Decision details

Cabinet considered an update report on the Council’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Leader welcomed the fact that the infection rate in Cheshire East had fallen sharply over the last month, although he also expressed a note of caution, given the variants of the virus in circulation, and advised that people continue to maintain all precautionary measures.

On Finance, the Leader pointed out that the majority of the £200m in grant funding had been passported through and that the Council had borne the cost of administering the grants. The Council had also provided financial support to ESAR as leisure centres had not been reimbursed for lost income.

The Deputy Leader outlined the financial pressures for the coming financial year and welcomed the Council’s continued lobbying through the Local Government Association and the County Councils Network for a fair funding settlement from Government.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Regeneration provided an update on restart grants and additional restriction grants.

Councillor J Clowes reported the comments of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee as Chairman of the Committee.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet

1.    notes the issues outlined in the report;

2.    recommends to Council a Supplementary Revenue Estimate for £1,561,000, fully funded from the Covid-19 Emergency Grant, to increase the budget for Leisure Services Commissioning, this reflecting reported spending in 2020/21 in support of the provision of leisure services in the Borough;

3.    approves a Supplementary Revenue Estimate for £881,340, fully funded from the DfE Holiday Activity Fund Grant to increase the 2021/22 Early Help & Prevention Service Budget, enabling the Council to pass on grant funding to local organisations to deliver school holiday activity and food for children who are pre-school and school age and eligible for Free School Meal entitlement; and

4.    delegates authority to the Director of Children’s Services to distribute the DfE Holiday Activity Fund Grant and to approve a temporary and limited variation to the Corporate Community Grant policy to extend the scope of payments made under the policy to include Holiday Activity Grants made under the DfE grant determination half programme 2021 No 31/5325; and for this limited period section 3.9 of the policy be amended to enable private businesses who provide holiday club activity to apply for this grant between March 2021 and April 2022 only.