Agenda item

To receive a report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Citizens and Communities) advising the Area Committee on the current position of the Outer West Wellbeing revenue budget.

(Report attached)

A report was submitted to the Committee by Assistant Chief Executive (Citizens and Communities) on the budget position of the Wellbeing Fund 2013/14

Harpreet Singh presented the report highlighting the current position of the Small Grants and Skips Pots and those small grants and skips that have been approved since the last meeting.

Approval for Small grants and skips pots was sought on those applications which had been received for consideration, as detailed within table 2 of the submitted report.

Members approval was also sought for the Business Engagement Proposal £14,400.

The Area Committee was asked to decommission the following projects and release the funding back into the Outer West capital Wellbeing fund:

Committee approval was sought for a new capital project Tyersal Residents Association Community Centre – Concert Room/ Youth Club, flat roof repairs - £9,500.

Alison Szustakowski from West North West Area Support Team attended the meeting to update the committee on the Welfare Reform Project. Members had agreed to allocate a sum of money to fund Welfare Reform projects, to support residents affected by the Welfare Reform Changes. Some of the Welfare Reform changes had been implemented and the partners had come together through WNW Employability and Welfare Reform Workstream to consider areas of need for West Outer Area Committee.

The following bullet points were a list of suggestions which had been identified as part of this process:

-  IT suites/ training

-  Supplement Libraries Information Bus to support residents in areas where service accessibility is difficult

-  Money management / Debt Projects

-  Illegal money lending projects/campaign

-  Promotional campaigns

-  Credit Union Schemes

-  Pop up benefits advice

-  Establishing localised Clothing and Food Banks

Members discussed the merits of supporting the above list of suggestions and considered the projects that would best support the residents of West Outer Area.

RESOLVED – The Area Committee:

-  Noted the current budget position for the Wellbeing Fund for 2013/14 as at Appendix 1

-  Noted the current position of the Small grants and skips pots and considered those Small Grants and skips that have been received with approval for funding as shown below:

-  Agreed the proposal for a Business Management proposal as at appendix 5 and that Cllr Wood, as Area Lead for Employment and Skills be included in the project. The amount agreed was £14,400

-  Agreed to decommission the Lower Wortley Road Improvement Scheme and the Pudsey Juniors – Tyersal Park Scheme and noted the new balance of the capital Wellbeing budget as £33,549.

-  The Members considered the new capital project and approved the request for Tyersal Residents Association Community Centre – Concert Room/ Youth Club, flat roof repairs - £9,500.

-  Noted the information provided on Welfare Reform Project and asked that Cllrs Hardy and A Blackburn meet with partners of the various projects to gather more information to bring back to next meeting.