Report to follow.

The Constituency Manager introduced a report that sought a decision by Wallasey Constituency Committee as to bid YW2 to Your Wirral (Wallasey) by Striding Out CIC for a Digital & IT Skills for Employability Project.

The details of bid YW2 were set out in Appendix 1 of the report and Appendix 2 set out an extract from Striding Out CIC’s bid document to the Council’s Lifelong Learning Team which outlined the contents of the courses currently funded.

At Wallasey Constituency Committee Working Group on 1 October 2014 a decision had been made to award Your Wirral (Wallasey) grants amounting to a total of £61,733.42 to social sector groups (minute 20 of the Working Group refers). A decision in relation to bid number YW2 (Digital & IT Skills for Employability) for £2,485 had been deferred for further information, namely whether there was a gap in provision that this project would fill.

The Your Wirral (Wallasey) Fund had been overspent by £11,733.42 and at Wallasey Constituency Committee on 23 October 2014, the Constituency Manager identified alternative funding to allocate to this overspend (minute 20 of the Committee refers).  The Constituency Manager also provided additional information in relation to bid YW2 by Striding Out CIC, proposed to be delivered from Vale House Community Centre, New Brighton. She reported that the Council’s Lifelong Learning Team had recently commissioned Striding Out CIC to deliver a project to 160 learners also from Vale House Community Centre.  The Team had been satisfied that this would provide adequate coverage from this geographical location.  The Committee had requested further information regarding the bid, in particular where there were any overlaps/duplication with the project currently funded, and had asked that the applicant attend the next Committee meeting to answer any further questions

Before discussion of this matter commenced Councillor Leah Fraser recorded her thanks to the Constituency Manager for all her hard work regarding the Christmas lights.

The Constituency Manager then introduced Elaine Owen from Striding Out to answer any questions that the Committee had. She informed the Committee that the funding would be used to help to provide training for local people of all ages who are currently unemployed or in low paid/seasonal jobs to provide them with IT and digital skills to make them more employable and able to apply for jobs and or promotions to a wider range of employers. Questions from the Committee including was the organisation comfortable that the new recruitment plan was working, whether places would be available to all wards or just Wallasey, how the funding would be spent, whether the CIC was confident that the places could be filled and if not what would happen to the remaining funding, were responded to and the Chair indicated that the Committee would take a vote on whether the application for funding should be approved.

Resolved – That;

1. The application to fund Bid YW2: Striding Out CIC be refused (3:8).

2. The Committee notes that an update on the budget will be reported to the next Constituency Committee meeting on 16 April 2015.