Letter to Andrew Dismore MP from the Executive
Director of North London Learning and Skills Council (ESF 15A)
Dear Andrew,
I understand that you raised with Ken Pascoe,
LSC Director of Operations, at the recent Select Committee hearing
that one of your local constituency organisations ("The Clubhouse")
has had difficulties in applying to access European Social Fund
monies. Perhaps I can set out the process followed by the LSC
and address some of the points set out by your constituent, which
have been relayed to me by the LSC attendees at the Select Committee.
With 800 providers and over 5,000 known voluntary
and community sector organisations within the LSC London North
area, you will appreciate that I am unable to meet with them all.
I referred your constituent Mr Gerber, in the first instance,
to my Social Inclusion Manager, David Hart, who rang and left
a message for Mr Gerber soon after initial contact was made. Unfortunately
it appears that Mr Gerber did not receive that message and there
was a subsequent delay before contact was re-established. Mr Gerber
did not contact my office during this time.
At their meeting, Mr Hart and Mr Gerber discussed
application processes for LSC funding—including ESF—and
Mr Hart made it clear that bidding rounds are an annual event
with the main ESF round kicking off in January/February. Mr Hart
also stressed the LSC's national requirements around robust infrastructure
and quality management of systems, which might make it more appropriate
for smaller organisations to access ESF and LSC funds via partnerships
with larger organisations such as colleges, or in consortium arrangements.
Mr Hart felt that the meeting was productive in that Mr Gerber
and his colleagues were aware of the requirements for accessing
funding from the LSC, although they clearly decided not to pursue
it as no further contact was sought.
I must strongly refute your constituent's charge
that the LSC "is not proactive" in seeking provision
from smaller providers. LSC London North's ESF Prospectus was
published on 20 January 2003. We ran eight workshops to help smaller
organisations understand ESF management and administration requirements
and complete the necessary forms. We also funded six Partnership
Brokerage workshops across North London, specifically designed
to put smaller organisations in touch with organisations with
more experience of managing contracts. Barnet Voluntary Service
Council had full details of these workshops and the one-two-one
consultancy sessions (100 were made available). London Voluntary
Sector Training Consortium was fully involved in the ESF assessment
process and can testify to the transparency and fairness of the
process.
In the final assessment, £940k (20%) of
ESF has been allocated to the community and voluntary sector across
North London. 28% of the overall funding allocated is for delivery
in Barnet. 70% of this is via strong partnerships with organisations
such as Barnet College, which will cover the administrative requirements
and allow the community and voluntary sector organisations to
continue to do what they do best-delivering close to their communities.
Mr Hart has arranged to visit The Clubhouse
on 25 June in order to give further advice. I hope they and you
find this helpful.
Verity Bullough
20 May 2003
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