Agenda item

Hart District Council (HDC) has been granted £1million through the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund projects identified in HDC’s Local Investment Plan (LIP). This report provides details of the Community Hub and Young Persons projects to be delivered in 2024 and provides an update on the programme to date.

Recommendation

That Cabinet agrees:

i.            To approve the Community Hub and Young Persons Engagement applications recommended to be delivered in 2024

ii.          To approve the revised financial plan in Appendix 1 which includes all changes since Cabinet last approved the plan in March 2023 and reflects the officer recommended grant amounts in this report

iii.         To approve the revised Programme Plan in Appendix 2

Cllr Forster declared a non-prejudicial interest as Hampshire County Councillor Cabinet Member with responsibility for Schools.  Some of the projects on the list were from schools across the district.

Members were reminded that Hart District Council (HDC) had been granted £1million through the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund projects identified in HDC’s Local Investment Plan (LIP).

This report provided details of the Community Hub and Young Persons projects to be delivered in 2024 and provided an update on the programme to date.

Members heard:

•         UKSPF was part of the levelling up programme

•         A major data mining exercise had been undertaken to help inform spending plans and the criteria for the two funding rounds

•         There had been a good response and both funding rounds had been oversubscribed

•         An Officer evaluation group had marked the bids against pre-determined criteria – all projects had to be completed by 31 March 2025

•         In the light of questions raised at Overview and Scrutiny, the officer recommendations and the financial summary had been updated

•         Stakeholder engagement and communications had been through a wide variety of methods

Members questioned:

•         Whether any of the recommendations had been updated since they had been presented to Overview and Scrutiny.  It was noted that both the paper and some of the recommendations had been updated

•         Who had been the senior officer who had reviewed the process

•         Whether there had been any weighting applied to the scoring criteria as suggested in the Cabinet Office guidance

•         How was the reach of each bid analysed in the scoring process

•         Was reach part of any of the scoring criteria in the bid process

•         Whether any minority groups were involved in the bid at any point, and if any were likely to benefit

•         Whether any consideration had been given to making sure that there was a fair geographical spread of funding being allocated

Members noted:

•       That the applicants provided an answer as to how the reach was used and that if there was any clarity required from a bidding organisation then further information had been sought

•       That reach formed part of the value-for-money criteria for all bids

•       The main criteria in the scoring each had an equal rating 

•       Any funding not committed by the end of March 2025 would likely be clawed back by the Government

•       That if an organisation was unable to deliver a scheme within the timescale then it would be possible to return to Cabinet with alternative projects to use the funding for

•       That no financial assessment of any of the applying organisations had been undertaken

•       Overview and Scrutiny would receive a half year review to monitor spending on these projects

•       There was an anomaly in that two projects had scored the same, with one being accepted and one not

•       Whilst there were some minor concerns regarding the criteria used, it would not be feasible to ask organisations to rewrite bids in line with revised criteria

The Chairman thanked everyone involved in both submitting the bids from the community and also the officers involved in the scoring process.

In light of the anomaly that had arisen, the Chairman wished to propose that funding for the Hook Access Project (Hook Village Hall Charitable Association) be added to the list of recommendations being put before the Cabinet.  It was noted that there was a contingency in the UKSPF funds of £30K, although the project would cost £60K.  It was proposed that the contingency be used and then alternative source of funding for the additional cost be found.  The S151 Officer agreed with this proposal.

Both the recommendation and the amendment were proposed by Cllr Neighbour and seconded by Cllr Clarke.  Both were agreed unanimously.

Decision

That Cabinet agrees:

i.      To approve the Community Hub and Young Persons Engagement applications recommended to be delivered in 2024

ii.      To approve the revised financial plan in Appendix 1 which includes all changes since Cabinet last approved the plan in March 2023 and reflects the officer-recommended grant amounts in the report

iii.     To approve the revised Programme Plan in Appendix 2

iv.     To add the Hook Access Project (Hook Village Charitable Association) project to be funded in part from the UKSPF contingency funds