Agenda item

This report presents the Executive with the Final Report arising from the Ward Funding Scrutiny Review.

Resolved:  The Executive agree:-

(i)           That Members be actively encouraged to engage in any training opportunities available and the Political Groups be instrumental in facilitating this.

(ii)          That a set of standards be agreed to formalise the working arrangements between the Communities and Equalities Team (CET) and other CYC teams, eg Highways, in order to better manage the flow of information and manage councillor expectations, and speed up the progression of ward funded schemes.

(iii)        That appropriate changes be made to the internal processes to address the Veritau findings and scrutiny review findings, including:-

·               Improving communication and publicity of ward committee meetings;

·               Replacing the downloadable application form with an online application form, and providing guidance on the frequency that individual wards make their funding decisions, and how long it will take to receive the funding once an application has been approved etc;

·               Introducing a form to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of ward funded projects; and

·               A ‘live’ system be introduced with the capability to detail successful applications, pending applications, and the balance of available funding

(iv)        All case studies, fact sheets and other training materials be stored in a central depository made accessible to all councillors.

(v)         To endorse the principle of additional staff resource being provided in CET.  The nature and level of this resource to be identified and agreed on a Ward by Ward basis.  Ward Councillors to liaise with community officers to identify the resources required.

(vi)        That CET continue to provide a range of support in a range of ways to suit individual councillors’ preferences and identify future improvements where feasible.

(vii)      That the Political Groups provide peer support to their ward members to enable them to progress schemes in their wards.

(viii)     The Scrutiny Committee to receive a future update on implementation progress of the model in order to assess any outstanding issues.

Reason:    To take the recommendations from the Scrutiny Task Group forward in order to facilitate future improvements to the neighbourhood working model.

Members considered a report which presented the final report arising from the Ward Funding Scrutiny Review.

In presenting the report, the Chair of the Task Group highlighted that there had not been a large response to the review’s survey.  However, feedback indicated that whilst councillors recognised the potential benefits of having funds to spend locally, the structures in place to do this were hard to navigate.

The Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economic Development & Community Engagement thanked the Task Group for their work and welcomed the review findings.  Whilst the recommendations were agreed in principle, the following amendments were proposed to Recommendation (i) and 3(v). 

Recommendation (i) - whilst the value of training was recognised, it was not felt that mandatory training was appropriate in this area.  Members would be actively encouraged to engage in any training opportunities available and Political Groups would be instrumental in facilitating this.

Recommendation 3 (v) - Executive endorsed the principle of additional staff resource being provided in the Communities and Equalities Team (CET), but the nature and level of this resource should be identified and agreed on a Ward by Ward basis.  Ward Councillors to liaise with community officers to identify the resources required.

Following discussion as to the most appropriate allocation of ward resource and support to councillors, the importance of community infrastructure and community engagement were acknowledged and the aforementioned changes were agreed.

It was noted that Members would receive information further to the meeting as to the availability of the findings of the recent internal audit of ward funding¹.

Resolved:  The Executive agree:-

(i)           That Members be actively encouraged to engage in any training opportunities available and the Political Groups be instrumental in facilitating this².

(ii)          That a set of standards be agreed to formalise the working arrangements between the Communities and Equalities Team (CET) and other CYC teams, eg Highways, in order to better manage the flow of information and manage councillor expectations, and speed up the progression of ward funded schemes.

(iii)        That appropriate changes be made to the internal processes to address the Veritau findings and scrutiny review findings, including:-

·               Improving communication and publicity of ward committee meetings;

·               Replacing the downloadable application form with an online application form, and providing guidance on the frequency that individual wards make their funding decisions, and how long it will take to receive the funding once an application has been approved etc;

·               Introducing a form to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of ward funded projects; and

·               A ‘live’ system be introduced with the capability to detail successful applications, pending applications, and the balance of available funding

(iv)        All case studies, fact sheets and other training materials be stored in a central depository made accessible to all councillors.

(v)         To endorse the principle of additional staff resource being provided in CET.  The nature and level of this resource to be identified and agreed on a Ward by Ward basis.  Ward Councillors to liaise with community officers to identify the resources required².

(vi)        That CET continue to provide a range of support in a range of ways to suit individual councillors’ preferences and identify future improvements where feasible.

(vii)      That the Political Groups provide peer support to their ward members to enable them to progress schemes in their wards.

(viii)     The Scrutiny Committee to receive a future update on implementation progress of the model in order to assess any outstanding issues³.

Reason:    To take the recommendations from the Scrutiny Task Group forward in order to facilitate future improvements to the neighbourhood working model.