Agenda item

To note and comment on progress

The Committee received the first annual report on the progress of KCC’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Policy which detailed the work undertaken over the last year to deliver the commitments within it.

Mr Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Community Services, introduced the report. He said he was pleased with progress to date and particularly welcomed advancements in the following areas:

·         The standardisation of the grant application process across the Council

·         The creation of a grant prospectus to inform voluntary sector organisations of the funding available and how to apply

·         The improved, cross-sector engagement activities now in place and the successful networking event organised for that purpose.

David Whittle, Director of Strategy, Policy, Relationships and Corporate Assurance spoke to the item. He said that:

      i.        It was critical to the continued success of the policy that KCC remained disciplined in conforming to the principles within it, particularly in the commissioning of services.

    ii.        The core rationale of the policy was to understand the sector as a whole and to that end KCC had now secured access to the Charity Commission’s data for the whole of the VCS in Kent.  Headline analysis of this data was included at appendix 1 to the report.  Mr Whittle particularly noted that:

a.    VCS income had increased overall by 6.1% since 2010;

b.    That the VCS had a workforce of 7000 people in Kent.

   iii.        Work would continue to build the database to enable well-informed commissioning decisions.

A discussion followed and the following comments were made and questions raised by Members and responses received from officers:

      i.        That where KCC commissioned larger VCS organisations to deliver services they were often sub-contracted to smaller VCS organisations to deliver on a local basis.  The benefits and social value of such delivery were clear but it was essential that KCC maintained a proper check on the quality of services being delivered.  Various mechanisms had been put in place by government to manage these relationships, some more successful than others, but the key was good commissioning practice and contract management, based on solid relationships with providers.  It was agreed that a further report on this area of work would be brought.

    ii.        That figures relating to the number of volunteers active in Kent reflected a point in time snapshot and could change on a daily basis.

   iii.        That grant funding was reflected in Directorate Budgets, and a grant register was maintained.  It was agreed that the grant register would be circulated to Members.

   iv.        That should the Council be minded to fund a particular VCS organisation checks were made to ensure that assets held by it were appropriate and reasonable.

    v.        That Mr Whittle would ascertain whether the figures pertaining to employment within the VCS in the County took account only of those employed directly by VCS organisations or whether they also included those who were employed as a result of VCS funding.

   vi.        That ‘micro’ organisations were those with a charitable income of less than £10k per annum and that understanding this area of the sector would be a critical part of the policy work going forward.

  vii.        That the descriptions of the categories of grant funding available – ‘innovation’ and ‘strategic’ – set out in the policy would be reviewed as part of the annual update process and attempts would be made to clarify the categories.

viii.        That the report would be amended and republished with both number and percentage values included.

   ix.        That £61 million had been spent by KCC on commissioning services from the VCS that would otherwise have had to be procured elsewhere.

It was RESOLVED that the report be noted.