Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1       Background Information

1.1      Members will be aware that the Council has invested £300,000 in a Student Bursary Fund supporting hundreds of young people in the city to take part in further education and training opportunities.

1.2      The ‘Achieve’ Bursary Fund which aims to improve the employment prospects of young people in the Belfast City Council area is currently being administered through Belfast Metropolitan College (Belfast Met) and The Prince’s Trust with the funding made available through the Council’s Investment Programme for 2012-2015.

1.3      Members are reminded that through Belfast Met, grants of up to £500 can be applied for by young people living in Belfast who must be preparing to study or currently studying on one of the college’s full-time further/higher or vocational education training courses at Levels 2-5.  This includes 10 courses - among them, courses in IT, multimedia, science, tourism or hospitality.

1.4      The Prince’s Trust bursary (with funding allocated through the charity’s Development Awards programme) is open to young people aged 16-25 residing in the city who are not in education, training or employment.  The scheme aims to help recipients overcome barriers which may prevent them from undertaking training and education or moving into employment. 

2         Key Issues

2.1      Members will recall that a number of reports have of late been presented to the Strategic Policy and Resources and Development Committees in connection with development and implementation of the ‘Achieve’ Bursary Fund.  

2.2      In particular the Committee is reminded that at its meeting on 25 January 2013 Members of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee received a full update on delivery of the bursary scheme during year 1 (2012/13) and considered appropriate levels of assistance for year 2 (2013/14).

2.3      Whilst an indicative split of £30,000 to the Prince’s Trust and £70,000 to Belfast Met was the funding allocation in year 1, Members agreed to a 50/50 split in year 2 with £50,000 of the Council funding being allocated towards supporting further/higher education initiatives (through Belfast Met) and a further £50,000 of funding to help individuals access training or education (not at further or higher levels) or employment (administered through Prince’s Trust). 

2.4      Since this agreement was reached the Council has worked with both partner organisations to ascertain what volume of bursaries might be feasible to deliver given the change in funding allocations.  Whilst it is difficult to predict the exact number of student applications to be received in 2013/14, Belfast Met expects to be able to offer approx 240 awards of £500 to new first year students entering in September 2013 to undertake a further/higher/vocational education training course at levels 2-5 of one the 10 priority courses.  Members are reminded that Belfast Met will administer £120,000 in the current financial year (£70,000 carried forward from year 1 plus £50,000 from year 2) and will cover all costs associated with the awards administration. 

2.5      In return for an investment of £50,000, The Prince’s Trust will aim to support 202 young people during 2013/14 and help over 80% of those who receive a Development Award to achieve a positive outcome, progressing into education, training or employment.

2.6      Whilst the Trust is delighted to secure additional Council funding of £20,000,  increasing the number of awards to be provided in year 2 by 39% on the previous year does pose an issue for the charity around staffing, administration and general management of the programme. 

2.7      Members are reminded that the Prince’s Trust is a youth charity which raises income from two main sources.  Firstly, there is income received as a result of the charitable activities it undertakes, and secondly it raises voluntary income through corporate and individual donations as well as donations in kind.  In the absence of any core funding and corporate administration and management support, all activities of the Prince’s Trust are delivered on a project by project basis, each of which have their own dedicated management and administrative resources. 

2.8      To this end, the Prince’s Trust has submitted a proposal to the Council indicating it would require a small percentage of financial support to help cover the costs associated with administering 202 awards in the 2013/14 financial year.  The proposed management and administration costs are as follows: 

2.9      The organisation has indicated that it will use £3,962.28 of its own resources to contribute to the costs of delivering the Development Awards Programme in the Belfast City Council area in 2013/14.  Therefore the net amount required for project administration costs is £9,484.44.

2.10    Members are advised that in assessing the needs of applicants for a Council bursary the Prince’s Trust requires a range of people with different skills sets to be involved in the process.  This includes:

-        Administrative staff, who take the initial enquiry, check eligibility of the young person and confirm whether a positive outcome has been achieved at the end of the Award.

-        Programme staff or ‘Volunteer Assessors’ who meet young people face-to-face to complete their assessment and provide ongoing support.

-        Development Awards Executive who processes all programme paperwork; collects evidence of what the Award is for; pays the Award in terms of paying the supplier or purchasing goods and oversees funding in terms of allocating Awards in accordance with funding guidelines.

-        Head of Enterprise, Employment & Awards who reviews each individual Award and signs off for payment.

2.11    For individual assessments to take place the Prince’s Trust is also required to:

-        Train a number of Assessors including existing programme staff and external volunteers.

-        Carryout an Access NI Check for each new Assessor in line with the Prince’s Trust child protection policies.

-        Complete an application which then has to be processed.  This requires a member of staff doing further eligibility checks; assessing if the outcome of the award will be a progression; making sure that all of the evidence of what is actually needed has been enclosed which is then passed to a  panel, approved and payment is processed.

2.12    Other roles involved in the process include creating new suppliers; negotiating discounts based on bulk purchases and charity status; promotion of the Awards in terms of marketing flyers & other promotion and developing a range of paperwork for the awards scheme itself.

2.13    In view of the above Members are asked to consider the proposal for £9,484.44 of the £50,000 amount allocated to the Prince’s Trust in year 2 to be used to cover programme management and administration costs. 

3         Resource Implications

3.1      An overall budget of £300,000 was allocated to the bursary scheme over a 3 year period 2012-2015.

3.2      The financial allocation required by the Prince’s Trust to administer the scheme is  £9,484.44.

  4        Recommendations

4.1      Members are asked to consider the request for £9,484.44 of the £50,000 amount allocated to the Prince’s Trust to be used to cover programme management and administration costs associated with delivery of the Council bursary scheme during 2013/14.”

            During discussion, a number of Members expressed concern that the administrative costs associated with the delivery of the Scheme by the Prince’s Trust were somewhat excessive. It was pointed out that, given that the proposed administrative costs would be met from within the original budget allocated for the Scheme, it would reduce the amount of assistance available for students and, therefore, impact on the Council’s ability to maximise the benefits which had been anticipated. The Director suggested that the administrative costs could be met from in-year savings to ensure that the full amount could be made available to Programme participants. However, other Members suggested that the sum requested was reasonable when compared to the costs which had been incurred previously in the administration of similar-type schemes by external bodies. 

            After discussion, it was

Moved by Councillor Ó Muilleoir,

Seconded by Councillor Maskey,

      That the Committee agrees that the Prince’s Trust be authorised to administer the Bursary Scheme during its second year on the basis that a sum of £30,000 be made available initially and that the remaining sum of £20,000 be withheld pending a request being made to that organisation to review its estimated administrative costs. 

            On a vote by show of hands, nine Members voted for the proposal and seven against and it was declared carried.