Notes of a meeting of the Merton Compact Funding and Procurement
Sub Group held on 17th October 2007 at 10am at Vestry Hall.
Present: Ray Hautot (Chair), Roy Benjamin, Harsha Ganatra (Voluntary
Sector), Sue Tanton (LBM)
In attendance:
Dave Hobday (Voluntary Sector)
Apologies: Chris Frost, Andy Norrell (Voluntary Sector) Cllr David Simpson,
Rob Bowler, Sue Neville (LBM), Jatinder Bhuhi (PCT)
Agenda
Item
Compact
Way of
working
1.
1. Welcome and Introductions
2
Minutes of the Last Meeting
These were agreed
3.
Matters Arising
a) Procurement – it was noted that Terry Campbell,
the interim Procurement Manager, is to be invited to
a future meeting. Action: Sue Neville
b) Community Plan target on Asset Management –
there was nothing further to report
c) Direct Payments – a meeting has been arranged for
8th November
d) Locality Executive Committee – the concerns
expressed about future governance arrangements
had been reported to the Compact Board and a
meeting is to be arranged between the PCT (Angela
Gibson) and voluntary sector representatives.
Action: Roy Benjamin
e) Local Information Networks (LINKs) – the deadline
for tenders is 26th October.
f) Frequency of meetings – it was suggested that the
sub-group should aim to move towards quarterly
meetings. Action: Sue Neville
PCT attendance – it was suggested that the PCT needs to
be represented at meetings of the sub-group specifically in
relation to the 3rd Sector Review and the LAA targets and
that this should be reported to the Compact Board.
Action: Sue Neville
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4.
LB Merton Budget 2008/09
a) Introductory statement (by Sue Tanton)
The Council is currently considering its budget for 08/09
and no decisions have yet been made. There have been
preliminary discussions in Cabinet and the Government's
Comprehensive Spending Review decisions in respect of
Rate Support Grant to Local Authorities have just been
announced. The Cabinet will consider the position at its
December meeting with a view to taking decisions to
Council in February 08.
Council wide, significant efficiencies and savings will need
to be achieved. The Voluntary Sector Portfolio Holder, Cllr
Simpson, will seek to minimise the impact of proposed
savings on the voluntary sector.
That said, it is unrealistic to expect there to be no impact.
For example, even a break even decision to keep
voluntary sector grants at the same level, not increasing
the figure to take account of inflation, would represent a
saving in the order of £23,000 (2.5%) (on £928k – Annual
Grants, 3 year funding agreements and Community
Development Fund).
We would like to invite the sub-group's views as partners
on how we might best respond to budget pressures in how
we deploy voluntary sector grants next year. The purpose
of today's discussion is to flag up the general issue. We
propose that a future meeting be convened with fuller
attendance to take a report on the budget setting process
and to secure the views of the sector about how best to
proceed.
b) Summary of discussion

The difficult context in which the Council is
operating to set its Budget and consider funding for
the voluntary sector was appreciated and also that it
was taking a holistic approach, possibly needing to
identify as much as 15% savings overall.

Councillor Simpson’s role in seeking to minimise the
impact was also appreciated. Those present
requested that he attend the next meeting of the
Sub-Group and that this should take place before
the December Cabinet meeting.

It was suggested that if the Council is continuing to
seek to focus on East Merton as a priority, reducing
funding to the voluntary sector may not be in line
with this approach. The question as to how far the
annual budget setting process fitted with the future
Business Plan framework was also raised.
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5.

It was hoped that any change in resources for the
voluntary sector would not be worse than £23k
(achieved by not increasing Regeneration grants by
inflation) included in the report to the October
Cabinet meeting published on the internet.
Previously a similar proposal was identified very
late in the process - it was recognised that early
notification of funding for individual groups had
improved in that the offer is made by the end of
December (albeit subject to final budget decisions
in February) allowing time for notice to be given to
staff should this be necessary.

It was also noted that the report to Cabinet included
another proposal (to increase the charges for
commercial waste by 10%) which could impact on
some voluntary sector groups –- and there could be
others.

The proposal in the Cabinet report related only to
grants administered by Environment and
Regeneration Department.

When funding for other Council services is reduced
voluntary groups are often expected to fill the
resulting gap – it was recognised that this would
apply to Community Care grants rather than
Regeneration grants.

It was noted that property costs are generally
increasing faster than inflation and that some
groups are already under-funded.

The impact of any reduction in funding will depend
on the extent to which groups are dependent on the
Council for funding. However, the climate for finding
alternative external funding is increasingly difficult,
particularly because of reductions in Big Lottery
funding which has increased competition for funding
from Trusts.

Continuing to keep the sector informed is important
– making the message as positive as possible and
offering support to groups about how best to
accommodate any reduction in funding – possibly
through MVSC’s newsletter/website.
3rd Sector Review
The paper about focus groups prepared by Daniel Moore
was discussed:

There was some concern that holding the meetings
all on one day could mean that some people would
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not be able to attend. However, there will be other
opportunities to contribute and views can be
submitted directly to Daniel by email.

Holding all the sessions during the day would
preclude many trustees from attending. Action:
Sue Tanton to inform Daniel

It was suggested that if the sessions are oversubscribed attendance should be limited to one
representative per organisation. A request was also
made for further meetings to be arranged if there is
high demand for participation. Action: Sue Tanton
to inform Daniel

Dave Hobday to check that the information has
been circulated via MVSC newsletter. Action:
Dave Hobday

Most of those present intended to attend the
workshops
Action: Sue Tanton to report these matters to the 3rd
Sector Review meeting on 23rd October
6.
Adult Social Care Review
a) Outcomes and Monitoring Framework – a group is
now to be formed specifically to consider monitoring
in relation to funding including voluntary sector
representation particularly those who have
information and skills in relation to the methods
used by external funders.
b) Workstreams – groups are not being formally
convened but projects are being established and
there will be an Implementation Group which will be
considering the impact of proposals. It seems
appropriate for voluntary sector representation on
the Implementation Group to be arranged via the
Community Engagement Network representatives
on the Healthier and Safer/Stronger thematic
Partnerships. However, it is likely that the voluntary
sector will be asking for 2 representatives and
deputies in order to spread the workload.
Voluntary sector representatives will also have the
opportunity to be involved in those projects in which
they have a particular interest. This will be
discussed at the next Involve meeting. Action:
Dave Hobday
c) It was suggested that it would have been helpful to
have a timetable and action plan for the process.
d) The voluntary sector would have wanted to suggest
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user representation in the process.
e) There was some concern that elements of the
review may have been overtaken by forthcoming
budget decisions, although it was recognised that
some of the proposals are for longer term
implementation.
f) Day Care Service Review meeting – 24th October,
10.00. Action: Dave Hobday to raise with Terry
Hutt that there may have been insufficient
publicity
Local Area Agreement – list of new targets was
available from Friday 12th October
7.
Date of Next Meeting
Date of next meeting
It was suggested that there needs to be a meeting before
the LB Merton Budget proposals are next considered by
Cabinet in December and that it should be arranged so
that Cllr Simpson can attend.
Action: Sue Neville
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