Issue - meetings

The Board received a report that provided an update on progress on commissioning the Board’s Area Based Grant (ABG) allocation for 2009-2011 and that set out further interventions and programmes of activity to commission the remainder of the allocations.

When the allocations for funding were agreed in May 2009 a sum of £250K was set aside as a contingency fund to enable the Board to respond to any unexpected demands. The Board was given an overview of proposals for spending this sum.

The Board was advised that a Partnership bid had been submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for £1.44M of funding from the Future Jobs Fund (FJF). If successful this would lead to the creation of two hundred and one new jobs being created in the Borough. The HSP would determine how this funding was allocated.

The Board discussed progress made in establishing a Credit Union in the Borough and it was noted that the Council’s Cabinet Advisory Board (CAB) had considered three options for the format of this and it had been agreed that the Credit Union should be aligned to an established Credit Union. An allocation of £71K of ABG funding had been given to fund the initial costs attached to setting up the scheme.

It was noted that in order for the Credit Union to be successful creating momentum from within local community to support and sustain the project would be essential to its success.

The Board was advised that the importance of engaging with local people was recognised and that a series of meetings with stakeholders had been held and best practice had been applied in the engagement process.  It was noted that Community and Voluntary Sector organisations had also been consulted and that the Council ad worked with the Sector to identify opportunities where it could support the scheme.

RESOLVED:

1. That the proposals with respect to contingency/ reserve projects under the Haringey Guarantee Programme be approved.

2. That proposals for interventions/options under the Business Support and Enterprise Programme be approved.

3. That the proposed partial funding from the ABG for the post of Future Jobs Fund Coordinator be approved.   

4. That a report setting out further details of the monitoring arrangements in place with respect to these projects be submitted to a future meeting.