Agenda item

To consider a joint report by Communities First and the Strategic Planning Team Manager (copy attached) to provide an update of the possible phasing out of the Communities First programme.

11.10 a.m. – 11.50 a.m.

The Chair welcomed the Lead Member for Customers and Libraries, Councillor Hugh Irving, Heidi Gray, Strategic Planning & Performance Officer, Rhys Burton, Programme Manager, Communities First and Gavin Roberts, Cluster Manager, Communities First to the meeting.

The Lead Member for Customers and Libraries, who was also the Anti-Poverty Lead for the Council, introduced a report (previously circulated) which detailed the progress made during the 2015/16 and the first two quarters of 2016/17 with the Communities First programme in Denbighshire.  He advised that the Co-op Group had been appointed by the Welsh Government to administer the Communities First programme throughout Wales and that the WG’s Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children had announced in October 2016 that the programme may be phased out and replaced with a ‘new approach’ for building resilient communities.  Consultation on a proposed ‘new approach’ had recently concluded and the Cabinet Secretary was expected to announce his preferred approach on 14 February 2017.  Members were advised by the Lead Member that the Council was aware of the risks associated with the potential withdrawal of the Communities First programme, but until such time as the Cabinet Secretary announced his final decision on any future approach, the Authority would continue to work in partnership with the programme.  Council officers had met with WG officials in late 2016 to discuss the potential impacts of the programme’s loss to Denbighshire’s most deprived communities. During that meeting it had become apparent that funding would be available for three posts:  an Adult Mentor, Young Persons’ Mentor and a triage (front line) worker associated with the Communities 4 Work programme.  Conwy County Borough Council had expressed an interest in working in partnership with Denbighshire in relation to the latter post.  The viability of a partnership approach for this role was currently being explored.  The Council’s Tackling Poverty Group was currently closely monitoring developments with respect to future funding of deprived communities.

The Lead Member introduced two representatives from the Co-op Group to the Committee, Mr Rhys Burton (Communities First Programme Manager) and Mr Gavin Roberts (Communities First Cluster Manager), both of whom detailed the contents of the Co-op Group’s report, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, including the revised data for the second quarter of 2016/17.  They advised that due to long-term sickness in the Health Data Team the data relating to health activities was still in the process of being updated.

Responding to members’ questions the Co-op’s representatives advised that:

·       approximately 70% of the Communities First funding of £660K for the North Denbighshire cluster for 2016/17 was spent on staffing costs.  Taken on face value this did seem excessive, however the type of work undertaken was very labour intensive as staff were attempting to engage with hard to reach groups and many of the individuals with whom they worked required a lot of intensive support.  Office rental costs etc. were minimal.  Some money had been paid out towards the costs of projects, but the WG’s criteria for the use of the money was very prescriptive;

·       the Communities First programme was targeted at hard to reach individuals with a view to building their confidence and enhancing their skills to get them ready to enter the jobs market.  Its work was totally different to that of other agencies i.e. enterprise agencies which were geared more towards supporting entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses.  Therefore the numbers supported by Communities First at any given time were low because of the amount of sustained support required ;

·       a representative from Communities First served on the Council’s Tackling Poverty Working Group;

·       some of the Communities First funding was financed from European Funding;

·       the Co-op Group agreed with the Cabinet Secretary that the programme would benefit from being reviewed.  However, despite being charged with administering the programme the Co-op had not been notified beforehand of the Cabinet Secretary’s intention to announce a review of the programme.  This had caused concern amongst staff employed on the programme;

·       the Co-op Group had a wealth of data on the communities it worked with and could pinpoint where disparity in incomes existed;

·       there was concern amongst Co-op Group representatives that whilst the Cabinet Secretary’s statement on the possibility of “phasing out Communities First” gave a commitment to skills, helping people into work, early years and empowerment, there was no specific mention of working with hard to reach groups;

·       there had been a misconception in some areas on what Communities First was permitted to do.  Whilst the programme could work, and did work, with other organisations to help individuals reduce debts and manage their finances, it could not finance any capital costs e.g. in relation to poor quality housing.  It could only signpost people to organisations who could assist them to secure better housing;

·       all targets set for their work in Denbighshire had been met year on year;

·       no definite exit strategy was in place at present.  Once the Cabinet Secretary’s final decision was announced an exit strategy would be finalised.  At present the Co-op Group, subject to the Cabinet Secretary’s final announcement, was working towards a deadline of December 2017 for the cessation of its Communities First programme work.  The funding for the Communities First work had been guaranteed until June 2017.  Once the Cabinet Secretary made his final announcement on the programme discussions would commence with the workforce and other stakeholders i.e. Denbighshire CAB, MIND  etc. on how successful projects could be maintained for the future with a view to building resilient communities;

·       if the Communities First programme/contract was withdrawn the Co-op would need to serve 3 months’ notice of the termination of employment for its 11 members of staff and a 3 month period of notice to vacate its premises in Rhyl;

·       the Co-op Group was actually running the programme at a loss.  If the Communities First programme was terminated the relationships built to date within the communities, a number of which had taken years to build, would have to be rebuilt again by any new service provider.  This would be a step back and could potentially result in any new programme(s) taking some considerable time to get off the ground due to a loss of trust

·       the funding allocated to the Denbigh Youth Project was separate to Communities First programme funding;

·       elected members, if they wished, would be welcome to attend an event arranged for year 6 pupils on university life, scheduled to be held at Rhyl Town Hall on 16 February 2017.  The aim of this event was to raise pupils’ aspirations for their own futures at an early enough stage during their education journey.  By the time a number of these pupils reached Year 10 it was sometimes too late to raise their ambitions ;

During the discussion a number of members referred to the positive work the Communities First programme had undertaken within their wards or neighbouring wards e.g. provision of a minibus in Rhyl, work at the Hwb in Denbigh.

The Lead Member and Council officials advised that the potential withdrawal of Communities First funding from Denbighshire’s most deprived areas was being closely monitored.  A risk register entry would be opened for listing its potential impact and mitigating measures put in place.  Work was underway to establish whether the Council could, if allocated specific funding, absorb some of the work currently undertaken as part of the programme.  Members were informed by the Chief Executive that he would be meeting with the Cabinet Secretary in early February.  He emphasised that the Council needed to communicate clearly to the Cabinet Secretary that the Authority could deliver the services currently delivered as part of the Communities First programme if it was given an equal amount of money for that purpose.  It was imperative that the £600K allocated to the area as part of the current programme was not lost or reduced under any future initiative as it would have a detrimental effect on the communities and on the Council’s ambitions in relation to developing the local economy and protecting vulnerable people.  However, the Council could not give an undertaking to replace the funding lost from the Communities First programme with money from within its own budget, neither could it make an undertaking to employ current Co-op staff members for any responsibilities it may assume following the programme’s cessation.

The Co-op Group’s representatives gave an undertaking to Council officials that they were willing to work with them to impress on the Cabinet Secretary the concerns all stakeholders had with respect to the impact on the community and the local economy of the loss of £600K worth of funding.  In addition to the loss of funding which supported work with vulnerable individuals there would also be an associated loss of relationships and trust levels built-up over an extended period of time with hard to reach communities and individuals, similar relationships would take time to form under any new arrangements.  Co-op Group representatives also agreed to work with Council officials to identify which areas merited to be continued for the future and to draw up contingency plans in response to the Cabinet Secretary’s final announcement on the Programme.  All parties agreed to work together for the benefit of, and in the best interest of, Denbighshire’s residents.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Chair thanked Co-op Group representatives for attending and the Committee:

Resolved subject to the above observations:

(i)              to receive the progress report on the Communities First programme in Denbighshire to date; and

(ii)             to recommend to the Tackling Poverty Working Group that it should request Council officials to work with Co-op Group officers to highlight to the Cabinet Secretary on Communities and Children the benefits realised to date from the Communities First Programme in Denbighshire, make representations to him on the importance of securing at least the same amount of funding for the area as part of the proposed ‘new approach’, identifying areas which merit continuation, and emphasising the need to maintain the strong relationships forged to date in order not to lose trust and momentum and to safeguard the best interests of local residents with a view to empowering them to build resilient and sustainable communities.