Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Education, Employment & Visitor Economy presented the report of the Director: Children’s & Family Services.

The report gave a summary of the 2023-24 Leader and Cabinet Member Young Person Grant Scheme and set out the recommendations for 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The scheme opened for applications between 1 December 2023 and 19 January 2024, with £14,000 being the allocated budget.  Young people were able to apply for up to £500 each.  

During 2023-24, the scheme was supported through sponsorship and match funding from external partners; Arriva; Balfour Beatty; Veiola and through the Virgin Media 02 Business Fund.

The main objective for the 2023-24 campaign was to receive 150 completed applications by the closing date.   By close of the application window 155 applications had been received with 42% of applications being directly related to comms and social media.

During the reporting period 155 applications had been made with 116 being successful.  Not all successful applications were awarded the full value of the costs requested and applications were scrutinised to ensure there were no alternative cost-effective ways to meet the requests.

Cabinet Members welcomed the applications being put forward noting that a small amount of money could do an awful lot of good.  It was important to give the best start in life and help to remove barriers to children’s success.  They were proud to continue with the scheme due to the positive impact it had on so many young peoples lives.

The Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group welcomed the 155 applications that had been submitted and the successful grants which had helped people recognise their dreams.

The Leader expressed that this was one of the proudest things that he had done as a leader, investing a small amount of money to remove a barrier for a young person.  A small amount of money could make a massive difference and meant a huge amount to the young people who benefitted from the award.  He hoped that following their journeys they would continue to benefit the borough economy.

RESOLVED – that

a)    the outcomes of the Leader and Cabinet Members Young Person Grant Scheme for 2023-24 be noted;

b)   the launch of the Leader and Cabinet Members Young Person Grant Scheme for 2024-25 be noted; and

c)    the continuation of the funding of the Leader and Cabinet Members Young Person Grant Scheme in 2025-26 be agreed.