Report of the Assistant Chief Executive.

This report provides a brief introduction to the Our Manchester Voluntary and Community Sector grant programme (OMVCS) 2018-2023 impact report, which is appended for information and comment. The alignment of the OMVCS fund with the aims of the Our Manchester Strategy is included, along with an indication of next steps for monitoring and reporting on the 2023-26 programme of funded activity.

The committee considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive on the impact of the Our Manchester Voluntary and Community Sector grant programme (OMVCS) 2018-2023.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Providing an introduction and background to the Impact Report;
• The Council had invested £12 million into the OMVCS programme;
• Highlights and findings of the report, such as that over 588,000 service users had been supported across all of the 63 funded organisations;
• How the OMCVS fund aligned with the aims of the Our Manchester Strategy;
• Next steps for monitoring and reporting on the 2023-26 programme of funded activity.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included:

• Welcoming the work of the voluntary sector;
• How officers had come to the figure that over 588,000 service users had been supported across all funded organisations, given that Manchester’s population was 547,000;
• Whether the issues raised by those groups whose funding bids were unsuccessful had been resolved;
• Whether mentorships through the Conversation 2 Cash programme were followed up on; and
• Whether the mentorship programme could be extended to Wythenshawe; and
• If the progress and achievements of the funded work was monitored and evaluated.

In response to members’ queries, the Policy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) noted that there was a statistical error with regards to the number of service users supported and that this figure represented the amount of contact with residents. The final version of the report would have an amended figure.

Assurances were provided that all issues raised following the allocation of funding had been resolved and that officers had signposted those unsuccessful in receiving funding to alternative support for funding and organisational development. A further report on the refreshed Infrastructure Contract would be provided to the committee in December 2023.

The Policy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) informed members that Conversation 2 Cash was a programme based in North Manchester which linked grassroots organisations to peer mentors within the VCSE sector to undertake development work. He advised that all peer mentors had received training with mentorships now underway. This was a specific piece of work which was undertaken as a result of the North Manchester inquiry, but the funding profile of the city demonstrated a shift away from funding to North Manchester, although he noted that there was not a robust data set to demonstrate funding contributions across the city. This was an ongoing piece of work and thePolicy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) acknowledged that it was possible for a similar approach to be implemented in the south of the city in future.

In response to a question from the Chair, thePolicy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) stated that there was a commitment to create an end-of-year report on the progress and achievements of organisations in receipt of funding and these could be brought to the committee for consideration.

In closing the discussion, the Chair thanked officers and voluntary organisations for their work. She acknowledged that the Council should have been able to deliver some of the services provided by VCSE groups but were unable to due to government cuts imposed over previous years.

Decision:

That the report be noted.