Cabinet considered the head of corporate services’ report on a review of options for the partnership grants scheme. The options were to:
1. continue with the status quo, funding the three organisations currently in receipt of a partnership grant, delivering information and advice services for 12 months (within the constraints of the budget)
2. commission an organisation to provide the advice and support services currently provided by the existing recipients or some of them
3. develop a policy for the funding that reflected the new corporate priorities and invite all local voluntary and community sector organisations to apply
4. close the current scheme, or reduce the value of the scheme, given the council’s other financial pressures.
The Cabinet member recommended a blend of options 1 and 2 to allow the council to continue to support the three partnerships with grants over the next 12 months but allowing the council time to commission advice and support services in the future. Cabinet supported this as it would allow the council to define what services it wished to commission with the voluntary sector.
RESOLVED:to
(a) commission information and advice services from 2023 onwards (budget permitting); and
(b) extend the current partnership grants to Oxfordshire South and Vale Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Wantage Independent Advice Centre (now known as Vale Community Impact), and Community First Oxfordshire towards the provision of services across the district in 2022/23.