfast area, it had been necessary to establish further outreach provision at three new locations, namely, the Grove Wellbeing Centre, the Grove Housing Association and North City Training.  The Community Development Manager pointed out that the North Belfast Area Partnership had undertaken to appoint a replacement organisation within the Lower North Belfast area in line with best practice and that extra outreach provision, as outlined, was being provided until March, 2011.  She added that provision of this extra service would have no additional resource implications for the Council and it was recommended that the Committee approve a variance of the previous allocation in the sum of £14,604.05 to the North Belfast Area Partnership to deliver the programme of advice in the Lower North Belfast area to the end of the financial year.

            After discussion, the Committee adopted the recommendation.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 10th December, 2008, it had agreed to provide funding in the sum of £29,800 over a two-year period to the East Belfast Community Development Agency towards a major community development project to be undertaken in a number of areas within East Belfast.  It was reported that the aforementioned programme had concluded in December, 2010 and that significant progress had been achieved throughout that period. The Community Development Manager reported that a further proposal had been received from the East Belfast Community Development Association seeking the Council’s assistance to extend, until June, 2011, the programme to the Castlereagh Street; Castlereagh Road; Albertbridge Road; and Woodstock Road areas. The Committee was advised that the programme would enable the East Belfast Community Development Agency to host a number of stakeholder meetings, form a Working Group and commission a community?needs audit to assist in the preparation and publishing of an Area Action Plan.

            After discussion, the Committee agreed to provide funding of £7,450 towards the cost of extending the programme into the Lower Castlereagh area on the basis that the East Belfast Community Development Association consult with locally Elected Members during the formulation of the Action Plan.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 13th January, 2010, it had agreed to provide financial support up to a maximum of £20,000 to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau in connection with its scheme to provide training for an additional thirty advice service volunteers from across the five Belfast advice consortia.  It was reported that, since that the economic situation had failed to show any significant improvement since the Committee’s original decision, that a further request had been received from the Citizens’ Advice Bureau seeking the Council’s assistance to host a further two training courses, each of which would have a capacity to train fifteen volunteers.  The Director outlined the costs associated with the provision of the additional training courses and requested that the Committee agree to provide funding, up to a maximum of £14,000, to co-ordinate and enable the training of an extra thirty advice service volunteers across the five consortia in Belfast.

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

      “Relevant Background Information

1.1The Council has been asked to respond to the Office of the First Ministers and Deputy First Minister’s Child Poverty Plan. The Child Poverty Act 2010 (The Act), see the attached documents, enacted on 25th March, places a statutory obligation on the Executive to develop a child poverty strategy and lay it before the assembly by 25th March 2011.

1.2The aim of the strategy is to provide the opportunity for all children and young people to thrive and to address the causes and consequences of disadvantage. The strategy is based on the framework for tackling child poverty, produced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) although in recognising the Northern Ireland context, they have separated childcare and education as these are not represented by one service.

1.3The strategy is not intend to replace or replicate existing strategies or work but rather to provide the strategic direction for the eradication of child poverty. The strategy also allows for the current financial climate and the uncertain Budget allocations, therefore it is a high level strategy intended to bring focus to the issue and promote a common aim.

1.4The strategy contain four priorities:

-     Ensure, as far as possible, that poverty and disadvantage in childhood does not translate into poorer outcomes for children as they move into adulthood

-     Support more parents to be in work that pays

-     Ensure the child’s environment supports them to thrive

-     Target financial support to be responsive to family situations

      The elements of the strategy are shown in diagram 1.

Diagram 1.

      A number of principles will underpin and support the delivery of this strategy:

-     A shift towards tackling the root causes of poverty and not just treating its symptoms;

-     Putting children at the centre of the Strategy and taking into account their views when developing policies and programmes to tackle child poverty;

-     Adopting a Life Cycle approach, breaking the cycle that results in children born into poverty becoming working age adults in low income;

-     Promoting excellence in support across a range of key policy areas including employment and skills, education, childcare, health and family support, housing and neighbourhoods, and financial support;

-     A gradual shift towards the use of preventative measures to tackle child poverty and, when families face difficulties, intervention at an early stage, reducing the likelihood of more serious problems developing in the future;

-     Applying an evidence based approach;

-     Adopting a whole family approach which concentrates on all members of the family - children, young people, and their parents and supporting family life;

-     Empowering and enabling parents on low income into work and make work pay for those on low pay;

-     Promoting partnership working across all sectors including public, private, voluntary, and community sectors;

-     Recognising the current economic climate and the need for the Strategy to be balanced against existing financial limits.

1.7More information about the strategy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1        Relevant Background Information

The Council have been asked to respond to the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister’s, (OFMDFM) Play & Leisure Implementation Plan. This plan supports the Play and Leisure Policy agreed in 2008. See documents attached, appendices 1-3.

1.1       The Play and Leisure Policy

OFMDFM published a Play and Leisure Policy Statement in 2008 following a two-year period of cross-sectoral consultation.  As part of that process, Belfast City Council submitted a formal response as agreed at the Community and Recreation (Community and Leisure Services) Sub?Committee meeting on 6th February 2007.

The Policy is targeted at all children aged 18 years and under.  It is anchored within, and supports, the delivery of the ten year strategy, 2006 – 2016, for children and young people.

            The Policy Vision for play is:

‘to recognise, respect and resource play is to recognise, respect and value childhood.’

1.2       Implementation of the Policy

To enable the implementation of the Policy and Leisure Statement, the OFMDFM commissioned PlayBoard NI to provide technical expertise and to chair three Implementation sub-groups comprised of representatives from across the sector.

1.3       The sub-groups focused on the following areas:

            0-11 years

            12 – 18 years

cross – cutting themes , for example, cultural and disability issues.

1.4       Derry/Londonderry and Belfast City Council represented a District Council perspective on the sub-groups. Belfast was represented on the main committee and the 12-18 sub-group by the Community Development Manager and later by the Children & Young People’s Manager. The Play Development Officer sat on the 0-11 sub-group.

1.5       The work of the sub-groups has been completed with the production of a draft Implementation Plan.

1.6       The Implementation Plan

            The Plan has been divided into 4 main aims:

            Aim 1: Places & Spaces

            Aim 2: Championing Play and Leisure

            Aim 3: Access to Play and Leisure

            Area 4: Workforce Development

1.7       The Plan considers a number of cross-cutting issues including;

            Continuous Professional and Workforce development

Meeting the particular needs of groups of children, for example, children with disabilities and children from migrant communities

            The risk benefit debate

            The active participation of children and young people.

1.8       Play and Leisure Partnerships

Learning from experiences within England and Wales, the plan recommends that Play and Leisure Partnerships are established to oversee the delivery of the policy. This is to enable the pooling of resources and coordination of services.

1.9       It is further recommended that District Councils provide the central coordinating role for the play and leisure partnerships.

1.10     Limited financial support has been made available to assist Councils to develop the play partnerships and strategic plans. The initial funding deadline has now closed and it is uncertain if further funding will be made available.

1.11     The main role of the Play and Leisure Partnerships will be to take responsibility for driving the delivery of the implementation plan within each council area.

Membership of the Play and Leisure Partnerships within each District Council area will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

            The Committee was advised that the Department for Social Development had issued a draft guidance document to Councils in respect of the provision of voluntary advice services.  The Community Development Manager reported that the guidance document would assist the Council to make informed decisions on the future sourcing of local generalist voluntary advice and, therefore, it was requested that the Committee agree to host a briefing session in respect of the draft guidelines. 

            The Committee agreed to host a briefing session on a date to be determined in conjunction with the Chairman (Councillor Maskey).

            The Committee considered the undernoted report and appendix and adopted the recommendations as contained therein:

            “Relevant Background Information

1.1       At the 14 October 2009 Committee, Members considered a report on the Departmental Grants Review. This report noted that there would now be three strands of funding including the Community Access Fund, the Annual Fund and the Multi?Annual Fund. These strands were determined by the average level of funding currently allocated to successful organizations: under £10,000, between £10,000 and £25,000 and £25,000 +.

1.2                   Community Services offer a range of grants as set out in the policy ‘A Guide to Grant Aid for Community Organisations’, which was agreed by Council in January 2004. The grant categories could be sub divided into large and small grant categories.  The service, with support from the newly created

            Department Grant Aid Unit, is working to align service grants into the Departmental Grant programme.  The time-frame to align the MAF grant types has been agreed as from April 2012.  This applies to the Advice & Information grant and the Capacity Support grant.

1.3       Small Grants: Traditionally Community Services manage 3 small grant schemes and these include Community Development Project Grant, Summer Play Schemes and Community Chest awards.  They are subject to application and allocated competitively against agreed criterion. The grant programme for 2010/11 is operating within current procedures and it is intended to continue this approach in 2011/12 in advance of the new Community Access small grant programme.  This was agreed as part of the Development Department Grant Aid Review and is scheduled for implementation in autumn next year for the 2012/13 funding rounds.

1.4       Large Grants. The community grant programme includes three larger grants: Revenue; Capacity Building Grant and Advice Services

1.5       The Community Revenue grant is available to eligible organisations delivering wide ranging community development programmes in community buildings at neighbourhood and area level.  While assessment focuses on the range and content of the local service, the grant specifically assists groups with general building costs, e.g. utilities, Insurance, Health and Safety, Cleaning, Admin, Telephones etc.

1.6       In April 2010, members considered a paper outlining options for the future management of the revenue grant programme and agreed to continue the Revenue grant as an ‘annual’ stream for 2011/2012 to permit sufficient time for appropriate preparatory work including supporting policy development and a risk management framework to be put in place.  It was agreed that following the policy work there would then be a carefully co-ordinated move to ‘multi-annual’ after 2012.   This work is being progressed by the Community Facilities Unit and the Departmental Grant Aid Unit.

1.7       All 2011/12 Revenue grant support will be dependant on satisfactory monitoring and the submission of robust and eligible programmes for 2011/12.

1.8       Arrangements have yet to be agreed for the administration of the Capacity grant and our support for Advice & Information consortia in 2011/12 financial year

2          Key Issues

2.1       Advice & Information

Members are aware that BCC is a significant investor in the delivery of independent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.