Agenda and draft minutes

Cllr Claire Daunton sent an apology for absence.

Cllr Sue Ellington declared a non-pecuniary interest as a trustee for the Care Network.

To authorise the Chairman to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on Friday 31 July 2020 as a correct record.

The Grants Advisory Committee authorised the Chair to sign, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held Friday 28 August 2020.

Please note that while the report is open, Appendix C is restricted and as such must be discussed in confidential session.

It was noted that the Service Support Grants were to be awarded over a three-year contract, with the recipients reporting to the Grants Advisory Committee on an annual basis. The first year of the three year cycle formed the basis of report given by the officer.

It was commented that the Service Support Grant for Arts & Minds had only reached 11 South Cambs residents and as such was noted that this was the most expensive grant awarded in the context of cost per person reached. Officers explained that Arts & minds had had a change of leadership in the last 6 months and were making a concerted effort to reach more South Cambs residents.

Cllr Sue Ellington commented that the Council should try support those organisations most affected by Covid-19 and noted that officer advice would be crucial to target the funding where it would have the most benefit.

The Committee highlighted the need to understand the impact of Covid-19 in the reports that each of these charities provided next year, with particular attention drawn to such charities as Cambridge Women’s Aid and Citizens Advice due to the nature of their work.

Cllr Peter McDonald commented that it would beneficial to see the picture of discretionary grants awarded in juxtaposition to this 3 year cyclical funding that is awarded to other charities to understand the full picture in the Covid-19 scenario.

It was agreed that officers would set up an ongoing email in case any issues arose that required a swift response, rather than waiting for the next committee meeting to be able to deal with it. It was remarked that this was necessary due to the fluid situation that businesses found themselves in economically due to Covid-19.

It was agreed that officers would bring an update report to the committee within a couple of months of the meeting.

Members of the Grants Advisory Committee agreed by affirmation to:

1. note the delivery of all grant programmes within the scope of this report, and

agree that all are on track as per officer opinion; and/or

2. highlight any concerns for further investigation or action, giving reasons, and

request that a follow up report be returned to GAC within appropriate timescales.

Friday 25 September 2020 at 10:00am

Friday 25 September 2020 at 10:00am.