The Chairman welcomed Members of the Panel and Officers and gave a brief summary on changes to the budget and proposed changes to the Grants Panel. Members noted the following main points:

Ø  The total Grants budget had been increased by £160,000

Ø  Any constitutional implications regarding the amounts the Grants Panel were able to award in quarterly and annual grants will be addressed.

Ø  Future monitoring implications regarding SLA funding to organisations will be considered.

Ø  With Panel Members’ support, Councillors Saunders, Bateson, S. Rayner along with Grants Officers would discuss the changes and how they could be implemented including how an additional cycle of awards could be implemented and in what format

Ø  The Panel would make formal recommendations to Cabinet on proposed grant allocations but, the item on the Future Arrangements for the Panel would be deferred pending more work to be carried out.

Ø  A PR pack would be going live on Monday 16 January 2017 which would confirm there would be larger awards to be granted and that it would be publicised to more organisations and groups.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Julian Sharpe.

To receive any Declarations of Interest.

Cllr Bateson – Declared a personal interest as she is a Member of the Committee for the Ascot District Day Centre. Cllr Bateson spoke on the item but did not take part in the vote on the item.

Cllr Bowden – Declared a personal interest as he is a financial officer for the Datchet Theatre Group and he was aware of their competitors applying for funding through the Grants Panel. Cllr Bowden stated he would not take part in any voting which took place on any of the theatre groups that had applied for funding.

Cllr D. Wilson – Declared a personal interest as he was a council representative on Windsor and Maidenhead CAB and therefore, stated he would not be taking part in any of the voting on that item.

To confirm the Part I Minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part I minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 21 November 2016 be approved.

To consider passing the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 5, and 6 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion took place on items 5-11 on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To receive a presentation and to consider the applications for the above fund.

To note the details of the Grants Eligibility Criteria.

To consider the schedule of Grant Applications.

To consider the schedule of Grant Applications.

To consider the schedule of Grant Applications.

To consider the schedule of Grant Applications.

To receive presentation on the future arrangements for the Panel.