Neighbourhood Renewal update

BRO had so far issued 80 letters of offer, many of which had already been returned and were being processed. Mark said that the money would be in bank accounts two to five days from the receipt of claims, and reminded people that they could submit claims for three months salaries in advance.

The issue of funding for category two posts was raised. These were defined as posts which carry out activities that are in the NR action plan, but whose work is clearly the responsibility of another department. Mark explained that the grading of a post as category two did not mean that it was less important than category one and that the total amount needed in Belfast to cover these posts is £5 million.

He confirmed that discussions with other departments were ongoing and people should ask their local partnerships for an update. It is not necessarily the case that if funding is not picked up by another department before March that DSD will simply stop its support and the post would be lost. He said that officials were considering ways to deal with this situation, eg DSD and other departments match funding projects, but said that this was very much still only an idea.

On organisations being worried about signing contracts, Mark thought that it would be a shame if services were not delivered to communities between now and March because of worries about something which may or may not happen and suggests that groups sign their contracts and return their claims as soon as possible.

One participant's organisation was reluctant to sign its new contract because it did not include funding for any redundancies that the organisation may need to make, for which it would have a legal responsibility. Mark replied that this was a governance decision for organisations, but as funding was offered on time bound contracts, organisations should be well aware of any pending redundancies. He said that as NR funding was based on a contract for services, DSD could not offer money for things such as redundancies that would not actually buy the Department anything in return.

It was agreed that more information would be sought on this in an attempt to find a practical solution, although it is unlikely to be solved quickly.

BRO has 79 applications outstanding and will be working to process them by November/December. These applications were being treated as a priority but they still have to conform to the financial regulations set by the Department of Finance and Personnel on things such as economic appraisal, which takes time.

It was agreed that there was more work needed between now and December and it was proposed that a small but representative working group be established to take this work forward.

Anyone interested in joining the working group should contact Lisa McElherron on 028 9087 7777 or lisa.mcelherron@nicva.org.

For previous information and a brief history of what has been happening with NR, please visit: http://www.nicva.org/index.cfm/section/news/key/Neighbourhood_Renewal_delay