Where did the money come from?
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) was a 3-year agreement between Central Government and a local area working through its Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). It set out the priorities for a local area that partners will work together to address and translate these priorities into a set of improvement targets. The Gloucestershire LAA ran from 2008 -2011. You can find out more here: http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/laa.
The Gloucestershire LAA included 18 ‘stretch targets’, attached to the achievement of which was a Performance Reward Grant. As a result of voluntary and community sector (VCS) involvement in the Local Area Agreement and the achievement of some of these ‘stretch’ targets, the county’s VCS was allocated £643,089.
After consultation with the county’s voluntary and community sector (VCS), the VCS Assembly Board decided that £500,000 of this fund was to be used to increase the sustainability of the county’s VCS. The remainder makes up this Small Grants for Active Communities Fund.
Central Government requires this amount to be divided between 30% capital expenditure[1] (tangible assets, e.g. buildings, IT equipment, vehicles) and 70% revenue expenditure[2] (running costs, e.g. salaries, rent, stationery).
[1] ‘Capital’ expenditure: results either in the acquisition of assets or an improvement or extension to existing assets. This can include IT equipment and vehicles as well as buildings.
[2] ‘Revenue’ expenditure: refers to all expenses incurred in running a business or project such as salaries, rent, lighting, stationery etc
