Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Kevin Thomas  01267 224027

Items
No. Item

1.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no declarations of personal interest.

2.

DECISION RECORD - 27TH OCTOBER 2022 pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the decision record of the meeting held on the 27th October 2022 be signed as a correct record.

3.

POVERTY FUND UPDATE pdf icon PDF 157 KB

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Homes and Deputy Leader was reminded that at the meeting held on the 27th October, 2022 approval had been granted for the administering of a third-party grant titled ‘The Poverty Fund’ which was open to any constituted organisation seeking support for those facing poverty in Carmarthenshire. The total grant budget of £180,481 had been made available via various Welsh Government Funding Sources with grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 being made available.

 

Subsequent to the above meeting, it was reported that additional Welsh Government Funding of £50,000 had been received from its Discretionary Fund together with £57,174 from its Direct Food Support Scheme. It was therefore proposed that, with the additional funding, the overall budget be increased from £180,481 to £287,655. If approved, all funding applications would be assessed by the Bureau Funding Panel under the delegated power granted to the Head of Regeneration to award funding up to a maximum of £10,000 per applicant

 

The Cabinet Member in welcoming the additional Welsh Government funding, expressed the importance of ensuring the Fund was directed to help those most in need

 

RESOLVED that, following receipt of additional Welsh Government Funding, the approved Poverty Fund Budget be increased from £180,481 to £287,655 to be administered by Carmarthenshire County Council’s Bureau team within Economic Development.

4.

HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT FUND pdf icon PDF 116 KB

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member was reminded that at the meeting held on the 27th October 2022 approval had been granted for the establishment of a Household Support Fund, fully funded via the Welsh Government, to support people facing food poverty.

 

It was noted that the level of funding available was £91,156 and that in order to identify demand, foodbanks had been contacted in October 2022 and invited to submit an application for funding and detailing the level of support they would require over a four month period from the middle of November 2022 to the middle of March 2023. It was noted that the Sixteen Foodbanks detailed in the report had been directly contacted by the authority and that one additional new foodbank had contacted the authority directly. All applications received had been assessed by the Bureau’s grant panel and it had  recommended that funding be awarded to the following 8 foodbanks in the sums detailed:-

 

1)    Cwmamman Pantry £7,000

2)    Myrtle House £15,000

3)    Christ Church £4,000

4)    Antioch Christian Centre £2,800

5)    Llwynhendy Foodbank £15,000

6)    Tyisha Foodbank £12,000

7)    Llannon/Tumble Foodbank £6,000

8)    CETMA £3,500

 

The Cabinet Member was advised that if all applications were approved the total grant award would be £65,300 leaving a sum of £25,856. While the report recommended the virement of the unallocated sum into the County’s wider Poverty Fund, it was reported that some of the 16 contacted organisations detailed in the report had not responded to the council’s initial approach or the subsequent e-mail reminder. As a result, it was enquired whether it would be prudent to defer virement of the unallocated funding for the present time to allow those organisations to be recontacted.

 

RESOLVED

4.1

That the above 8 applications for funding from the Household Support fund, in the sums detailed, be approved;

4.2

That the recommendation to vire the remaining £25,856 in The Household Support Fund to the County’s wider Poverty Fund be not accepted at the present time to enable those organisations which had not responded to the initial contact to be recontacted to ascertain if they would like to submit an application for funding, and they be granted a period of 10 days in which to submit an application

4.3

That if any of the fund was unallocated following the re-consultation exercise detailed in 4.2 above, the remaining unallocated funds be vired to the County’s wider Poverty Fund

 

 

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