Agenda item

Consider report by Director – Resilient Communities. (Copy attached.)

With reference to paragraph 8 of the Minute of the Meeting held on 16 November 2021, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Director- Resilient Communities which provided evaluation and outcomes of the awards made in relation to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Fund, which was open from 5 January 202 to 30 April 2022.  The report explained that the Committee had agreed on 16 November 2021 to allocate £70k to create a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Fund.  The purpose of that Fund was to enable non-profit making community/voluntary groups, school s and churches within the Borders to apply for grant funding to take part in celebratory events/community and legacy projects to mark the late Queen’s platinum Jubilee Weekend 2-5 June 2022.    Approval for decision making for the fund was agreed at Officer level, with final approval and sign off by the Director – Resilient Communities.  The Committee had asked that a report providing evaluation and outcomes of the awards made in relation to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Fund be brought back at a later date.  The Director – Resilient Communities presented the report and responded to Members questions.  Regarding the number of organisations which had been unsuccessful in their application for funding, 18 groups had either withdrawn or been refused.  In response to a question regarding the amount of funds which groups had applied for, discussions had been held with all of the applicants to determine what level of funding they needed to secure in order to ensure that their project or event was successful prior to awards being made.  The Director confirmed that the overspend by the Council on the Fund had stemmed from high demand, combined with some applications taking longer than others to be submitted.  That had resulted in concerns that some communities would feel aggrieved that they had not been able to access the Fund.   The decision had been made through delegated powers by the Director of Resilient Communities and the Chief Financial Officer to increase the budget for the Fund based on the levels of demand which had been seen.  The Director confirmed that the decision had been made at an officer level based on those delegated powers.  The Chief Executive outlined the timing of the Fund, confirming that the celebrations had taken place in early June 2022, and that the application process had closed on 30 April 2022.  Reporting of the expenditure was made retrospectively on 14 June 2022 and 22 August 2022 following the celebrations.  The reporting of the expenditure, which had been a relatively small amount in the context of the budgets involved, had been made via the established virements process.  Members highlighted that the level of community interest in the Fund had been extremely high, and that for reasons of fairness it would have been difficult to exclude some communities from accessing funding due to their lack of capacity to apply early in the application window. It was explained that due to the pre-election period of the local government elections held in May 2022, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to make a decision on all of the applications at an Elected Member level.  Members congratulated the officers involved for their work.  In response to a question regarding the rate of return of evaluations, which was 85.7%, the Director confirmed that engagement with groups who had not returned evaluation forms was ongoing, and invited Members to help encourage their communities to engage with the Communities and Partnership team who could assist with the completion and return of the forms. 

            DECISION

            AGREED to note the number, evaluation and outcomes of the awards made from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Fund.