Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of Children’s Services which notified that on 13^th March 2017, confirmation had been received by the Council that its joint bid with the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CBMDC) to deliver the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF) Local Flexibility to Reduce Unemployment Programme had been successful, with the Department for Work and Pensions approving in principle the award of £4.9m ESIF grant to the Skills, Training and Employment Pathways (STEP) project. In addition, the report sought authorisation to commit a maximum of £1.4m of Council match funding to deliver the Leeds element of the STEP Project, and for the Council to work in partnership with CBMDC to manage this provision. Finally, the report also sought approval to delegate the necessary associated authority to the Director of Children’s Services.

The Director of Children’s Services submitted a report which notified that on 13^th March 2017, confirmation was received by the Council that its joint bid with the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CBMDC) to deliver the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF) Local Flexibility to Reduce Unemployment Programme had been successful, with the Department for Work and Pensions approving in principle the award of £4.9m ESIF grant to the Skills, Training  and Employment Pathways (STEP) project. In addition, the report sought authorisation to commit a maximum of £1.4m of Council match funding to deliver the Leeds element of the STEP Project, and for the Council to work in partnership with CBMDC to manage this provision.

For those reasons set out within the submitted report, and as detailed at

Minute No. 161, the Chair agreed for this report to be considered as a late item of business at the meeting.  Copies of the submitted report and appendix had been provided to Board Members prior to the meeting.

Members welcomed the ESIF funding which had been received. Responding to a Member’s enquiry, clarification was provided to the Board in respect of the amounts of funding which had been allocated to the two delivery partners, whilst Members considered the current position in respect of Brexit and what implications this may have in terms of similar funding initiatives in the future.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the Council, as Delivery Partner, be authorised to work with the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council under a Service Level Agreement, to deliver the Skills, Training and Employment Pathways Project, as part of the ESIF Local Flexibility for Reducing Unemployment Programme;

(b)  That a total expenditure of up to £2.8m by the Council, inclusive of £1.4m maximum match fundingto deliver the Leeds element of the STEP Project over the next three years, 2017-2020, be approved;

(c)  That the authorisation of contract awards and the proposed funding allocations to subcontractors, which would enable the delivery of this specialist provision in Leeds, be delegated to the appropriate Director with the relevant scheme of delegation, in consultation with the Executive Member for ‘Employment, Skills and Opportunity’;

(d)  That it be noted that the timescales for the implementation of the above resolutions will be April 2017, as determined by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), acting as the ESIF Managing Authority and in accordance with the Council’s Corporate Procurement Rules;

(e)  That it be noted that the Head of Projects and Programmes in the Employment and Skills Service will be responsible for the implementation of the STEP Project in Leeds, which is anticipated to commence in April 2017 and be completed by December 2019.

(The Council’s Executive and Decision Making Procedure Rules state that a decision may be declared as being exempt from the Call In process if it is considered that any delay would seriously prejudice the Council’s, or the public’s interests. In line with this, the resolutions contained within this minute were exempted from the Call In process, given that, as stated within the submitted report considered by the Board, notification of the award of funding was received from the DWP on 13 March 2017, and as such the matter could not have been submitted to an earlier Board meeting. In addition, given the requirement that the funding agreement is signed within 30 days of issue, any invoking of the Call In process could jeopardise the Council’s ability to be in a position to sign a Service Level Agreement to be the delivery partner with Bradford Council, and it in turn would mean that the Council was not in a position to sign the Funding Agreement with the DWP by the required date).