Agenda item
Ward Budget Review Recommendations
The report will seek Cabinet Member approval for some changes to the Council’s ward budget scheme, following a review undertaken after the first year of its adoption. Cabinet Member agreement will be sought to alter the publication requirements and to reduce the minimum award available under the scheme from £1000 to £250.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member noted the report which sought approval for changes to the Council’s
ward budget scheme following a review undertaken after the first year of its adoption.
RESOLVED
Following the first year of the ward budget scheme, officers conducted a review which gave rise to various recommendations. The recommendations were considered and agreed by the Statutory Officers Group. Most of the changes can be made using officer delegated authority powers.
There are two changes that require Member approval:
- Alter the requirements on ward Councillors and officers to publish information about the ward budget process and awards as set out in section 4.2 of the report.
- Reduce the minimum award from £1000 to £250.
Reasons for decision
At present the guidance states that various information about the ward budget process and grants awarded will be published. The report did not make clear who should be responsible for publishing the material. The information has not been published as required. The recommendation is that we modify the publication requirements as they are unnecessarily onerous in light of practical experience operating the scheme, the levels of interest in the details of the scheme from residents and the limited resources available to maintain the Council’s website.
Please see table below. The first column shows what the guidance promises and what is proposed as an alternative:
|
Existing requirement |
Recommendation |
|
Publication of Ward profiles |
The ward profiles are already published – we should include a link to that information from the ward budget page, rather than replicate them on the ward budget pages
|
|
Each ward to agree and set out for publication how awards are made, on what timescale, and how they will ensure that the money is disbursed in accordance with the overall aims and objectives of ward budgets |
Dispense with this requirement - The criteria and overall guidance is already published. It would be burdensome on ward Councillors to agree and publish an additional level of information. This could cause confusion to residents as to what the criteria are and which take precedence
|
|
A full list of applications, and which ones have been recommended by ward councillors for funding
|
Dispense with this requirement - There is no need to publish those that were not supported by ward Cllrs. Officers will continue to publish details of successful applications. As well as producing a list of all awards approved for the previous financial year, officers will publish details of applications received for the current year each quarter.
|
|
Any applications rejected by the named officer (expected to be small in number)
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Dispense with this requirement - Officers will continue to publish details of successful applications. There is no need to publish those that were rejected by the named officer
|
|
Information at the end of the year about how money has been spent |
Dispense with this requirement - Officers publish details of successful applications that have received grants. We do not have end of year information about how the money was spent.
|
|
Any declarations of interest from ward members in relation to budget applications
|
Dispense with this requirement - Any such declarations received to be held on record and made available on request |
Alternative options considered
The publication requirements on Councillors and officers could remain as they are and efforts taken to ensure that both the ward Councillors and officers publish the information.
The alternative is to leave the minimum at £1,000, but this was thought to be unnecessarily restrictive on applicants.
Supporting documents:
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