Agenda item - BHCC Third Sector Commission 2020-2023

RESOLVED: That the Committee agreed to the recommendations in the report as follows:

1. That the committee approves the principles and outcomes for the BHCC Third Sector Commissioning Prospectus 2020-2023 as set out in Appendix 1 and as endorsed by the cross party Members Advisory Group.

2. That the committee notes the intention to continue to pool budgets from the Council and Brighton & Hove NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for third sector infrastructure and the inclusion of BHCC Adult Social Care funding for community engagement and BHCC Public Health funding for healthy neighbourhoods.

3. That delegated authority is granted to the Executive Director for

Neighbourhoods, Communities and Housing to use the 2020-2023 Third Sector Commissioning Prospectus to invest in the community and voluntary sector in Brighton & Hove.

17.1    Emma McDermott – Head of Communities & Equality introduced the report. She stated that in 2016 the Council revisited grants to the voluntary and community sector in order to create a commission from 2017 – 2020.  There were grants to 26 different partnerships and in January 2019 officers presented a paper to NICE and brought back an independent evaluation that looked critically at the process and included a new plan for the sector.  This was approved, and the team would come back in the Summer for outcomes for Committee approval.  She confirmed that the process was not as detailed as previously, and it involved interviewing all 26 partnerships to find out what outcomes had been achieved.  She stated that it was more of a consultation process this time and that the city and the sector had changed since 2016.  She confirmed that there were a new set of draft commissioning principles and that an advisory group had been consulted and then assisted with working on this proposal. 

17.2    The Head of Communities & Equality confirmed it was a grant giving process and its title could be confusing.  She stated that they took the principles of the commissioning in order to give the grants and that they were proposing several lots that bidders could bid for:  There were four main areas:

1. Those influenced by plans such as the Health Strategy for the City.

2. The Third Sector

3. Community Engagement

4. Community Banking – such as Moneyworks  - which looked at financial inclusion.

She confirmed that this was the ABCDEFF model.

17.3    The Head of Communities & Equality highlighted paragraph 3.6 of the report regarding the timetable where they aimed to publish the bidding document by September.  She confirmed that she had made some alterations to this, so that the date has now been pushed back by 2 weeks. She confirmed that after this, there would be an intense evaluation process that will be managed together with the Procurement team.  There would be separate panel with specific officers involved such as a Family, Children & Learning team.  This would be followed by an evaluation process in November and December, with the decisions being made in January 2020, when she hoped that they could give the successful applicants their answer, with the funding going live by the beginning of April 2020.

17.4    The Chair then stated that she felt it was important to familiarise herself with the grass roots point of view on this issue. She confirmed that she had listened to different perspectives which had included Members of this Committee and some political parties.  She now felt that a pause was no longer relevant and that she wanted this to be acknowledged in the original proposal and she wanted to say sorry, since it was not her intention to cause stress on this issue.  She stated that this may be the last NICE meeting and that she was hopeful that this meeting could end on a note of agreement in order to confirm the reputation of the committee.

17.5    Councillor Simson asked why the Community Service were mentioned since 3 years ago they also operated the Communities Fund.  She also asked if there would be another report or if this report would continue forever.  She also asked about the report from 3 years ago, whether there had been a recommendation that everything was subject to the Members Advisory Group. – She queried why this was left off and whether it could be added on in the future?

17.6    The Head of Communities & Equality replied that the Communities Fund could be renewed at any time and that this was down to timing as the Freeman grants were about to close.  She confirmed that feedback on the current grants was also possible since they had only had three years’ experience of this.  She confirmed that it may feel like too much change to change after only 3 years. She hoped that simplifying the process into 3 main streams: grassroots stream, the resilience fund and the collaboration fund would make it more flexible than the 6 different areas they used to have.  She confirmed that they had experienced a dip in applications due to the lack of clarity, which gave the impression that the funding was not needed, but this was definitely not the case.  The feedback was now good and the online form still had a few glitches but was much improved and therefore she felt it was wise to keep the same process going for possibly another 3 years before another review.  She confirmed that previously there had been MAG, which was due to timing and also a Fairness Group – which had a pause for a year regarding the Fairness Commission, which also needed to be taken into account and she concluded that MAG would continue to be part of the process.

17.7    Anusree Biswas Sasidharan welcomed the report and highlighted the Appendix 2 on the Equalities Team - community cohesion section – since it really recognised the work that her own team did.

17.8    Councillor Simson stated that she was very pleased that the report was here and thanked her Green party colleagues on this.  She confirmed that this sector was vital to the city with £3 received for every £1 brought to the City.  It also added additional social value to the city in terms of volunteering and including marginalised residents.  She stated that the commission covered a wide range of issues and that she had been a staunch supporter of the voluntary sector and that she was interested in seeing which organisations came in to bid. She confirmed that it was also good to see partnership being formed since there was strength in numbers and that this resulted in improved services to residents. She confirmed that she was pleased the issue was going back to MAG and confirmed that she did not need to make further recommendations since it was definitely going back to MAG. The Chair confirmed that she acknowledged Councillor Simson’s passionate views on the subject.

17.9    Councillor Powell thanked the Head of Communities & Equality for the detailed report and also thanked Councillor Simson for her support. She highlighted the importance of this report in the prevention of property, since many residents would rather go to an independent charity for assistance than the Council. She also thanked the Chair for her U Turn on the issues and for listening to the sector.

17.10  Jo Martindale – Hangelton & Knoll Project stated that the Chairs Communications was very thoughtful and that having a voice within the funding process was what she spent her working life committed to and, although this has never been highlighted at this Committee.  Speaking for her own group and also for many other groups, it was great to see the Council’s commitment to this going forward.

17.11  Council Moonan stated that she wanted to reassure the sector, since there was never a proposal to stop this commission going ahead.  She confirmed that the Labour group wanted to have a look at their manifesto and on a positive note confirm that a new strategy which included a new report on health and social inclusion was going to the Health and Wellbeing Board. She also stated that climate change affected health and permeated all issues from prevention to multiple medical conditions.

17.12  Councillor Powell stated that, measuring it against the Labour manifesto, there was a commitment to bringing services back in house, that did not cover the third sector and she wanted to thank the Chair for making the decision.