Decision Maker: Cabinet

Outcome:

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: December 10, 2024

Purpose:

Content: Salford City Council - Record of Decision (Cabinet)   I Paul Dennett, City Mayor, in exercise of the powers contained within the City Council Constitution do hereby approve:   The acceptance of the grant funding from Arts Council England. Authorises the City Solicitor to sign and seal all necessary documents to give effect to this decision.   The Reasons are: Acceptance of the grant from Arts Council England (through Bolton MBC) needs to be done in line with the appropriate City Council governance authorisation. The acceptance of grants is currently not expressly delegated by the City Mayor and in this case, the grant award is a Key Decision, as it exceeds £350,000.   Acceptance of the grant funding is essential to enable the delivery of MAPAS in Salford schools. Options considered and rejected were: None Assessment of Risk: Low – in terms of accepting the grant conditions. The source of funding is: Arts Council England. Legal Advice obtained: Lauren Armstrong Solicitor, Commercial Team @ Legal and Democratic Services Based on the partnership agreement as long as SCC ensures SCL will be contractually responsible for fulfilling SCC's obligations under the agreement, the Partnership Agreement could be accepted by SCC. Similar arrangements have been in place since 2012 when MAPAS transferred to SCL. The funds should be passported to SCL through a conditional funding agreement making it clear that the provision of these funds are subject to the same conditions entered into by SCC. Clause 14.4 specifically states any sub-contractor appointment must be in writing and include an obligation to comply with the Partnership Agreement but that SCC would remain at fault for any SCL breach.   (1) The agreement essentially onward funds their Arts Council England grant to SCC and the other GM authorities (plus One Education) for the 'agreed activity' which has been prescribed by the Arts Council in their grant offer letter and its funding agreement (I've not seen either of these but I assume SCC/SCL know what the permitted activities are, and also noting page 25 include a maximum threshold % of grant being used on back office costs). However the attachment seems incomplete in places and still has a track change comment from Chloe Murphy (solicitor at Bolton). E.g. Schedule 1 "Funding Agreement" has square brackets saying it is to be inserted, with a comment saying it has been included in the cover email for review (I don't have a copy of this so I haven't seen the Arts Council funding agreement). (2) Funding for Salford is £365,050 and the capital is £119,919 (total £484,969). 3% of the GM total grant is set aside as 'leadership and management fee', which can be adjusted from time to time by Bolton. This is taken by Bolton prior to distribution of the grant, so it wouldn't be an additional cost to SCC, but means that in future years the actual grant received is reduced if the fee is increased.    (3) Clause 5 sets out the 'Partner' obligations. Just to confirm that SCC is the signing party and the Partner for the purposes of the agreement. Therefore all obligations/liabilities owed by Partners to Bolton under the agreement will apply to SCC rather than SCL. Therefore it should have appropriate arrangements in place with SCL when passporting the funding to ensure that if SCL put SCC in breach of the Partnership Agreement (and Funding Agreement), that SCL may be required to remedy (e.g. Repay the grant, indemnify).     (4) The agreement is a conditional grant funding agreement, and Bolton has given itself the usual remedy of clawback in the event of breach (e.g. SCL did not use the money for permitted activities), or in certain events such as ACE suspends payment of the grant. SCC is also required to give Bolton a general, indemnity in the event that Bolton suffers a loss due to SCC being in breach of the Agreement or through its execution of the Agreed Activity. The indemnity is capped at the amount of payments SCC has received under the agreement.    (5) SCC will also be subject to monitoring provisions (appendix 1 and 2 set out required data sets) which it will be reliant upon SCL to support on, as well as fairly usual financial management provisions (e.g. Keep documents for 7 years, maintain an capital asset register of any items funded with the capital grant. There are also the usual confidentiality provisions, branding etc, and an obligation for the parties to assist each other in the event that a Freedom of Information request is received. Again SCC needs to ensure SCL will comply/support with these.    (6) SCC must obtain SCL's consent before sub-contracting its obligations under the agreement (and as above we need SCL to agree in writing to comply with the Partnership Agreement).    (7) SCC is required to comply with the terms of the Data Protection Schedule. Appendix 3 states that SCC is acting as a data processor (therefore SCL would be its sub-processor). We would need SCL to comply with all Data Protection requirements, as well as clause 17.9 (dealing with personal data at the end of the Partnership)   Financial Advice obtained: David R Mills – Resources and Transformation             Funding for Salford for 2024/25 is £365,050 and the capital award is £119,919 (total £484,969). 3% of the GM total grant is set aside as 'leadership and management fee', which can be adjusted from time to time by Bolton. This is taken by Bolton prior to distribution of the grant, so it wouldn't be an additional cost to SCC, but means that in future years the actual grant received is reduced if the fee is increased. This funding is passed through to SCL to operate the service and there is no cost to the City Council.  Procurement Advice obtained: N/A HR Advice obtained: N/A Climate Change Advice obtained: N/A The following documents have been used to assist the decision process: N/A   Contact Officer:      Stephen Hassall (SCL)                   Telephone number: 07711454713   (Please delete from the list below any which are not relevant). The appropriate scrutiny to call-in the decision is the Overview and Scrutiny Board.                       Signed:        Paul Dennett                        Dated:  16.12.24                                       .                         City Mayor     This decision was published on 17.12.24                                             This decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 24.12.24                                                   unless it is called-in in accordance with the Decision Making Process Rules.