Issue - meetings

Reviewing the local committee’s community safety funding for 2016/17 and introducing funding for 2017/18

The Local Committee agreed that:

i.      The committee’s delegated community safety budget of £3,000 for 2017/18 be  retained by the Community Partnership Team on behalf of the Local Committee

ii.     Authority be delegated to the Community Partnership Manager in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the local committee to authorise the expenditure of the criteria and principles stated in paragraphs 2.5-2.11 of this report

iii.    The committee receives updates on the project(s) that was funded, the outcomes and the impact it has achieved

Reasons:

1. To secure greater oversight of the committee’s expenditure and better value for money for projects that help to achieve the County’s community safety priorities.

The Partnership Committee Officer presented a report detailing the committee’s allocation of community safety funding for the year 2017/18 and updating them on how the funding was allocated last year.

£3,000 of funding has been devolved to the committee for this purpose and it is proposed that the process to allocate this should be similar to the process that was introduced last year. Bids were invited from the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) which is an inter-agency organisation with responsibility for community safety across the borough.

The change in process had come as a result of a borough-wide evaluation, the results of which suggested that measures should be put in place to ensure that the funding was being used to bring about tangible outcomes.

Last year, Waverley’s CSP had determined that their priority for funding was Domestic Homicide Reviews.(DHR)  These are statutory exercises that are undertaken following an death brought about by a relative or domestic partner of an individual. Waverley has had more DHR’s than any other Surrey borough since they began in 2011 and this is why they had been prioritised. The committee will receive a full report on this at the December committee.

The committee acknowledged the importance of accountability in determining how funding is spent. They were however keen that the process did not put an unnecessary burden on the Community Safety Partnership by adding an additional layer of administration.

The Partnership Officer reassured the committee that the process was a simple one and that, as the person who had represented the county council on the CSP, she had drafted the bid on their behalf in collaboration with borough officers in order that this did not impose greatly on any one individual’s workload.

The Local Committee resolved that:

i.      The committee’s delegated community safety budget of £3,000 for 2017/18 be  retained by the Community Partnership Team on behalf of the Local Committee

ii.     Authority be delegated to the Community Partnership Manager in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the local committee to authorise the expenditure of the criteria and principles stated in paragraphs 2.5-2.11 of this report

iii.    The committee receives updates on the project(s) that was funded, the outcomes and the impact it has achieved

Reasons:

1. To secure greater oversight of the committee’s expenditure and better value for money for projects that help to achieve the County’s community safety priorities.