The Head of Democratic Services attended the meeting and provided members with an update in respect of the Elected members discretionary grant scheme.
The head of service reported that An annual allocation of £1000 is made to each Elected Member in May of each year, this must be used to directly benefit their where projects are identified which have a wider benefit, contributions can be made to jointly fund schemes or borough wide organisations.?
Each Elected Member in the Ward will have their own allocation, but at their request and following agreement with other ward Councillors, these funds can be combined to work on a Ward or borough basis.??
In May 2023 all Councillors accounts were credited up to £1000 and Councillors were sent an email to confirm this had been done. There has been significant advances in Member take up and Member engagement in the scheme.? All Councillors have spent their discretionary grant allocation for 2023/2024 as of 29 Feb 2024.
A by ward list of recipients benefiting from the scheme is attached at Appendix 1
Examples of schemes that have been supported is provided at Appendix 2.?
It was agreed:
That the update be noted.