Minutes:
(Mrs. C. Taggart, Community Services Manager, and Mr. C. Campbell, Principal Solicitor, attended in connection with this item.)
The Committee considered the undernoted report:
“1 Relevant Background Information
1.1 This paper is to seek Members’ approval for:
- A revised governance structure for the Belfast Community Investment Programme (BCIP)
- The approach to be taken in the provision for Community Services grant aid for the period 2014 to 2015.
1.2 The ‘Building Better Communities - Belfast Community Investment Programme’ (BCIP) began in 2012 as a joint project between the council and DSD to create a single £5.4 million community development fund for Belfast. Under the original plan BCIP would have opened for applications in October 2013 and make awards for the period 2014 to 2015.
1.2 At Development Committee on 25 March 2013 Members approved a draft BCIP programme as a basis for public consultation and asked officers to prepare:
- A draft equality impact assessment on the proposal (EQIA);
- A report considering the approach to budget allocation; and
- Finalised materials for the public consultation to begin in May 2013.
1.4 Following this meeting (and reflecting concerns raised by a number of community organisations regarding the BCIP timeline) it was agreed there was not sufficient time to deliver the project by 2014. As a result DSD recommended to their Minister in June that DSD withdraw as a joint partner in the project. This was based on the argument that, by moving BCIP’s start date to 2015 the project had become a transfer under RLG and was thus the sole responsibility of council.
1.5 A paper explaining the situation was presented to Development Committee on 23 April. A subsequent options paper in June provided Members with alternative timelines for the implementation of BCIP. Members approved April 2015 as a revised timeframe for delivering BCIP, while noting that resourcing for the option was still a matter of discussion between council and DSD.
1.6 It was also brought to Members’ attention that all of council’s existing grant schemes for community development are scheduled to end in March 2014 and were due to be superseded in 2014 by BCIP. However, with BCIP’s start date being deferred, interim arrangements now have to be established for the financial year 2014 to 2015.
1.7 At June 2013 Committee, Members agreed to receive a further paper in August once officers had discussed the issues with Legal Services.
2 Key Issues
2.1 The key issues considered below are:
- The revised governance arrangements for the BCIP project
- Implications for 2014/15 grant awards
2.2 Revised governance arrangements
As BCIP is no longer a joint DSD/Council initiative the project’s governance structure will need to be reconstituted as a council-only project. A new project board will be established comprising appropriate Council officers.
2.3 As Members will note that, given its fairly unique position in being one of the earliest transfers under LGR, and the fact that it includes a significant re-design of a function, the BCIP project presents a microcosm of the much larger project around the transfer of functions. It is suggested that this learning will continue to prove invaluable to other parts of council over the coming weeks and months. Consequently it is proposed that the council’s Programme Managers for LGR and for the Development Department are both given reference status on the board. In addition it is proposed an observer from DSD’s Reform of Local Government Business Continuity Unit also be invited.
2.4 The original project steering group included a representative from the community and voluntary sector, Avila Kilmurray from CFNI. Unfortunately due to other pressing time commitments Dr Kilmurray resigned from this role. Feedback from the sector was that a single representative was not adequate and far from best practice. Consequently, it is proposed that consideration be given within the new project governance structure to establish a “reference panel” made up of representatives from the community and voluntary sector. No such structure currently exists within Belfast and Members may wish to consider if there may be merit in its development for other aspects of council’s work (e.g. community planning, area working groups etc). It is proposed that an options paper be brought to a future Committee meeting.
2.5 Political reporting structure: As a result of the revised timeframe of April 2015, BCIP will be implemented across the new Belfast local district area which will then include the transferring areas of Lisburn and Castlereagh. BCIP is a design and transfer of function and there are specific implications for the areas of Castlereagh and Lisburn councils merging into Belfast. Consequently, it is likely that once established, the BCIP project board will need to seek political approval from the Statutory Transition Committee (STC) rather than Development Committee.
2.6 As the STC has not yet been established the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee will oversee the strategic business of the Reform of Local Government, (RLA) and given the time-critical nature of decision-making around BCIP, it is recommended that, as an interim arrangement, approval is sought from this Committee with the expectation that decision-making around the project moves to the STC later in the year once its processes are fully established.
2.7 Development Committee will continue to receive update reports on the project.
2.8 Implications for existing grant funding 2014/2015
Given that BCIP will not now be introduced until April 2015 both Council and DSD will need to consider the management of its existing community development grant schemes. These are all scheduled to end in March 2014 and, without BCIP in place, an interim measure will have to be established to bridge funding for the community and voluntary sector for 2014 to 2015. DSD will need to establish its own solution for community development funding under both Neighbourhood Renewal and its Community Investment Fund.
2.9 Informally, DSD officers have suggested that BRO and VCU are likely to extend their current contracts for Neighbourhood Renewal and the Community Investment Fund over the same period. It will be important for council and DSD to continue to co-ordinate the communications around these extensions. the council will be emphasising that the 2014/15 arrangements are in preparation for BCIP for 2015. We will be encouraging DSD to do likewise.
2.10 Within council, meetings have taken place with Legal Services to discuss the options available and, in particular, the viability of extending our own grant schemes for a further twelve months. (These funding streams include the Capacity Building Grant programme, the Revenue grant for community facilities, the City’s Advice Services funding to the 5 local consortia and our Small grants funding.
2.11 From discussions regarding the rolling forward of the existing large grant programmes, Legal Services have advised that in order to mitigate the possibility of any challenge to Council on the grounds of openness and transparency a limited open call is run for the Revenue grant only given this has not been open for a number of years.
2.12 In consideration of this advice the proposal is to:
- Roll forward the current funding arrangements with regard to Advice, Capacity and Revenue for 2014/15. Any extension will be subject to normal monitoring requirements and the submission of appropriate work programmes.
- Ongoing management of the Small grants programme (which includes project and summer scheme grants) in its current form through open advertisement.
- Invite applications to a restricted open call limited to potential new revenue grant applicants. This additional Revenue fund would open in the autumn and allow new organisations to apply for some revenue support. It is proposed that the scheme be of a total value of £50,000.
- Offer a small one year development fund to support capacity issues in the sector. The proposed one-year development fund would allow organisations to receive capacity support arranged by community services officers and aligned to our BCIP Sector Support programme. It is proposed the fund be of the value of £50,000
2.13 This option will allow both the council and the sector to primarily focus its time and resources preparing for the introduction of BCIP. If members support the proposed option, a report will be presented to the Statutory Transition Committee recommending that £100,000 is allocated from the £2m fund set aside by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee to resource the implementation of Local Government Reform.
2.14 All of the grant programmes will continue to comply with the four council wide grant eligibility criteria and the additional core community development eligibility criterion for our Community Services Grant programme. These were reviewed and agreed at committee in October 2012 following a series of party briefings.
3 Resource Implications
3.1 Financial mitigations may need to be implemented to ensure there is a low risk of council being challenged if Members agree to roll over the majority of grants in 2014/15. It is anticipated this will be in the region of £100,000 pending uptake, the cost of which will be met from the fund set aside to resource Local Government Reform.
4 Equality and Good Relations Implications
4.1 Equality and good relations implications, in relation to this policy, are still under consideration. Further updates will be sent to the Equality and Diversity Officer in due course.
5 Recommendations
5.1 Members are asked to:
- Agree to the proposed revised project governance
- Agree to the proposed approach to the Community Service grant programme in 2014/15.
A prolonged discussion ensued, during which a Member made the point that the steering group which would be established as part of the revised governance arrangements would contain no political representatives. It was suggested that input from Elected Members would be essential to ensure that any proposals forthcoming had been subjected to prior political scrutiny.
Accordingly, it was
Moved by Alderman Stoker,
Seconded by Councillor Convery and
Resolved - That the Committee agrees to adopt the recommendations contained within the report, subject to the inclusion of one Member from each of the Political Parties on the Council on the steering group which would be established as part of the overall revised governance arrangements.