Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Communities, Safety & Resilience, Councillor David Wood

Officer: Executive Director Resources, Jacqueline Harris Baker

Key decision: no

RESOLVED: To agree the recommendations of the London Council’s Leaders Committee to:

1.    Approve the London Councils Grants Scheme budget for 2021/22 of £6.668m; and

2.    Agree Croydon Council’s 2021/22 contribution to the London Councils Grants Scheme budget amounting to £287,731. 

The Cabinet Member for Communities, Safety & Resilience, Councillor David Wood, stated that Cabinet were being asked to approve the recommendation of the London Council’s Leader’s Committee that the 2021/22 grant scheme budget be £6,668,000 with a contribution of £287,731 from Croydon. It was reported that Croydon’s contribution would support activities to tackle two key priorities; combating homelessness and tackling sexual and domestic violence.

Cabinet were informed that applicants for the grants must be non-profit organisations which were able to work across more than one borough and could evidence that its work sought to tackle one of the priorities. Thirteen projects had been commissioned to deliver pan-London services and officers had reviewed the data provided by London Councils and were satisfied that Croydon had received its fair share of the services provided.

The Cabinet Member reported that since April 2017 an annual average of 859 Croydon residents had been supported under the first priority; combating homelessness and an average 5,130 residents had been supported under the second priority each year; tackling sexual domestic violence.

It was noted that the council was legally required to contribute towards the scheme based on the borough’s population size and that the expenditure had been agreed by the Section 151 Officer.

The Shadow Cabinet for Safer Croydon & Communities, Councillor Andy Stranack, paid tribute to Elaine Collins who had sadly passed away during the preceding week from covid-19. It was noted that she had been excellent advocate of the community sector and Members sent their condolences to her husband and family. It was noted that paragraph 3.2.8 of the report highlighted the impact lockdown had on many organisations, with a number of groups having to close down or furlough staff. In light of this, the Shadow Cabinet Member queried whether any money had been returned to the council from London Councils and it was noted that he council had received money back from organisations within the borough due to the impact of covid-19.

In response, the Cabinet Member stated that he was not aware that money had been returned by London Councils but confirmed he would seek clarification and would write to the Shadow Cabinet Member to confirm the situation. The Leader noted that she had previously looked over the portfolio and her experience had been that where projects had been underperforming and there had been a saving, the Grants Committee had consistently sought to redeploy the funds to other projects to deliver the key priorities.

The Cabinet Member stated that the claw back in relation to the Job Retention Scheme had been different to the London Councils Grant Scheme. The council had been in contact with organisations to discuss when monies would need to be repaid due to the Job Retention Scheme. The Cabinet Member further confirmed that he would write to the Shadow Cabinet Member with further details.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To agree the recommendations of the London Councils Leaders Committee to:

1.     Approve the London Councils Grants Scheme budget for 2021/22 of £6.668m; and

2.     Agree Croydon Council’s 2021/22 contribution to the London Councils Grants Scheme budget amounting to £287,731.