NI COMMITTEE MINS20.06.14
MINUTES OF THE NORTHERN IRELAND COMMITTEE BUSINESS MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 20 JUNE2014@ 9:30am
AT BIG LOTTERY FUND’S OFFICE, CROMAC QUAY, BELFAST
Present:
Frank Hewitt-Chair
Paul Cavanagh-NI committee member
Peter Osborne-NI committee member
Geraldine Campbell-NI committee member
In Attendance:
Joanne McDowell-Director NI
Amanda Doherty-Head of Communications
Deirdre Barker-Head of Corporate Management
Alison Fraser-Senior Head of Funding
Michael Liggett-Senior Policy & Learning Manager
Nuala Macauley-Funding Manager(Supporting Families items 12&13)
Theresa Geraghty-NCB NI(item11)
Celine McStravick-NCB NI(item 11)
Jane Killen-HR Manager(Observer)
Jacqui Maxwell-Corporate Officer (Secretariat & minutes)
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1.OPENING REMARKS & UPDATES
1.1The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting.
1.2Key Matters
FMS
The Chair reported that the next BPR subgroup meetings will not be taking place until October and December 2014, but Committee will continue to be updated on the progress towards stabilisation.
Triennial Review
The Chair confirmed that the report was positive and that the Fund was fulfilling its role to support stakeholders. A list of recommendations had been received and these would be reviewed and taken forward. There had be an initial meeting of Board members earlier in the week and a further more in-depth discussion will take place at the Board meeting in July. The Fund had a month to respond to the recommendations, which had been submitted as an action plan.
It was also reported that Dawn Austwick, Chef Executive had agreed that all country committee members across the UK should meet at the end of the year.
Launch of Cool Choices
The Chair reported that he had attended the launch of the Cool Choices pilot programme. It had received very good media coverage and there had been a lot of interest from young people enquiring about the 15 week Cool Academy programme.
2.APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
2.1These had been received from Julie Harrison, NI committee member and Norrie Breslin, Head of Policy & Learning.
3.DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
3.1There were none.
4.APPROVAL OF ACCURACY OF THE MINUTES OF THE NORTHERN IRELAND
COMMITTEE BUSINESS MEETING ON FRIDAY 25 APRIL 2014
4.1The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and subsequently signed by the Chair.
5.ACTIONSMATTERS ARISING
5.1Committee noted the actions list.
5.2NIC Recruitment Update
Joanne McDowell reported that DCAL had now agreed the recruitment of three replacement members and the recruitment documentation had been finalised. Shortlisting and interviews will take place during July and August with announcements planned for September.
6.PAPERS BY CORRESPONDENCE
Committee noted the following papers by correspondence:
6.1Q4 Business Plan(paper 52)
Deirdre Barker confirmed that the report provided the quarter 4 summary statement of performance against the Big Lottery Fund’s corporate priorities for the 2013/14 financial year. Committee members commented on the impressive results of the Northern Ireland directorate.
6.2NIC Forward Plan2014/15
There were no comments.
6.3Programme Progress Reports for Reaching Out Empowering Young People,Energy Efficient Venues and Live & Learn
There were no comments.
7.IDEAS FUND
7.1Committee noted the View Digital decision making report.
7.2After discussion committee members agreed that thisapplication should be rejected for funding. Although the project had some good qualities, the committee felt that other similar projects would have a stronger impacton meeting the programme criteria and outcomes.
7.3Verbal Update on Review Process
Single awards give an opportunity to add value, but there needs to be more transparency regarding the process. A paper will be presented to Board in due course regardingthe way forward.
The Below the Radar application will be presented at the August meeting for decision and there are no other applications pending. No further applications will be brought forward until the review is complete and next steps agreed.
The main points of discussion were as follows:
a)How can we stimulate ideas with more diversity and innovation in Northern Ireland and does the Fund need to be less risk averse to attract applications?
b)It is a great concept, but can be difficult to translate to stakeholders.
c)Debate needed to move forward to be more flexible to emerging ideas.
d)Consider a re-launch across the UK and make small investments to stimulate ideas from projects and work them up.
7.4The committee agreed that the single awards concept was worth pursuing and should not be lost as an alternative way of funding.
8.STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK –Your Voice our Vision (verbal update and staff away day paper reissued)
8.1The Chair commented on a very interesting paper and that it was good to see that staff had fully participated in the away day which took place in April. The Director stated that staff were committed to the Fund’s customers and it had been good to engage with them and get various views on the way forward. Staff had also been involved in the strategic roundtable events and heard the challenges of external stakeholders.
8.2Similar patterns were coming through from the stakeholder and staff events and the use of technology meant that feedback was captured in real time via a screen and a report generated within 48 hours. This had worked really well internally with staff and externallywith customers who were very interested in this method and sharing innovation. Committee agreed that staff had extensive knowledge and external customers were very aware of this. The NI findings have been fed back to NICVA and had been very impressed with the quick turnaround process. The information willalso be circulated centrally through the Fund’s website and shared with the Board.
8.3Committee commented on some of the points that had emerged from the away day:
- A combination of open demand led and targeted programmes was preferred.
- Support and development is worth some further discussion as there may be a need to do more in this area.
- Long term funding - what do we mean by this?
8.4Flexibility is important and we need to be open and responsive to emerging themes, which is currently being considered for the Empowering Young People 2 programme. NIC discussed the Reaching Communities programme and reflected that although it was heavilyover- subscribed it was therefore meeting a need. NIC agreed that this should be considered again in the future as and when new programmes were being developed.
8.5The Chair remarked that the staff away day had been a very useful exercise and a lot of their thinking concurred with NIC. He requested that positive feedback from the committee be passed to staff.
9.COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE (paper 53)
9.1Committee noted the paper, which provided an overview of work by the Communications Team during the period Feb to May 2014.
9.2Amanda Doherty reported as follows:
- Awards for All had received the highest number of enquiry calls.
- There had been no queries received in relation to the new funding management system.
- The positive media coverage, which was well above target, was commended.
- The team had developed their skills in using social media as a promotional tool to engage with audiences and were continuing to develop the use of webinars as a new form of technology to outreach to stakeholders.
- Purdah was observed between 10 April and 22 May.
9.3The Fund’s10th Birthday CelebrationsJune 2014
Amanda reported that various celebratory events had taken place across the UK offices and that Belfast had organised a staff lunch and quiz on Friday 6 June. To commemorate this milestone, the Fund in Northern Ireland was working with the Daily Mirror to develop a competition to be launched in July for projects funded in the previous 10 years, using the AfA model and would consist of 10 awardsof £10,000. The Committee agreed that this was an excellent idea to mark the 10th birthday and a budget of £110,000 was approved.
10.REACHING OUT EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE
10.1Programme Effectiveness Report
Committee noted the report.
10.2EYP2 (verbal update)
Work was ongoing to develop the programme.Officers were exploring the potential of extensions to existing projects for a further year using the Live and Learn model. A formal paper will be drawn up and presented to committee in August.
10.3Committee agreed a £6m budget commitment and Officers should progressfurther regarding the timings and the number of projects that may want to apply. ACTION: Officers
11.REACHING OUT EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT CONTRACT
11.1The Chair welcomed Theresa Geraghty and Celine McStravick from the National Children’s Bureau NI to the meeting, who proceeded to give a PowerPoint presentation covering the following main points.
- Programme activities and workshops
- Adult advisory group
- Engage ‘N’ You
- Culture Event December 2013
- Cluster groups
- Social media and website
- Working with the ‘hard to reach’
- Workplan 2014/15
11.2The main points of discussion were as follows:
a)Committee noted that of the 68 projects awarded funding, 67 projects had engaged in the development and support contract. The annual review will be a substantial document and will be published on the Fund’s website.
b)Projects are getting involved with young people in a wide variety of ways, for example through steering groups and young people committees.
c)The young people do not like the term NEETS, and this can give a false impression of statistics. Youth unemployment is perhaps how it should be described.
d)The cultural event had been a great success and there was a need for a lobbying toolkit that was young people friendly.
e)Too many programmes do not necessarily build the skills of the young people for their CVs and are only skimming the surface.
f)Need to keep activities relevant and interesting to a young people audience and the young people are good at keeping everyone moving in the right direction.
11.3The Chair thanked Theresa and Celine for the very comprehensive presentation, which had highlighted some of the challenges that the Fund may not always be fully aware of.
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REACHING OUT SUPPORTING FAMILIES INDUCTION AND DECISION MAKING
12.Induction Session(Nuala Macauley joined the meeting)
12.1Michael Liggett and Nuala Macauley delivered an induction session covering the following points.
- Aim and programme criteria
- Who can apply and grant size
- Application process stage 1
- Assessment process stages 1 & 2
12.2Officers explained that the risk level graph section shown in the decision reports is a new addition and generated from information on the funding management system and not by staff. The Chair commented that the information includedthe decision reports was set out in an easy to read,user friendly format.
12.3Decision Making
a)Declarations of Interest
There were none.
b)Funding Manager’s Report
The Committee noted the report including the following:
- Partnership working
- Budget allocation
- Application process
- Project grading
- Considerations for the committee
- Appendix A - list of 4 fundable applications
- Appendix B - committee reject reasons
c)Applications to the Committee
Following discussion, the committee agreed the decisions as set out in appendices 1 and 2.
APPENDIX 1
DECISIONS TAKEN ON APPLICATIONS CONSIDERED AT THE FIRST REACHING OUT SUPPORTING FAMILIES DECISION MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 20 JUNE 2014
Applicant Name / AmountRecommended / Amount Awarded / Committee
Decision
Autism NI / £699,810 / £699,810 / Approved
Cruse Bereavement Care / £676,384 / £676,384 / Approved
South Lough Neagh Regeneration Assoc. / £700,000 / £700,000 / Approved
Resurgam / £699,957 / £0 / Rejected
TOTAL AMOUNT AWARDED - £2,076,194
d)Applications Approved for Funding
1.Autism NI - The RAFT Project
Committee agreed that this was a well thought out evidence based project, which had scored highly. The project with their partners will focus on children and the wider family and allow them to connect to wider supports within their communities.
2.Cruse Bereavement Care
Committee agreed that this was a high scoring project which would deliver bereavement care to families and children under 12 in the wider community by developing project advisory groups. The project will work in partnership with Corrymeela Community to provide a residential base.
Committee also requested that through the evaluation process a piece of work should be developed to ensure learning.
3.South Lough Neagh Regeneration Association
Committee agreed that the project had good partners. They noted the agreement with 7 local primary schools and that the Southern Education and Library Board & Trust areinvolved.
e)Application Rejected for Funding
4.Resurgam
Committee rejected this project for the reasons:
Inadequate evidence of need
The information that you sent us did not show the need for your project as clearly as the other applications we considered.
Project outcomesdo not address programme outcomes as well as other projects
Although the project has good qualities, other projects met the programme outcomes better.
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13.ANY OTHER BUSINESS
13.1Paul Cavanagh and Peter Osborne
The Chair confirmed that this was Paul and Peter’s final NIC meeting as they were to formally stand down at the end of the month and he gave them both a sincere and personal thank you. He stated that other committee members, staff and stakeholders had appreciated their experience and knowledge, which had been invaluable. There had been some very interesting exchanges at the various business and decision making meetings and they will be greatly missed.
Joanne McDowell said it was a sad day for the Northern Ireland senior management teamand staff as they had worked very closely with them both for a number of years and shared a lot of learning. There had been some tough decisions made through a variety of different situations and everyone can look back at some very exciting and innovative work, the legacy of which hadhappenedor had yet to be seen.
Paul and Peter agreed that it had been a pleasure to be involved with the Community Fund, the New Opportunities Fund and the Big Lottery Fund. They had both learned a lot through the experience and had worked with some great people.
It was also noted that Claire Keatinge, Northern Ireland committee member would also stand down on 30 June 2014.
There being no further business the meeting finished @ 1:15pm.
Signed: ______
Date:______
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