Issue - meetings

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools, Nick Lee, Director of Education, Jennifer Hardy, Programme Manager, and Declan Barker, Project Manager attended the meeting to speak to the Committee about the Holiday Activity Programme.  Graham Moran, Chief Executive, and Matt Smith, Marketing and Communications, from Nottingham Forest Community Trust spoke about the role of the Trust as lead partner, supported by Karen Smith from Evolve Nottingham.  During their presentation and in response to questions from the Committee the following points were discussed:

a)  The Holiday Activity Fund is provided by the Government to local authorities to provide free holiday activities and food for children and young people eligible for free school meals.  15% of the funding can be used to provide activities and food for other vulnerable groups.

b)  In Nottingham 24 days of delivery is taking place during 2022.  The funding is intended to cover the main holiday periods and Government has agreed that, in Nottingham, this can include the October half term which is a two week holiday period for the City.

c)  The funding is allocated to Nottingham Forest Community Trust (NFCT), as lead partner, Area Based Grant leads and through an open bidding process to which schools, local community organisations etc can apply.

d)  Between 2021 and 2022 there was increase in the proportion of funding to Area Based Grant leads reflecting recognition of the importance of providers having local links and local knowledge, and the benefits of provision that links to existing and ongoing activities in local communities to provide continuity for children and families.

e)  The Open Bidding process was advertised through Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS), Neighbourhood Managers, mailing lists of organisations that have expressed interest or previously been involved and information was also provided to ward councillors.  NFCT offered support to organisations, particularly smaller groups who are likely to have less capacity, with developing and writing bids.  As lead partner, NFCT focuses on commissioning local organisations rather than delivery itself and therefore it is important for all organisations to feel involved and engaged.

f)  It is important that good governance processes are followed in the allocation of funding in order to minimise risks and therefore it isn’t possible to allocate funding to organisations who didn’t meet the criteria, including the deadline for applications.

g)  There has been no negative feedback about the Open Bidding process, although it is acknowledged that organisations may be reluctant to complain about the organisation funding them.  It is acknowledged that there are challenges for some community infrastructures in engaging effectively and it is intended to strengthen this through local networks.  Evolve Nottingham has set up an independent scrutiny panel to provide a mechanism for grassroots organisations to say what works best for them, to discuss targeting and specialist requests and for them to provide feedback on how things can be improved.  There is a budget to compensate organisations for their involvement with this as it is recognised that voluntary sector organisations can’t  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13