PUBLIC Agenda Item No. 7a DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL CABINET 24 May 2016 Report of the Chief Executive COMMUNITY PRIORITIES PROGRAMME Strategic Policy, Economic Development and Budget 1. Purpose of the Report To seek approval for the development of a Community Priorities Programme to ensure communities are at the heart of decision making and to support the Council’s priorities relating to Thriving Communities. 2. Information and Analysis Ensuring that local people are engaged and are at the heart of decision making are key priorities for the Council. Enabling communities to have the resilience and capacity to support themselves will become increasingly important as public sector resources continue to shrink. At Cabinet on 26 January 2016, Members agreed to set aside a one off amount of £4 million from General Reserves to support the development of the Community Priorities Programme. Proposals on how to spend, what is essentially a one off resource are now required. It is recommended that approximately £2.3 million of the £4 million one off resource be used to establish a new Community Priorities Programme which will target and support activity in designated geographical areas. Developing a programme which devolves funds to a local level to support community activities, particularly activity which helps communities help themselves, would support the Council’s priorities and sit alongside current work on Thriving Communities. Designated Areas If the Council is to have the most impact in terms of allocating this resource, it needs to target activity in those areas where deprivation persists. At a meeting of Cabinet on 3 November 2015, it was agreed that the results of the English Indices of Deprivation 2015 (ID 2015) be used to inform service planning and future policy development across the Council. As such it is 1 PUBLIC recommended that the ID 2015 be used to identify the designated geographical areas to be supported by the Programme. The ID 2015 is the Government’s official measure of deprivation at small area level. As such it provides a mechanism for identifying, ranking and comparing pockets of deprivation across the county. The ID 2015 shows that there are currently: • 18 LSOAs within the top 10% most deprived areas in England. Approximately 26,700 people live within these LSOAs which represent around 3.5% of the county’s population. • 60 LSOAs in the most 20% deprived areas in the country. Each Derbyshire district contains at least one such area. There are currently 215 Derbyshire LSOAs that fall within the top 50% deprived areas in England based on the ID 2015, which is a welcome improvement of nearly 9% in LSOAs no longer in the most deprived 50% nationally. Tackling inequalities, particularly in the most deprived areas within the county is still an issue. It is therefore recommended that the 50% most deprived small areas in Derbyshire be designated as eligible areas for the Community Priorities Programme and that each LSOA be allocated resources on the following sliding scale dependent upon whether an area is in the top or fifth decile as follows: National Decile Funding per No of Derbyshire LSOA LSOAs £ 1 16,000 18 2 14,000 42 3 11,000 51 4 9,000 53 5 7,000 51 Whilst only a relatively small sum, it is hoped that targeting the available resources at a granular level will lead to improved decision making in supporting LSOA’s improving their relative ID score by the time the next set of data is published. The proposed designated areas and allocations can be found in Appendix 1. Selection Criteria Councillors in the designated areas will play a key role in the allocation of resources, being tasked with bringing forward project ideas from local 2 PUBLIC communities that meet a set of identified criteria. The process for allocating funds will need to be both clear and transparent. It is recommended that a simple application process be developed to ensure that there is a consistency of approach. Selection criteria, to support the allocation of resources in local communities will be developed Criteria will balance the aims of the Programme in ensuring funding is allocated to projects which are designed by, and benefit the local community, with the need to ensure that the programme is fully spent. As a minimum all projects will need to: • Support activity principally benefiting the designated LSOA • Support the aims and objectives of the Thriving Communities programme • Link into Thriving Communities activity in areas where work is currently being piloted where possible • Be time limited and not require ongoing funding from the Council • Complement, not duplicate other funding sources such as the Public Health Locality Fund, the members Community Leadership Scheme etc. • Show how activity can be sustained beyond the life of the funding • Meet an identified need which can be evidenced through for example, English Indices of Deprivation, the Derbyshire Quilt etc. • Be delivered within agreed timescales • Show how local people have helped in the design of identified activity or have been consulted/engaged • Show what difference is being made. Projects which do not meet agreed criteria will not be put forward for consideration. Guidance notes which contain more specific detailed criteria and conditions of support will be developed to support the administration of the programme. In addition applications will also include a checklist which identifies what the project is trying to achieve e.g. creating social value, building community capacity, connecting people and encouraging volunteering. It is recommended that the Community Priorities Programme run for a period of two years, which will give time to develop projects with local communities and fully spend allocations for designated areas. To ensure that there is a planned approach moving forward, Elected Members will be tasked with identifying proposals for allocating spends in their areas, by the end of July 2016. This will help identify those communities where more support may be required to identify relevant projects. A good practice guide will be developed to support Elected Members in identifying projects in their respective areas moving forward. Experience gathered from previous grants support programmes and the experience of 3 PUBLIC Elected Members who have developed community based projects in the past will be included where possible. It is proposed that the Strategic Director Thriving Communities Leads with responsibility for district areas will be delegated responsibility for the approval of projects requiring funding below £20,000. These approvals will be reported on a quarterly basis to the Cabinet Member for Strategic Policy, Economic Development and Budget. Projects requiring funding of £20,000 or above will be approved by the Cabinet Member for Strategic Policy, Economic Development and Budget, or Cabinet if £100,000 or above. Strategic Director leads will also offer support to Elected Members throughout the process and more practical advice will be available from Policy and Research staff designated to a district area who are involved in wider work at this level through for example Local Area Committees, Thriving Communities etc. There are already significant amounts of money distributed to local communities through for example, the Public Health Locality Fund, the Members Community Leadership Scheme etc. Coordinating funding in local communities should be considered to ensure that limited resources are spent wisely. To ensure that the Programme continues to be fit for purpose, monitoring will take place on a regular basis with an evaluation of progress taking place annually. 3. Financial Considerations Proposals to establish the Community Priorities Programme would cost £2,271,000 which will be met from General Reserves. To ensure that there is compliance with the Council’s Financial Regulations, all approved projects will be issued with standard conditions of grant and will be subject to monitoring and evaluation. 4. Human Resources Considerations Staff time will be required to develop, support and evaluate the Programme and this will be managed from within existing budgets. 5. Equality and Diversity Considerations The establishment of a Community Priorities Programme will ensure that the funding set aside will be targeted to the most deprived and disadvantaged areas of the county. 4 PUBLIC 6. Social Value Considerations The Community Priorities Programme will support the development of projects in the 50% most deprived LSOAs in the county, engaging with local people and supporting the improvement of the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of the communities concerned. Any procurement or commissioning activities undertaken in relation to the Programme will consider the economic, environmental and social benefits of activity, seeking to maximise social value where appropriate. 7. Other Considerations In preparing this report the relevance of the following factors has been considered; legal, prevention of crime and disorder, environmental, health, property and transport considerations. 8. Background Papers Reserves Position report to Cabinet - 26 January 2016 The English Indices of Deprivation - Report to Cabinet - 3 November 2015 9. Key Decision Yes 10. Call-in Is it required that call-in be waived for any decision on this report? No 11. Officer’s Recommendations It is recommended that: 1. Proposals to establish a £2.271 million Community Priorities Programme, using one off resources identified from General Reserves, be approved. 2. The 50% most