Agenda item

To provide the Joint Committee with an update on the Elevate Berkshire European Social Fund Programme.

Key Updates:-

•           Item 1 - General Update

•           Item 2 - Performance and Funding (each partner to give an update)

•           Item 3 - Project Change Request

•           Item 4 -  ESF Compliance (Article 125)

•           Item 5 - Sustainability of the Elevate brand and model

The Joint Committee received an update on the pan-Berkshire Elevate programme by way of a presentation from Paul Gresty.

The Joint Committee’s attention was drawn to the following key successes:

• The Collective Elevate Programme had been subject to a successful Article 125 Audit on the 17 and 18 May 2017. 

• System change and centralised Elevate system - Elevate had been the catalyst for conversations around the operational delivery of skills and employment activity and instrumental in culture change.

•  Co-location of key partners - partners were now working together for mutual benefit and the partnership was growing as providers began to realise the value of being associated with something that had the capacity to draw down money.

• BASE project – the pan-Berkshire project focusing on employment for young people with disabilities.

• Elevate Brand – the Elevate brand was growing locally with visits by senior Civil Service leads and the Head of the ESF.

• Referral/Caseworker Model - Elevate had implemented a new person-centred pathway; whereby services delivered by the partners were wrapped around the individual via the holistic Elevate service.

• Central project management system and ESF workshops - the central team had been working with partners to operationalise compliance considerations.

• Partnership Working - Elevate continued to build a culture of collaboration amongst partners who were seeing the added value of working together)

• Project sustainability and aspiration to deliver an ageless Elevate Berkshire model using Elevate as the vehicle.

• Good News Stories – had been provided in Appendix A of the report and demonstrated the positive impact the programme was having on some of the people that it had supported to date,

The Joint Committee welcomed the links with the LEP and Building Better Opportunities (BBO) in East Berkshire. Working together had ensured a better understanding of the governance arrangements however the Joint Committee were reminded that this was not legal body status as the LEP only informed the specification for BBO and the investment strategies.  The LEP had four programme groups, one of which was the Delivery Group, which aimed to have an overview and to co-ordinate all projects, along with identifying any crossovers that may occur. This was not a governance structure.

The Joint Committee raised concerns that West Berkshire seemed better at collaborative working than East Berkshire, as West Berkshire were linking projects together with other agencies.

Concerns were also raised  by the Chair about the attendance of Members at the Joint Committee, as in the last year one meeting had been inquorate and one had been cancelled due to few attendees.  Somehow attendance needed to be improved and communication within Local Authorities about the role of the Members on the Committee needed to be clearer.

In January 2017 the Joint Committee had been updated on individual and collective performance. The Joint Committee noted DWP had been concerned about the under-performance and had refused to agree a revised set of outputs and results.  Members noted that partners had not delivered the necessary performance improvements since the January 2017 Committee.

The Joint Committee noted that to date the DWP had paid four claims (covering the period Nov 15 to Dec 16). The programme was awaiting claim five and six, with claim 7 due in October 2017.  100% of the funding for partners for claims one, two and three had been released, but as agreed at the Joint Committee in January 2017 performance would be taken into account in relation to payments for claim four due to the necessary performance targets not being met. As a result a percentage of the partners claims would be withheld. This was inline with the ESF underperformance methodology for the 14-20 ESF Programme which was set out in Appendix C of the report.  The withheld money would be held by Reading Borough Council, it was thought that this was a more pragmatic approach to the programmes management and would mitigate any risk going forward to ensure that it was not just a resource based programme.  Underperformance was national issue as the targets set for output and results had been set high.

The Joint Committee were reminded that previously the DWP had insisted that the programme had to deliver the outputs and results and that money could be ‘clawed-back’ if it did not meet the collective targets. Clarification still needed to be sought from the DWP as they still had not confirmed whether this would be implemented. 

The Collective Elevate Programme had been subject to a successful Article 125 Audit on the 17 and 18 May 2017. There had been an eight week lead in time to prepare for the visit however there had been some issues with partners not providing the required evidence for resource claimed for, which did put the programme at risk. However, the Joint Committee noted that the despite the issues the programme was rated compliant and didn’t need to pay back any ESF funds that has been drawn to date. Positive feedback had been received regarding the model and system changes. It was likely that in the future there would be a 127 Audit or an EFS Commission visit. However it was thought there would be a period of grace which would allow the programme to undertake a health check with partners and the central management system.

The Joint Committee were informed that thought needed to be given to the sustainability of the current Elevate brand and programme model,  as by the start of 2019, the programme will have spend £6m implementing the new system in Berkshire since 2014. It was proposed to the Joint Committee that the central Elevate team would bring together key partners to discuss future arrangements later in 2017 to act as a “critical friend”. Conversations would also be undertaken locally with Local Authorities with the view to evolve Elevate as its own service.. The future investment models would also be reviewed and updates would be provided at the next Joint Committee meeting.

Having noted the issues and welcomed the update on action being taken by Paul, the Joint Committee.

RESOLVED that the Joint Committee note the success of the collective Elevate Berkshire programme and endorsed the actions, proposals and agreements within the briefing paper; to ensure the programme continues to be delivered in-line with ESF processes.