Minutes for Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, Mar 9 2010, 6.30PM official page

The Decision of the Community Portfolio Holder (issued on 22 February 2010) relating to Subscriptions & Donations has been called-in by six members.

To consider:

(1)   Subscriptions & Donations – report of the Chief Executive to the Community PAG on 18 February 2010.

(2)   Portfolio Holder Decision Notice.

(3)   Report of the Director of Resources (to follow)

The extraordinary meeting of the Committee had been called as a result of a call-in (exercised by six members of the Council) of the Community Portfolio Holder Decision Notice (issued on 22 February 2010) in so far as it related to Subscriptions and Donations approved for 2010/11.

To assist their deliberations, the Committee considered the following:

(1)        Subscriptions and Donations – the report of the Chief Executive submitted to the Community PAG on 18 February 2010;

(2)        the Community Portfolio Holder Decision Notice issued on 22 February 2010; and

(3)        a further report of the Director of Resources setting out the criteria and rationale used to prepare recommendations on Subscriptions and Donations together with the matters for the Committee to take into account for considering the call-in.

Those members of the Committee who had supported the call-in request explained their reasons for submitting it.  Copies of e-mails from Cllrs Chhokar and Thomson, also call-in signatories, were circulated.  The reasons included concern about the level of expenditure generally on subscriptions and donations, why some applications appeared to have been approved generously while others had been refused, and the nature of the service provided by some of the applicant organisations.

Cllr Tilbey, the Community Portfolio Holder, was in attendance and explained the process for receiving applications for subscriptions and donations, how they were assessed and then reported to the PAG for views prior to decisions being reached.  The officers answered questions about detailed aspects of the process and gave background information on some of the applicant organisations from information contained on their application forms.

The Committee turned to consider whether the criteria used by the Portfolio Holder / PAG to assess applications are appropriate and reasonable:

(a)         A need for financial assistance;

(b)         How the project/service benefits the community;

(c)         Clear links to the Sustainable Community Strategy 2009-2026 and other relevant strategies;

(d)         The number of residents, businesses or groups that will benefit from the project/service;

(e)         Past performance of the organisation;

(f)           Open access to the community;

(g)         The percentage of the overall grant requested;

(h)         Whether other funding has been sought;

(i)           Whether charges are made for the services provided.

The Committee accepted that the criteria were appropriate and reasonable but in respect of (a) the need for financial assistance, it was considered important to ensure that sufficient information was collected to ensure a rounded view of the applicant’s financial status.  In particular it was suggested that as well as assessing an organisation’s level of reserves against its annual expenditure, clarification should be sought as to the requirements of the relevant governing body as regards reserves (the Scout Association, for instance, were believed to have particular requirements).  While consideration of other sources of funding was already included in the criteria, it was important that the financial information obtained included, for instance, whether discretionary rate relief had been granted by the Council.  With such information it would be possible to provide a broader commentary on the applicant’s financial position for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

To consider any other business the Chairman decides is urgent.