Issue - meetings
REVIEW OF CABINET DECISION RELATING TO THE APPLICATIONS SHORTLISTED FOR SHARED PROSPERITY FUNDING
Meeting: 18/05/2023 - Partnerships Scrutiny Committee (Item 6)
To consider a report by the Scrutiny Co-ordinator (copy attached - which includes some confidential appendices) the purpose of which is to seek the Committee, in accordance with the Council’s Call-In Procedure Rules, to review the decision taken by Cabinet on 25th April 2023.
10.15am – 11.15am
Additional documents:
- Call-In Report Annex A, item 6 PDF 38 KB
- Call-In Report 180523 Annex B Cabinet Report 250423, item 6 PDF 232 KB
- Annex B Part 2 COMPLETE , View reasons restricted (6/4)
- ANNEX C Complete, item 6 PDF 747 KB
- Webcast for REVIEW OF CABINET DECISION RELATING TO THE APPLICATIONS SHORTLISTED FOR SHARED PROSPERITY FUNDING
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Members, Officers and
the Leader, Councillor Jason McLellan to the meeting. Members were provided
with background information and reasoning for the call in
request.
Members were reminded of the reasons for
the call in as stated in the report:
“An allocation of £25.6 million had been
made to Denbighshire through the UK Prosperity Fund. An open and transparent
process must be adhered to for the allocation of those funds”.
“Lack of understanding of the application
process and shortlisting process. There was no evidence of a scoring matrix and
was described as and art not a science. No sufficient
evidence on how projects had been awarded and approved. A lack of evidence
aligning the process with the UK Government guidelines. No evidence of a right
of appeal for applicants or extra information gathering to support the
applications. Lack of consultation with all Members throughout the process”.
The Scrutiny Co- ordinator
provided Members with a detailed description of the call in
procedure.
The Chair allowed all signatories present
at the meeting to put forward their reasoning for calling in the Cabinet
decision.
Signatories explained to the Committee
that the reason for the Call In was to fully understand the process for
applying, shortlisting and awarding the Shared
Prosperity Fund (SPF) monies, it was not to hold up the process in any way.
They highlighted their disappointment in the lack of communication that Members
had received regarding the process and therefore this had led to minimal
opportunities for Members to contribute.
The Signatories expressed their concerns
over the matrix and scoring system and stated that clarity on this would be
beneficial. They stated that Members felt isolated from the process and were of
the view that many opportunities throughout the process to gain Member
involvement had been missed. The discussions continued by signatories
questioning the deliverability of the projects that had moved to the next stage
of the SPF process.
Signatories continued to stress that they
were disappointed by the lack of transparency of the process and the lack of
communication with Members. They had signed the call-in request because they
felt unsure how to answer potential questions from residents in and applicants
in their wards due to the lack of information available to them.
Responding to the points raised by the
signatories the Leader stated that he understood the motivations of the
signatories in that members should be able to answer questions from residents
and applicants within their wards with confidence.
The Leader continued by explaining that
the process adhered to the UK Government guidelines which had previously been
set out. The timescales given for the SPF were tight and the Group Leaders and
the Chairs of all Member Area Groups (MAGs) were written to and asked to
circulate the relevant information to Members (copy of the latter e-mail, dated
15 February 2023, had been included at Annex C to the report). 48 organisations
were contacted to be involved with the SPF with 12 organisations responding. 1
Elected Member responded to a particular project with no other responses being
received from other Members.
The Leader explained that all guidelines
were adhered to. Information regarding the SPF was available via social media
outlets and on the Denbighshire County Council website, they stated that the
SPF was there to be engaged with. At the
close of the application stage the Fund was oversubscribed, with the
applications far outstripping the funding available.
The Head of Housing and Communities informed Members that the application process was published online and there was a short list developed according to the availability of funds and in ... view the full minutes text for item 6