Agenda item

The Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager had been invited to the meeting to provide the Annual Report on the Worcestershire Councillors’ Divisional Fund.

It was reported that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been another successful year with a wide range of applications from across the County.  The application process had been made more digital although Officers continued to check both the information provided and the legality of the application.  It was highly unusual to have such a scheme in Local Government, where each individual Member had full delegation to apply the Fund as they wished, set at £10,000 for each Councillor for the 2020/21 year.

During the ensuing discussion, the following the main points were raised:

·         Members were very supportive of the Scheme and appreciated the opportunity to decide where to allocate funding

·         New Members were already submitting applications and detailed information on the scheme had been provided in their Induction packs.  A Panel Member suggested that it would be useful to have examples of areas to avoid

·         It was noted that the Fund was not a grant scheme, with Members citing examples of receiving repeat applications from previous years with applicants presuming it was a yearly award.  The Panel was advised that Officers were always available to assist them and the application form had been taken off the County Council’s website to help Councillors target the resource

·         The Panel asked for Officers to provide a note for Members to help them ascertain financial viability of the application or applicant

·         The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Corporate Services and Communication suggested that elements of the Fund process may be able to integrate with the developing Councillor Case Management System

·         A Member asked whether there had been any cases of mismanagement, to be informed that there had not, however, an example was given whereby a Member was a Trustee of a charity applying for funding.  On that occasion advice was given and the funding was allocated to a specific outsourced element of a specific event.  Any deliberate misuse would fall under the Member Code of Conduct

·         Funding would need to be returned to the Council if not used for the purposes outlined in the original application, for example, an event cancellation

·         In response to a query about how well the Fund was used, it was reported that there had been an increase in applications during the last year and slightly less funding had been rolled forward.  Each Member could roll over up to £1,000

·         To avoid an end of financial year rush, Officers would remind Members each December to allocate their funding in good time

·         When asked whether anyone had measured the impact the Fund had on local communities, it was stated that the onus was on each Member to publicise their own success through their local communication channels

·         The Cabinet Member reminded the Panel that Councillors were able to pool their funding to increase the amount available and the Fund was a very powerful tool for community development.  Furthermore, he advised Members that as they were starting their four-year Term there was ample time to consider how their Fund was best allocated

·         The Panel Chairman clarified that the Fund was currently set at £10,000 for each of the 57 Members and was not guaranteed year on year.  The Fund came from Council Reserves and had not increased since its introduction.  The Cabinet Member also clarified that if the Panel wished to recommend any increase, the additional funding would need to be taken from another Council budget.

It was agreed that the Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager would provide a guidance note for Members on this Scheme, including prompts for Members to investigate financial viability of organisations prior to Members processing requests for funding.