Agenda item

Richard Gibson, Strategy and Engagement Manager (no decision required)

The Strategy and Engagement Manager introduced the discussion paper as circulated with the agenda, as well as Angela Gilbert, Support Services Manager at GAVCA.  Over the past five years the council had invested £34,000 per annum in GAVCA through a Community Investment Grant, the only one, since the other two, Hester’s Way and Oakley Partnership’s, were now funded by the Housing Revenue Account, which was administered by Cheltenham Borough Homes.  GAVCA delivered quality advice, support, training and networking opportunities for local VCS organisations and the strength and vibrancy that this added to the local VCS sector, ultimately contributed to the council’s vision to deliver the best quality of life for the people of Cheltenham.  The council’s current funding agreement ran to March 2016 and as part of the review process, the council surveyed local VCS organisations about the value that they placed on the work of GAVCA and what support or challenges they considered to be priority areas for a future agreement.  25 responses were received and these were summarised in section 5 of the paper, but it was important to note that almost 80% of the respondents felt that GAVCA were best placed to deliver support for the future.

The following responses were given to member questions;

·         Whilst GAVCA had sent out the invitation to respond to the survey, it was made clear that this was on behalf of the council and that the responses would go direct to them, rather than GAVCA.  It was felt that it would have been disingenuous to suggest in the invitation, that future funding depended on positive feedback. 

·         GAVCA got a similar response (25 of 299) to their annual survey.  It was suggested by a member of the committee that VCS organisations had to dedicate their time and effort to applying for funding and that this could explain, what members felt was a disappointingly low response level.

·         GAVCA was a countywide organisation and therefore not entirely funded by or focussed on Cheltenham. 

At this point, Angela Gilbert was asked to leave.

Councillor McCloskey explained that she had been the council’s appointed representative, to the role of Observer, for some 3-4 years.  Despite being an Observer, without the right of a vote, she had always been encouraged to share her opinions and had built a good relationship with the Board of Trustees.  In October 2015, a new CEO was appointed and subsequently, Councillor McCloskey was advised that she was no longer needed to attend Trustee meetings.  Councillor McCloskey met with the CEO, Catherine Kevis, on the 13 January 2016, but no explanation was given as to why she could no longer attend Trustee meetings and she had drawn the conclusion that it might relate to financial issues.  Her opinion was that there was little value in appointing a member to the role of Observer if that member would not be welcome to attend meetings. 

Members acknowledged the excellent work of GAVCA, commending Angela in particular and would support the continued funding of the service.  They did however, ask that clarification be sought, as to why the Observer had been asked to stop attending meetings and that this entitlement should be made a condition of any future grant.  Members were of the opinion that the role of Observer was an important one from the council’s perspective as it would allow for regular monitoring of performance and for any issues to be quickly identified and reported back.  Were the grant to be renewed, the proposal was that the Observer would be asked to make an annual report to the committee. 

No decision was required.