Contacts: Helen Wheeler Ext: 5444 [email protected]

Stuart Dorward Ext: 6110 [email protected]

1 Introduction

1.1 At a seminar on 24 February 2004 members of the Policy Review Committee and the Executive Member discussed the outcome of an internal review of partnership funding and support in the Recreation and Heritage Services.

1.2 The next stage of the process is to agree a set of key proposals as the basis of a wider consultation with partners, other stakeholders and members of the public. This report outlines a set of proposals in the form of a draft consultation document. This is accompanied by a suggested consultation programme and timetable.

1.3 Partnership funding and support is a fundamental part of the County Council's delivery of Recreation and Heritage services. The proposals for developing these arrangements will therefore contribute indirectly to Aims 1 to 4 of the Corporate Strategy (Maximising Life Opportunities, Stewardship of the Environment, Achieving Economic Prosperity, Building Strong and Safe Communities) and directly to Aim 5 (Improving Services). They also support the aims of the Cultural Strategy.

2 Background

2.1 The Recreation and Heritage services currently provide support to a wide range of organisations and individuals in Hampshire through grants and other indirect means. The total value of this support is approximately £2.3 million per year, which in 2003/04 helped 180 organisations and 70 individuals.

2.2 The current pattern of partnership funding and support originates from the different strands of activity within the Recreation and Heritage Department and has developed over time. Each has its own processes for receiving, assessing and approving grant applications and subsequently administering, monitoring and evaluating grant awards.

2.3 With the formation of the Recreation and Heritage Department it is appropriate to reassess these arrangements in terms of their contribution to County Council, Departmental and service objectives and in the light of the findings of the corporate Best Value review of support for the voluntary and community sector. A small officer team was formed last year to carry out a review of Recreation and Heritage partnership support and has now completed a mapping and analysis exercise to establish:

· the range and value of the partnership funding and support provided by Recreation and Heritage

· current policies and policy objectives for all partnership funding schemes

· the different application, award, administration, monitoring and evaluation processes in place.

2.4 The detailed findings of this review were outlined in a briefing paper prepared for a member seminar on 24 February 2004. In summary these were:

· Direct support in the form of cash grants valued at £2 million per year and provided through a considerable number of different schemes with differing objectives, application and approval processes and evaluation criteria

· Indirect support in the form of officer time estimated as being worth approximately £250,000 per year.

2.5 The briefing paper set out a number of preliminary conclusion, which formed the basis of the discussion with members. A note of the seminar is attached as Appendix 1. This report now makes firm recommendations, based on the review conclusions and members views, for improving the overall management of partnership funding and support arrangements for consideration by the Policy Review Committee and Executive Member.

3 Proposals

3.1 Members agreed that the arrangements for partnership funding and support in Recreation and Heritage should be brought in line with the principles of the Hampshire Compact. Consultation with the voluntary and community sector, key stakeholders and the wider community is a key element of the Compact. The proposals on partnership funding and support have therefore been developed in the form of a consultation document, which is attached as Appendix 2 to this report.

3.2 In summary, the key points covered in the consultation are:

· Strategic partnerships to be the subject of more formal long term agreements

· Greater emphasis on evaluating outputs, outcomes and benefits

· Greater emphasis on the contribution to County Council objectives as the basis for allocating and evaluating partnership support

· Greater standardisation of documentation and processes

· Reduction in the number of different partnership funding and support programmes.

3.3 To ensure the widest possible consideration of these proposals, the consultation programme and timetable set out in Appendix 3 is suggested. Following the consultation a further report will be made to members with final recommendations for approval by the Executive Member. Any new arrangements would be phased in with effect from the start of the 2005/06 financial year. It should be noted that conclusions from the recent consultation on the community support strategy¹ and the planned consultation on proposals for improved corporate arrangements for grant administration will also have a bearing on the final recommendations.

Recommendations

To the Policy Review Committee:

That the consultation document on partnership funding and support in the Recreation and Heritage services and the consultation programme and timetable be supported and submitted to the Executive Member - Recreation and Heritage for approval.

To the Executive Member:

That the consultation document on partnership funding and support in the Recreation and Heritage services be approved as the basis for a formal public consultation on the timetable outlined in the report.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.