Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this paper is to seek Executive Member approval for a revised approach to funding for the Councils for Voluntary Services

1.2. A value for money review of the grants given by the Executive Member for Policy & Resources to the Councils for Voluntary Services (CVS) was undertaken in 2007/8. One of the key recommendations was to revise the approach to funding.

1.3. Since the final report was agreed the Policy Unit has been negotiating the options for the revised approach with the Chief Officers of the eleven district based CVSs. This has been part of a wider project which aims to improve the relationship with the Voluntary and Community Sector.

1.4. Currently funding is based on an amount of core funding for each CVS of £35,000 per year with an additional amount to support volunteer centres. This later amount has historically varied across each CVS and these proposals seek to rationalise the previous inequality. It has been made clear that this element of the funding should support the activity of volunteering rather than the infrastructure of volunteer centres and the consequence of the changes means that some CVSs will gain whilst others will lose.

1.5. This revised approach is linked with a more robust grant agreement and monitoring arrangements which are being agreed with each District Council.

2. Contextual information

2.1. The value for money report was conducted during 2007 and initially reported to the Executive Member for Policy and Resources in 2008. It made a number of recommendations which aimed at improved efficiencies within the CVS network. These have been taken very seriously by the Chief Officers and an infrastructure modernisation project (IMP) set up to drive forward more joint working. Progress on the IMP is reported regularly to the County Council. Achievements to date include:

· Single web page for all CVSs and Volunteer centre

· Joint training programme

· Setting up common systems for volunteering and community development

· Development of a Finance toolkit for all voluntary organisations

The Council has responded and asked for further evidence of efficiencies gained.

2.2. The report also made a specific recommendation about funding formula:

"This project aims to drive greater value for money from existing levels of funding. Therefore a new funding formula will result in a different distribution of funding and transitional arrangements will be needed where future funding for individual CVSs is above or below the current levels".

2.3. Currently the funding is allocated in a single amount which covers the core activities of the CVS as well as support for the volunteer centres. Through the review of the approach to funding these different roles have been clarified as follows:

· Support for core funding: the Council supports the CVS to exist so that it can fulfil it's role to support and sustain smaller voluntary and community organisations in the locality to operate effectively and especially enabling them to access different funding streams. This in turn has a positive impact on the wellbeing of local communities and individuals

· Support for the activity of volunteering: through the local volunteer centres, CVSs play a crucial role as `brokers' for people who want to volunteer by encouraging local interest in volunteering and developing volunteering opportunities. They play an increasing role in supporting people with learning and/or mental health difficulties to find volunteering opportunities.

3. Structure of funding

3.1. Although the annual amount agreed by the Executive Member for Policy and Resources is shown as a single amount, the detailed allocation across the network of CVSs is shown in the following table. It shows that each receive the same amount for core funding but there is a significant disparity in the amount given to volunteer centres across the CVS network. This is based on historic arrangements which were made at a time when Social Services had local budgets:

Funding 2009 / 2010

Council for Voluntary Services	Core funding	Volunteer centre funding
Winchester	£36,111	£30 435
Eastleigh	£36,111	£29 078
New Forest	£36,111	£25 644
Basingstoke	£36,111	£25 495
East Hants	£36,111	£21 078
Gosport	£36,111	£16 381
Havant	£36,111	£15 572
Hart	£36,111	£11 476
Test Valley	£36,111	£7 463
Rushmoor	£36,111	£1 286
Fareham	£36,111	£1 286
Total= £582,415	£397,221	£185,194

3.2. The proposed funding arrangements are based on the principle that the Council wishes to support the wider voluntary and community sector and to see an increase in local volunteering. These aims are best achieved through the local CVSs working more efficiently together. There was a lengthy negotiation period which has resulted in the following proposal:

Council for Voluntary Services	Core funding	Funding to support volunteering
Basingstoke	£36,111	20,335
East Hampshire	£36,111	19,844
Eastleigh	£36,111	20,835
Fareham	£36,111	13,835
Gosport	£36,111	13,835
Hart	£36,111	13,835
Havant	£36,111	13,835
New Forest	£36,111	20,335
Rushmoor	£36,111	13,835
Test Valley	£36,111	13,835
Winchester	£36,111	20,835
Total= £582,415	£397,221	185,194

NB. These figures are based on the 2009/10 budget. Variation to figures quoted in Financial Assistance to Voluntary Organisations report to the Executive Member for Policy & Resources on 29 January 2009 relates to different presentation of data.

3.3 The funding split was proposed by the CVS network and is based on more cooperative working across all the districts. It is proposed that the Council support this with effect from April 2010 and monitors the impact on volunteering through the proposed monitoring arrangements. This links with other work which has been undertaken to improve the monitoring of the grant through a strengthened agreement which includes clear performance indicators.

4. Performance

4.1. There are a number of National Indicators¹ which relate to the Council's relationship with the VCS and are reflected in the Local Area Agreement. The recent plan which was agreed by Cabinet sets out steps that the County Council intends to take to improve the overall relationship. These proposals are an important element and aim for more transparency in managing grants as well as improved value for money.

4.2. Agreement is being finalised with District Councils to develop a joint approach to monitoring. Currently each district has a different approach. The new grant agreement will build on the district indicators and include specific County Council measures based on support for its corporate priorities. To achieve the proposed arrangements the Policy Unit brought together officers across all districts to agree a joint approach. Through this there is now a commitment to, jointly, work towards agreeing a common approach. The format of the grant agreement is also under negotiation with the CVSs and Volunteering activity will be a key measure and will be used to ensure that the change in funding approach delivers improved performance. Current measures for volunteering activity vary according to different data collection methods e.g. the Place Survey asks recipients if they have given unpaid time to support local organisations at least once per month over the past year and the volunteer centres record number of people who register to be volunteers. As part of the grant agreement the Council will establish clear baseline data that can be used to measure future performance.

4.3. It is proposed that Members are more actively involved in monitoring the performance of their local CVSs. This could be achieved by linking with the District arrangements where a County officer will attend each of the district based CVS performance reviews. A report summarising this action will be provided for the Executive Member through the annual grants report.

4.4. Performance indicators which clearly show value for money are difficult to identify. It is intended that the measures in the revised grant agreements include:

· Quantitative data e.g. numbers of VCOs supported, numbers of volunteers

· Qualitative data showing added social value through a case study showing how the funds have been used to support local projects and the impact that has on the community

5. Other key issues

5.1. A further value for money reviewed considered other larger grants given to countywide infrastructure organisations and recommended that the monitoring be strengthened. As a result the agreement for Community Action Hampshire (CAH) is being revised in a similar manner to the CVSs. Departments have been involved in reviewing the impact that CAH has on their services and the revised agreement is being re focussed to ensure support for County priorities e.g:

· Personalisation and the Universal Offer

· The Children and Young People's Plan

· The Rural Delivery Strategy

· The Local Area Agreement and the Council's Place shaping and community leadership role.

5.2 As part of the monitoring of this grant it is proposed that the Executive Member for Policy and Resources receive a presentation from CAH which will highlight the impact that the Council's funding has on the wider voluntary and community sector.

5.3 The plan which is aimed at `Improving Hampshire's relationship with the Voluntary & Community Sector' was agreed by Cabinet in November. This work is part of the implementation; it will bring greater clarity and accountability to the grant giving process and enhance the partnership between the County Council and the infrastructure bodies that will have a beneficial impact on local people.

6. Future direction

6.1. Grant agreements and monitoring arrangements will be finalised by January 2010 with baseline performance measures agreed so that improvement can be measured and reported to the Executive Member by December 2010.

6.2 The grants for 2010-11 will be presented in the usual way to the Executive Member in January 2010. There will be a short section in the report to give initial feedback on performance of CVSs.

6.3 Arrangements to be agreed with the Executive Member for the most appropriate way to meet with CAH and other larger grant supported organisations to receive presentations which highlight the impact that the Council's funding has on the wider voluntary and community sector.

7. Recommendation

8.1 That the Executive Member agrees the proposed funding approach and monitoring arrangements as detailed in the report.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

Other Significant Links

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

1.1. Voluntary & Community Organisations (VCOs) are ideally placed to have a very positive impact on equality. Many smaller VCOs do not have a good understanding of the wider equality issues and infrastructure organisations are well placed to support them to reach out to diverse communities. These proposals will have a role in mitigating potential negative impact on different communities as the grant agreements will include performance measure relating to their reel in supporting smaller VCOs to undertake the diversity toolkit audit developed by Community Action Hampshire.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

2.1 The plan to improve the accountability is highly likely to have a positive impact on crime & disorder as many projects are run through voluntary organisations, volunteers are involved in neighbourhood watch schemes

3. Climate Change:

3.1. By working more closely with the Councils for Voluntary Service (CVSs) and improving the accountability the Council will have an improved opportunity to ensure they support our aims to reduce carbon footprint / energy consumption

3.2. By working more closely with the CVSs and improving the accountability the Council will have an improved opportunity to ensure they support our aims to tackle climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts.