1. What is the legal basis that allows the council to award grants to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector?
The legal basis for the Council’s awarding of grants includes its General Power of Competence as outlined within S137 of the Local Government Act, and as detailed within the Council’s Constitution
2. Is there a criteria, policy or similar that sets out the basis for whether an award is granted and the value of the financial amount granted?
The Council distributes grant funding across its business and services. Each award and scheme will be determined by different sets of qualifying criteria. Some criteria will be determined by Government policy and specific terms laid out in individual grants to the Council from Government and other funding bodies, for which the Council is the accountable body.
An example of the Council’s key community focussed grant scheme is the Growing Communities Fund. Details of this scheme are available online at Growing Communities Fund – Communities (devon.gov.uk) which outlines the guidelines and full terms and conditions for the scheme.
3. What is the total amount awarded in these grants in each of the last 5 financial years?
The funding distributed through grants from the Growing Communities Fund (and its previous iterations) for the last 5 years is outlined below.
Doing What Matters 2019: £166,355.00
Prompt Action Fund 2020: £505,829.00
Recovery Grant 2020: £77,059.00
Recovery Grant 2021: £79,036.00
Growing Communities Fund 2022 to date: £773,285.00
Total: £1,601,564.00