Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare:

·        Any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        Any prejudicial interests or

·        Any disclosable pecuniary interests

Which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal interests, not included on the Register of Interests, or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in respect of business on the agenda. No additional interests were declared.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak on an item on the agenda or an issue within the committee’s remit can do so.

Anyone who wishes to register or who requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer for this meeting, details of whom are listed at the foot of this agenda.

The deadline for registering to speak is 5:00pm the working day before the meeting, in this case 5:00pm on Friday 17 May 2013.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Gwen Swinburn made reference to a number of recent grants/loans made by the authority to third sector organisations. In particular that made by Cabinet in October 2012 to Science City York to develop a comprehensive package of development and support activities for innovation in the council and the city. Concern was expressed at the lack of metrics provided to support these projects with insufficient information on inputs/outputs. Only following Freedom of Information requests had some partial service level agreement information been provided. Further concern was expressed that with the large sums of money involved the authority should require key deliverables to ensure fulfilment of Council Plan goals. It was pointed out that the Task Group had an opportunity to develop protocols and format standards for the provisions of all future loans and grants.

To consider the Loans and Grants Scrutiny Review Interim Report.

Consideration was given to an interim report of the Loans and Grants Scrutiny Review Task Group, which had been prepared following a topic put forward by Cllrs Healey and Runciman to scrutinise how loans/grants from CYC to outside organisations were being monitored.

It was confirmed that the Group had primarily selected a cross section of grants and loans for further analysis and scrutiny, with the following being chosen, further details of each being set out in the report at paragraphs 5 to 27:

·        Bike Rescue

·        Codebreaker Ltd

·        York Homestart

·        Homelessness Strategy

·        Parenting Commissioning Programmes

·        Warm Homes, Healthy People

An additional briefing note in respect of the Codebreaker loan was circulated at the meeting, a copy of which had been attached to the online agenda. The note provided answers to questions previously raised by the Task Group in relation to company contact and subsequent debt recovery procedures.

The Chair referred to the apparent inconsistencies found between departments in relation to the provision of loans and grants. This had highlighted the need for a common approach and standards for dealing with loans and grants which included their recording. He thanked the earlier speaker for her helpful comments and suggestions which he confirmed would be taken into account by the Group.

The Scrutiny Officer confirmed that sign off levels were already in place for Finance Managers across the Authority, as set out in the Constitution.

Members questioned the level of interest rates and review dates in place for the various grants and loans made.

A CYC Finance Manager outlined the existing criteria in place for dealing with applications for grants and loans across the Council, including how decisions were taken. He confirmed that from a financial aspect work could be undertaken to tighten up control over these payments. Interest rates were reviewed annually and/or amended throughout the term of the loan, with there being a number of different rates which were reviewed mid term. He confirmed that there should be no inconsistencies between departments as all should be following the same process.

Following further  lengthy discussion the main points raised were:

·        Reference was made to some of the excellent work carried out by a number of bodies in receipt of grants and loans from the authority. However monitoring was required to ensure consistency e.g. CYC representation on the Board with a remit.

·        Quality of service level agreements, consistent approach required to ensure quantative objectives

·        Questioned whether grants/loans was an area for central control.

·        Responsibility for review at  the end of the loan e.g. Parish Council loans require a report back in 6 months and confirmation that the body had achieved what it had set out to do.

·        File note to check payments made, in order to provide accountability.

·        There was no wish to complicate or require unnecessary paperwork from bodies receiving small grants/loans made by the authority.

·        Standardisation of Service Level Agreements (SLA’s), legal checks etc

·        Reiterated unanimous agreement that further examination of the North Yorkshire Credit Union (NYCU) collapse would not assist  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.