Agenda item

The Director of Corporate Services submits a report providing an overview of the advancements and future direction of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Engagement Strategy.

Members of the Commission are recommended to note the report and provide any comments or recommendations to officers.

The Director of Corporate Services submitted a report providing an overview of the advancements and future direction of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Engagement Strategy.

The Assistant City Mayor for Communities, Adult Learning introduced the report.

Key points included:

·       When the strategy was introduced, there were six pledges.  This plan had a number of plans and actions to cover the six pledges.

·       This was a four-year strategy.

·       The first priority was to understand how the different departments could deliver as there was a large area of work which needed a clear picture of how much engagement existed between the departments.

·       The second priority was to engage with the voluntary sector to establish which services were being delivered, what their needs were and how they could become sustainable.

·       It was desirable to have a clear system in place whereby it should be possible to measure what was being delivered.

·       There would be quarterly, six-monthly and annual reviews and there would be milestones and measurements along the process.

·       There would be challenges, but this work would ensure that there was a sustainable VCSE sector in the city.

·       An event to bring the business sector and voluntary sector together had been interrupted by the general election, but it was hoped that this would take place in August.  Members were encouraged to attend.

The Committee were invited to ask questions and make comments. Key points included:

·       The financial contribution made by the Council to voluntary organisations was small and covered the two staff in the engagement team and also infrastructure support such as Crowdfund Leicester and other necessary infrastructure support.

·       These groups made an impact to the lives of people in the city and provided services that the Council could not.  Therefore, such groups were important to support.  They were very cost effective and do not take a large amount of the budget.

·       Any money given to the organisations was purely for furthering the objectives of the organisations and was not given to individuals.

·       Organisations needed initial support in order to be able to access crowdfunding.

·       In response to a comment about the importance of benefitting smaller grassroots organisations, it was noted that it was hoped to create a service whereby organisations could contact the council directly so that they could be advised and guided in order to help them in terms of their basic infrastructure. 

·       It was recognised that it was important to focus on smaller organisations and it was hoped that Councillors could act as a bridge between organisations in their wards and the Council.

·       In terms of the budget, members were directed to section 4.4 of the report which explained that the budget was not solely for Crowdfund Leicester.  The cost to access Crowdfund Leicester was approximately £19-20k.  This was specifically aimed to target people in the civic space.  The money was used on different initiatives and money had been raised from communities and businesses to contribute to organisations through Crowdfund Leicester, so it was good that there was a platform in place.

·       The Council wanted to focus more on smaller organisations.  Therefore, information was needed on who these groups were on a ward-by-ward basis.  This in mind, members were encouraged to make known to officers the organisations that need assistance to it could be seen how they could be supported.

·       Organisations could be directed to materials online that could help them set themselves up.

·       The engagement focussed on smaller organisations and whilst the Council could not do everything they would like, it was necessary to find the systems with which to engage, for example, workshops could be held whereby organisations could learn skills to help them move on.

·       The pledge was referred to, which contained wording about supporting smaller organisations.

AGREED:

1) That the presentation be noted.

2) That comments made by members of this commission to be taken.