Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

There were  no declarations of  interest.

It was noted that the government had announced a range of financial support packages in response to the economic impact COVID-19.  This included the Small Business Grant and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant funds which are providing support to over 3,000 Haringey businesses.

However, a significant number of businesses were ineligible for support based on the criteria set out by the Government for these two schemes. Following lobbying by the Council and other local authorities, a Discretionary Grants Fund Scheme was announced by the Government on the 1^st May 2020.

The Cabinet Member for Local Investment and Economic Growth considered the   attached report which provided details of the guidance issued to local authorities (sections 5-9) and made recommendations on the eligibility criteria and grant levels to be awarded (sections 10-15).

The Cabinet Member placed on record his thanks to the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny for agreeing to this decision being taken forward under special urgency. The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny had recognised the need for businesses to urgently access this funding and made this decision according to the current Covid 19 situation. The Cabinet Member had further facilitated a briefing session to allow members to comment on the proposed eligibility criteria. There had been good engagement in this session with a follow up briefing note provided to comments and questions put forward.

The Cabinet Member was glad that the Council were able to receive £3.153m of government funding and make this funding package available for allocation, although it was noted that this was insufficient funding to be able to provide support to all businesses that were ineligible for the initial two schemes. He referred to the business areas which could access the scheme, highlighting charity properties and nurseries.

The Council is focused on providing as much wide ranging support as possible but with a focus on business areas that provide social and community value to the local economy as well as targeting small and micro businesses not eligible to support from the initial two schemes.  For example, nurseries, in particular, met this requirement in view of their support to residents and the local economy by enabling them to return to work and the wider social value including outreach work in the community.

It was noted that smaller Park Café businesses, with a rateable value of less than £51k, may be able to potentially access the voluntary sector community support fund which would be considered at Cabinet on the 16^th of June. This would be a funding scheme to access for support with operational costs and critical support, aimed at  the voluntary community organisations in the borough.

The Cabinet Member highlighted the level of funding received by the Council in comparison to the potential demand for funding. He commented that there were 288 businesses with a rateable value of above 51K and to provide support to all of them would cost the Council around £6m, much less than the funding allocation received.  The Council would continue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.