Issue - meetings
Recommendations from the Executive Cabinet
Meeting: 17/10/2022 - Council (Item 54)
54 Recommendations from the Cabinet 
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To consider the recommendations from the meetings of the Cabinet held on 27th July and 12th October 2022.
The recommendations from the Cabinet meeting held on 27th July 2022 have been attached. The recommendations from the Cabinet meeting held on 12th October 2022 will follow in a supplementary pack.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Chairman explained that recommendations had been made at meetings of Cabinet held on 27th July and 12th October 2022 respectively.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund
The Leader presented the recommendation that had been made at the meeting of Cabinet held on 27th July 2022 on the subject of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Members were advised that Bromsgrove had been allocated £2.8 million under the scheme. The funding would be allocated to projects and the Council had agreed criteria against which bids for funding would be assessed. The criteria had been submitted for the Government’s consideration in August 2022. Local organisations would be encouraged to submit bids, which would be assessed by the Bromsgrove Partnership.
The recommendation was proposed by Councillor K. May and seconded by Councillor M. Thompson.
During consideration of this item, an amendment was proposed by Councillor C. Hotham.
The amendment read as follows:
“This fund should be allocated by North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWEDR) after consultation with a politically balanced UK Shared Prosperity Fund Board, who will determine how this funding should be allocated.”
In proposing the amendment, Councillor Hotham expressed concerns about the process for determining whether to approve bids to fund projects under the scheme and he questioned the transparency of the process. Councillor Hotham commented that the Bromsgrove Partnership, which had been allocated this responsibility, had one elected Member representative: the Leader. The suggestion was made that there needed to be a greater level of elected Member oversight, particularly given the amount of money involved.
Consideration was given to this proposed amendment and as part of this process, advice was provided by the Monitoring Officer. Members were informed that the proposed amendment actually related to matters that had already been resolved by Cabinet. The role of the Council meeting was to consider whether to amend the authority’s Medium Term Financial Plan to incorporate the UK Shared Prosperity funding allocation. The Government’s intention for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund had been for there to be community involvement in the process. The governance arrangements required the Council’s Section 151 Officer to sign off any grants. For these reasons, the amendment was not accepted for debate.
Questions were subsequently raised about the membership of the Bromsgrove Partnership and the extent to which this information was available in the public domain. Members also commented on the need for members of the partnership to be transparent in respect of declaring interests, given the amount of money that would be distributed under the scheme. The Leader explained that the Bromsgrove Partnership Manager maintained a list of partner organisations that were represented on the Bromsgrove Partnership. Members of the partnership were required to declare interests at every meeting they attended and any declarations were recorded in the minutes of those meetings. The Bromsgrove Partnership was involved in engagement and enablement and focused on the needs of the local community. Council was advised that most Councils in the country in receipt of funding ... view the full minutes text for item 54