Report of the Director of Policy, Performance and Reform

This report outlines the engagement and co-design processes that have informed the refresh of the funding programme, and provides an initial overview of proposed adaptations. The report also outlines work to review the City’s VCSE support offer, that is running concurrently, which will be an important point of support for the groups supported by this fund from 2023 onwards.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Policy, Performance and Reform which outlined the engagement and co-design processes that had informed the refresh of the funding programme and provided an initial overview of proposed adaptations. The report also outlined work to review the City’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) support offer, that was running concurrently, which would be an important point of support for the groups supported by this fund from 2023 onwards.

The main points and themes within the report included:

·         Background to the VCSE sector in Manchester;

·         Background to VCSE sector funding;

·         Refreshing the OMVCS Fund;

·         OMVCS Fund engagement and co-design contributors;

·         Outcomes of the engagement and co-design processes;

·         Purpose, aims and objectives;

·         Principles and eligibility;

• Funding amounts;
• Ways of working;
• Next steps; and
• VCSE support review.  

The Deputy Leader expressed her thanks for the valuable work of the VSCE sector during the pandemic.

Francess Tagoe, the Chief Executive of the Tree of Life Centre, informed Members about her involvement in the co-design process for the refresh of the OMVCS Fund programme.  Mike Wild, the Chief Executive of Macc, the support organisation for Manchester’s VCSE sector, thanked the Council for continuing to prioritise this in the face of budget pressures.  He welcomed the strategic approach to target resources at organisations which were making a real difference in communities and strengthening their ability to respond.  He highlighted how core funding from the Council enabled organisations to then draw in additional funding from other sources.  He highlighted some of the areas that the refresh hoped to address including a more equitable geographical spread of organisations, greater diversity, particularly in relation to race, and requiring groups which received funding to demonstrate what they were doing to address climate change.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To request a breakdown of the type and size of organisations which were being funded;
• Social groups which had previously been excluded from funding and what was being done to address this;
• The geographical spread of organisations which were receiving funding, noting areas of deprivation;
• Concern that organisations who had been doing valuable work in their communities had previously not been successful in obtaining funding because they did not have the capacity to complete the funding applications as well as some of the larger organisations and that this needed to be mitigated in future funding processes;
• How to support small organisations on how they could contribute to addressing climate change; and
• That it should be a condition of receiving funding that the organisations pay staff the Manchester Living Wage.

The Policy and Programmes Manager reported that his team had a good dataset about the organisations currently being funded and that at the end of the current funding period would be producing a report which contained this information.  He advised that an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) of the previous round of funding applications had identified under-representation in relation to race, as well as organisations in the north of the city.  He reported that the work currently taking place was underpinned by an EIA, which covered both the protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010 and broader inequality.  He advised that this work would include consideration of the geographical spread, promoting the fund and providing support to VCSE groups equitably.  The Chair advised that this work should include consideration of east Manchester, as well as north Manchester.  A Member requested that the EIA which had identified the issues in relation to race and north Manchester be circulated to Members of the Committee, to which the Policy and Programmes Manager agreed.  A Member commented that the South Asian community was the largest ethnic community in the city and that more needed to be done to ensure fair representation.  The Policy and Programmes Manager confirmed that under-representation in relation to race was acknowledged and that work was taking place to address this.

The Policy and Programmes Manager informed Members that, while all funded organisations would be expected to take action in relation to the climate crisis, the expectations would be proportionate to the size, capability and funds of the organisation, that there would be ongoing support in relation to this and that organisations would be expected to develop and mature their approach over the funding period rather than have a fully developed approach from the start.  Mike Wild informed Members that Macc would put together resources for VCS organisations on taking climate action.

In response to Members’ comments, Francess Tagoe advised that those involved in the co-design wanted to be remove the perception that this fund was the answer to every funding need of every VCS organisation in the city.  She highlighted the issues which arose when organisations collaborated solely for the purpose of getting funding and stated that the Fund wanted to encourage the strengthening of natural links and collaboration between organisations rather than making it a prerequisite of funding.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Policy and Programmes Manager offered to provide further information on the Greater Manchester Health and Wellbeing Partnership Fund at a later date, to which the Chair agreed.  In response to a question about the VCSE Support Review, he informed Members that he would be providing a report on this to a Committee meeting later in the year, when more information was available.  In response to the Member’s comments about the Manchester Living Wage, he reported that this had been raised as a key issue during the co-design process, along with getting organisations to commit to work to address climate change, and that now, in the final stages of the design of the refreshed programme, those involved were looking at how to build these factors into the programme for all organisations.

The Chair thanked the guests for their attendance and for their work.

Decisions

1.            To note that the Committee will receive a further report on this work at an appropriate time.

2.            To note that the Policy and Programmes Manager will circulate the EIA which identified the issues in relation to race and north Manchester to Committee Members.

3.            To note that the Policy and Programmes Manager will provide the Committee with further information on the Greater Manchester Health and Wellbeing Partnership Fund at an appropriate time, when more information is available.

[Councillor Johnson declared a personal interest as, prior to becoming a Councillor, she had run a design business which had worked with VCS organisations, some of which had received funding from the Council.]

[Councillor H Priest declared a personal interest as volunteer for North Manchester FM, which had previously received funding from the Council.]

[Councillor Ogunbambo declared a personal interest as his football club Blackley FC had previously received funding from the Council.]