Agenda item

Lisa Phelan, Area Council Manager, submitted a report providing Members with an up-to-date overview of the Area Council’s current priorities.  It provided an overview of all current contracts, contract extensions, Service Level Agreements and Grant Funded Projects together with the associated timescales.

It outlined the financial position to date for 2022/23 and gave details of the projected financial position to 2023/34, with the financial projections assuming that the base income remained the same and that the existing services were maintained.

The report indicated that, as in previous years, a Grant Panel had met to consider the award of grants from the Youth Development Fund and three recommendations had been submitted for approval.  In addition, the Panel had also discussed the possibility of creating opportunities for a more equitable and sustainable approach across the area and Members had asked the Area Council Manager to provide an options appraisal for further discussion and a workshop meeting was to be arranged to discuss this further.

An appendix to the report also gave details of the work of the Stop Smoking Outreach Service for which a contribution of £19,261 had been recommended, however, as previously reported, this was now to be funded centrally and so this recommendation was no longer required.

Appendix 3 to the report provided an update of the locality-based review of welfare service provision and presented options for possible future service provision.

It was noted that all Area Councils were to consider future welfare service provision.  Arising out of this, there was a brief discussion of the ways in which resources could be maximised possibly by the introduction of one contract for all Area Councils which could

·         be individually tailored to meet the needs of each area

·         Involve external agencies such as DIAL, AGE UK and the CAB etc.

·         enable economies of scale to be achieved.

It was suggested that a working party/workshop meeting would be arranged to discuss this approach and the practicalities thereof prior to the involvement of any external agencies.

RESOLVED:

(i)            that the current priorities and overview of all current contracts, contract extensions, Service Level Agreements and Grant Funded projects, together with the associated timescales, be noted;

(ii)          that the financial position to date for 2022/23 and the projected expenditure and associated financial assumptions, including future proposals to 2023/24 as outlined in Appendices 1 and 2 of the report be noted and supported;

(iii)         that the recommendations from the Youth Development Fund Panel to fund the following three projects be approved:

·         Ad Astra, Young Peoples Group Sessions in School – Carlton Community College £6,000

·         Ad Astra, Young Peoples Group Sessions in School – Shafton Advanced Learning Centre £6,000

·         Ad Astra, Young Peoples 1-1 support – Carlton Community College £6,680

(iv)         That a Working Group/Workshop be arranged to further discuss the possibility of creating opportunities for a more equitable and sustainable approach to the allocation of Youth development Funding; and

(v)          That the proposals for a locality-based review of welfare service provision be noted and that a Working Group/Workshop be arranged to discuss options for possible future service provision.