Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - About Us - Council Minutes

26 April 2005

MINUTES OF THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL ON 26^th April 2005 AT CRC OFFICES, 6 MURRAY STREET, BELFAST

(CONFIRMED)

01 PRESENT:

Dr David Stevens (Chair), Dr Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Colin Neilands, Maggie Bryson, Colin Craig, Maria Bannon, Paul Smyth (joined the meeting at @12.10pm)

02 APOLOGIES:

Pauline Morgan, Eamonn Deane

03 IN ATTENDANCE:

Jim Dennison, Jacqueline Irwin, Claudine Walls, Patricia Armstrong, Libby Smit, Vanessa McCrory, Eileen Deacon

04 GENERAL BUSINESS

Meeting commenced at 11.30am.

Members were welcomed and apologies noted.

Minutes of previous meeting were checked for accuracy and agreed by Members.

05 MATTERS ARISING

Committee Members were informed that Eamonn Deane had recently suffered a heart attack and was in hospital recovering. Members expressed their well wishes to him for a speedy recovery. It was agreed that staff would send a card on behalf of the team and the Committee.

Members extended their congratulations to Cathy Gormley-Heenan on being awarded her PhD.

06 BRIEFING PAPER

Peace I I Extension

Members were informed that CRC's tender for the PEACE II Extension has been submitted and that a formal decision was expected early next week. Members were advised that queries had been raised regarding the tender bid which sought clarification on the 'Capital Build' element of the proposal and on S75 considerations with regard to the appointment/selection of Panel Members. SEUPB anticipate that the extension will be formally launched on Friday, 3^rd June with all Measures opening on the same day. Members were informed that the aims and objectives for the extension remain the same as those for the Peace II Programme. The budget allocation for Measure 2:1 will be c£6 million with approximately £750k for capital build projects. Staff advised Members that the capital build element of the extension will be delivered in partnership with CRU. The extension will run until December 2008 with spend permitted until June 2008. Members were advised that the extension will support the employment of 2 additional staff members, a Staff Officer and a Project Officer (Finance).

Members then availed of the opportunity to raise questions about how the extension would be administered. A brief discussion ensued before it was agreed that staff would prepare a briefing paper for the next Committee meeting outlining the options available.

Project Progress, Monitoring and Verification

Committee were advised that the progress of all funded projects continues to be monitored and verified on an ongoing basis.

Slippage Funding

Members were informed that staff are currently developing an application form and guidance notes in order to allocate slippage funds. Those organisations which are eligible to apply for funding have been advised/informed. Application forms will issue to these groups by email with a submission date of Friday 6 May. Proposals will be presented to Members for consideration at the next Committee Meeting.

Funded Workers Meeting

Members were advised that a funded workers meeting had taken place which looked at the issues around monitoring and evaluation. Feedback from the day indicated that participants felt it was a useful session.

EU Programme Publication

Members were advised that work on the first EU Programme publication was almost complete and that it would be made available online.

Financial Update

Members were advised that the N+2 2005 target stands at £2,426,034 with spend to date totalling £642,674.31 (including advance payments £21,712.58). Claims totalling approximately £200,000 are waiting to be processed.

Research

Members were provided with an overview of the work currently being undertaken with research projects. Some Measure 2:1 funded research projects took part in CR week using this opportunity to disseminate the findings of their research. Members were advised that a meeting with research projects/staff was scheduled to take place on 27 April. This meeting will involve members of the EU team. The meeting will serve to provide information to the projects regarding funding requirements and would also serve as a networking opportunity.

PEACE II Seminars

Members were advised that the third event in the 'Learning from PEACE II Project' - 'Prosperity – A Part of Peace?: Learning from the Economic Experience of PEACE II,' will be held at the Canal Court Hotel on Friday, 13^th May. The event will include the launch of PWC's Peace II Economic Research. Members were invited/encouraged to attend. Members were informed that the first publication in the series 'Beyond Sectarianism?: The Churches and Ten Years of the Peace Process' is at the draft stage and is expected to be released within the next two weeks. The second publication 'Shaping and Delivering Peace at Local Level?: Learning From the Experience of PEACE II' is at the planning stage and will be available by August.

07 REALLOCATION REQUESTS FROM FUNDED GROUPS

UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT TRUST (UCT) 01/0393/002791

No conflicts of interest were declared.

Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. Committee agreed to the proposal to use identified underspends in the project award to uplift budget headings as requested. Agreement was given on the basis of the increased demand in the 'advocacy' work of the project and the cost implications of this. The following budget uplifts were agreed: Rent by £420.00, Secretarial Support by £5,000, Travel by £2,370 and Facilitation by £10,700. Members were advised that the uplift in the Facilitation budget was to allow the project to prepare learning materials for dissemination.

YOUTHLINK N.I. (KAIROS) 01/0342/001348

No conflicts of interest were declared.
Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. Members were advised that the project wishes to use budget underspends to take account of the implications for the project caused by the departure of the Project Worker and the unexpected increase in the costs of the CD Rom to uplift the CD Rom and Manual budget. As the focus of the project is the production of up-to-date resource materials Committee agreed to the reallocation request.

YOUTHLINK N.I.(CHRYSALIS) 01/0342/001348

No conflicts of interest were declared.
Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. Members were advised that although the start date for the project was 1 July 2002 the Community Relations Development Worker was not appointed until October 2002. Due to these recruitment delays the group were requesting an extension to the project until end October 2005 (within the remit of their Measure 2:1 award offer). A small uplift to the salary budget was requested and approved by Committee. Agreement was also given for identified underspends to be used to bring over spent budgets to zero.

YOUTH INITIATIVES – Creative Cross Links 02/0056/005018

No conflicts of interest were declared.
Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. Members were advised that the project has identified an underspend within the salary budget heading which they wish to use to extend the life of the project until end December 2005. A rationale and outline work plan for the request to extend the project was provided. Members discussed the proposal and agreed to extend the project within the original Measure 2:1 award offer until 31 December 2005. Members acknowledged that the project has identified the possibility of other budget shortfalls which they will intend to source funding for from other sources.

ULSTER PEOPLES COLLEGE – 02/0066/002270

No conflicts of interest were declared.
Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. Members were advised that the project has a current budget underspend of c£46k. Given the difficulties experienced by the project with regard to staffing and the level of competency of project participants, the group are proposing to extend the life of the project until February 2006. Members discussed the proposal and agreed an extension to the project as requested. Members requested that staff work with UPC to re-profile some elements of the proposed budget.

ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN IRELAND COLLEGES (ANIC) – 01/0334/0844

Maria Bannon expressed a conflict of interest and left the meeting.
Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. Members were advised that the reallocation request is based on a request to use identified budget underspends to extend the project by 6 months. This takes into consideration the delays experienced by the project in only being able to work in line with the academic year. Members discussed the proposal and agreed to extend the project by 6 months as requested. Members advised that staff should determine whether the original aims and objectives can still be met if the project are choosing to re-use the funding set aside for the residential component of the project to extend project activity.

INSTITUTE FOR CONFLICT RESEARCH – YOUTH ALIENATION: 'YOUNG WOMEN AND VIOLENCE' 01/0405/002338

No conflicts of interest were declared.

Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. This reallocation request was originally presented to Members at the EU Committee Meeting in February 2005 where further clarification of the proposed project's CR element was requested. This information was requested from the group and presented to Committee. Members discussed the proposal regarding 'Young Women and Violence' and approved the proposal with the conditions that this small piece of research be linked to the original piece of research on Youth Alienation and Communal disorder and a requirement that the project considers how the research results could be used to contribute to a discussion about useful programmes or interventions that would be specifically geared towards young women (in consultation with groups currently doing this kind of work).

INSTITUTE FOR CONFLICT RESEARCH – YOUTH ALIENATION – YOUNG PEOPLE AND ANTI–SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN NORTH BELFAST - 01/0405/002338

No conflicts of interests were declared.
Members were given a synopsis of the request for a reallocation of grant aid. This reallocation request was originally presented to Members at the EU Committee Meeting in February 2005 where further clarification of the proposed project's CR element was requested. This information was requested from the group and presented to Committee. Based on the information provided Members agreed that the reallocation request could not be approved as the proposal failed to demonstrate the community relations specific implications of the proposed research.

08 ANY OTHER BUSINEESS

Members and staff were thanked for their contributions.
Dates for the next EU Committee meeting was confirmed as Thursday, 26 May at 11.00am in CRC's Dungannon Office.
Maggie Bryson apologised in advance as she would be unable to attend.

SIGNED:_____________________________________ DATE:________________________

(Chairperson)