§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what criteria are used to decide which groups claiming to support victims of violence should receive public funds. [117122]
§ Mr. IngramThe Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments fund a number of groups which support victims of violence. Individual Government Departments have different responsibilities and assess applications against different criteria.
The Community Relations Unit
The criteria against which applications are assessed by the Community Relations Unit, a Unit within the office of the First and Deputy First Ministers, relate to the improvement of community relations activities and the appreciation of cultural diversity.
197WThe Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
The criteria used for selecting groups are the Rural Development Council's standard criteria under their PlaNet Programme. It has the following minimum requirements:
- Applicant is a bona fide group.
- Based in a rural area.
- In an area of disadvantage.
- Openness to cross-community participation.
- Willingness to address social inclusion issues.
- Commitment to group development.
The Department of Social Development
Projects should provide good value for money and as an essential requirement should:
- Have specific quantitative and, where appropriate, qualitative, objectives which should be clearly identified.
- In accordance with the Making Belfast Work mission statement, be of direct benefit to local communities and be seen by them as needed.
- Demonstrate the involvement and influence of the local community in the decisions which affect them.
- Complement or be consistent with agreed area strategies.
- Be additional to mainstream departmental or agency work, or influence to a significant degree such programmes as they apply to Belfast.
- Should be capable of being absorbed into mainstream funding at the end of a specific period or funded from sources other than Making Belfast Work; only in very exceptional cases will Making Belfast Work funding continue beyond three years for any individual project.
Projects will be given preference if they:
- Adopt a strategic, innovative, preventative and multi-agency approach to the problems of an area.
- Achieve, or at the very least encourage, a high level of local employment.
- Involve partnerships among the public, voluntary and private sectors.
- Demonstrably enhance the provision of public services in the area.
- Harness the skills and experience of the voluntary sector and encourage volunteering.
The Northern Ireland Office
Measure 4.4 of the EU Peace and Reconciliation Programme specifically targets funding at victims and ex-prisoners groups. Decisions about which groups should be funded are taken by an Intermediary Funding Body, the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust. This method of distribution of funding meets one of the main criteria set down by the European Commission; that decisions with regard to funding should as far as possible be taken at community level. The criteria used by the NIVT in making decisions are:
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- Clearly demonstrate that they meet the objectives of the sub-programme and measure them (i.e. helping those who are victims of the conflict to come to terms with their losses and accelerate the healing process).
- Be backed by sound community development practices and principles.
- Promote the full inclusion of marginalised groups and people.
- Improve the accessibility of and quality of services for marginalised groups and people.
- Promote the active participation of marginalised groups and people in the design and delivery of programmes.
- Use approaches which are innovative and imaginative.
- Promote gender balance in the management structures of the projects.
- Where feasible, have a cross-community dimension.
Victims Liaison Unit
The Community Relations Council, which currently administers the Victim Support Grant Scheme, on behalf of the Victims Liaison Unit assesses applications under any of the following criteria:
- Seeking funding to help establish a new group working in the area of victims. The group will need to demonstrate that there is an unmet need which cannot be filled by an existing group or service.
- To carry out a "needs analysis".
- To train volunteers or staff in the wide range of relevant support services.
- To produce training or other resource materials which could be of use to groups or individuals working in this area.
- To demonstrate models of good practice.
Priority will be given to projects which can produce results in the time and financial scale of the scheme.
§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures(a) he is taking and (b) he proposes to take to ensure that public funds given to organisations which claim to support victims of violence are used for that purpose. [117124]
§ Mr. IngramAs with any grant award, all projects supported by the Community Relations Unit are subjected to an on going system of regular review and monitoring to ensure that funds are being used for the intended purpose. In addition, projects are also subject to evaluation.
To ensure that public funds paid to victims of violence groups are used for that purpose, both the NIVT and the NIO carry out verification visits on victims of violence projects. In addition to those checks, independent consultants are employed to carry out audits on a range of public funded projects, including victims of violence projects.
Within the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, funds will not be issued until there is an agreed action plan between the group and the Rural Development Council. The Rural Development Council is about to recruit an Audit Officer who will carry out audits/inspection visits to ensure that grant aid has been expended for the purpose for which it was given.
Making Belfast Work projects are monitored by Departmental staff to ensure that groups comply with the terms and conditions attached to the letter of offer or grant.
The Government will continue to monitor and evaluate awards to ensure public funds are used for the purpose for which they were granted.