Decisions

Bus route 461 is a key route to St Peter’s Hospital normally running every 30min. Fare income has reduced a result of fewer passengers due to Covid-19. In order to maintain the service at a level which would support key workers accessing an NHS primary care facility, additional funding of £450 per day was agreed for three months from 1^st April to 30^th June 2020.  Patronage has not increased as hoped, and the service continues to suffer reduced fare income.  In order to maintain this essential service further support of £300 per day is required from 1^st July to 31^st August, with an expected total cost of £12,900, which will be partially funded through Covid Bus Service Support Grant.

Decision made:

It was AGREED that:

1.           Financial support of £300 per day (estimated at £12,900) be provided to Falcon Buses to support route 461 from 1^st July to 31^st August 2020.

Reasons for Decision:

To enable continuation of bus services taking key NHS workers to St Peter’s Hospital.

Applications for financial support for Voluntary, Community & Faith sector organisations are being received by the Council. These requests for support are a direct result of financial hardship felt as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, due to either additional costs being incurred by these organisations to meet increased demand for their services or enable remote working, or as a result of reductions in their usual funding sources (eg donations and fund raising events). 

Applications are submitted on a standard request from and are being considered initially by a panel made up of Strategy and Finance colleagues.  The panel is assessing requests against the following criteria:

• Small and medium sized organisation with an annual income of less than £1million during the financial year 2018/19
• Are not in receipt of any outstanding, adverse judgements from relevant regulatory bodies e.g. Charities Commission, CQC
• Operate within and provide services to meet needs in the county of Surrey
• Provision of services to support vulnerable residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and/or later in the recovery phase
• Have provided SCC commissioned and/or funded services between 2015-2020, including organisations funded via grant, contracts and/or one-off commissioning
• Provision of broader, strategic services to Surrey residents that SCC considers vital to maintain
• Have evidenced and substantiated the additional financial pressures caused to the organisation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Will remain viable and able to assist Surrey during the post COVID-19 recovery phase, taking account of financial pressures already incurred and those that are forecast
• Where funding will support the long term, future sustainability of the organisation.

In addition, applications must also demonstrate that:

• Funding is actively being sought from alternative, relevant sources e.g. central government and Community Foundation for Surrey. SCC hardship funding will particularly favour residual pressures that cannot be met from other available means.
• Organisations can remain viable between the receipt of staged payments from the SCC COVID-19 Hardship Fund which may be paid in several tranches

The following applications were recommended by the Panel and approved by the Executive Director for Transformation, Partnership & Prosperity & the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Fire & Resilience.

Decision made:

It was AGREED that:

The following applications met the agreed criteria for financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic:

A one-off payment of £16,773.00 will be made to support the above organisations.

Reasons for Decision:

To ensure the sustainability of the organisations and the continued provision of their services to the residents of Surrey during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

That the proposed Primary and Secondary Fair Access Protocols for 2020/21 as set out in annexes 1 to 4 of the submitted report be agreed.

1.    That the level of balances held by Surrey maintained schools be noted;

2.    That the Dedicated Schools Grant be noted;

3.    That licensed deficits be approved for two schools as set below:

Cabinet Member approval is required where schools seek a licensed deficit in excess of 5% of the school’s budget share. One school, Wey House School, had a deficit in excess of 5% at 31 March 2020. One other schools, Guildford Nursery School, is expecting a deficit of over 5% at 31 March 2021.

Wey House School

* Note: A school’s annual budget can vary from year to year, particularly if temporary supplements are provided.

There were none.

There were none.

There were none.