Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Housing and Safety

RESOLVED that;

1. The commissioning brief to allocate the county council’s funding as set out in appendix 2 be approved.
2. The borough council’s sum of £50k (subject to contract) be allocated to County Community Projects.
3. Authority be delegated to the Director of Commissioning to enter into any necessary documentation in consultation with the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety introduced the report. Gloucestershire County Council had agreed to invest £50k in each of the six Gloucestershire districts in 2011-12 in positive activities for young people, to be delivered by voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations. She explained that the report was seeking Cabinet approval for a commissioning brief that will set out how the funding will be allocated in Cheltenham. The report also provided an update on the progress of the commissioning exercise undertaken to allocate the one-off sum of £50k from Cheltenham Borough Council to support the sustainable development of additional capacity and expertise within VCS providers of community-based youth work.

The Cabinet Member updated members on the outcomes of the meeting held on the 5^th July. She had joined elected members from the Social and Community O&S committee subgroup and the Chair of the Cheltenham Children and Young Peoples Partnership to hold a question and answer session with the three organisations submitting bids.   They had concluded that at this stage the County Community Projects (CCP) was the strongest bid which would be in the best position to support the wide range of abilities across the current providers. CCP was also proposing to provide their own funding beyond year one to sustain a part-time worker post.

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development said that the success of the funding would be measured by how many volunteers received effective training and the role of a steering group to correctly allocate the funding would be critical. Although he acknowledged the budget crisis faced by both this council and the County Council, he stressed that this initiative only partially filled a gap resulting from the decision by the County Council to cut large parts of the youth services provision.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services supported the view that this initiative was mitigation for the loss of some really valuable youth services and it was unfortunate that these were cut immediately without looking to see how things could have been done differently. Youth Services was a priority issue for the North Gloucestershire police whose policy was to engage and deter young people.

The Leader advised that Cheltenham was the only district in Gloucestershire to match the funding from the County Council and this was indicative of the importance that the council gave to youth services.
 

RESOLVED that;

1. The commissioning brief to allocate the county council’s funding as set out in appendix 2 be approved.
2. The borough council’s sum of £50k (subject to contract) be allocated to CountyCommunity Projects.
3. Authority be delegated to the Director of Commissioning to enter into any necessary documentation in consultation with the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer.