Agenda item

To submit a report by the Treasurer in relation to a request from Menter Môn to change the use of the approved allocation. 

Submitted – a report by the Treasurer in relation to a request by Menter Môn to change the use of the approved allocation.

The Treasurer reported that in January 2018, the Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust agreed to allocate a sum of £191,438 to Menter Môn as match funding to European and Welsh Government funding which would allow the LEADER project to continue to December 2021.  He further reported that in April 2016, the Regeneration Committee recommended to the Trust that a large grant of £50,000 be allocated to Menter Iaith Môn to assist in delivering the objectives of the Island’s Welsh Language Strategy.  In February 2018, Menter Iaith Môn made a further grant application for an additional £100,000 to fund the continuation of the work.  In allocating the funding available for larger grants in 2018, the Regeneration Committee allocated all the funding available to new applications and, as a result, there was no funding available for applications from organisations who had received funding within the last five years. 

The Treasurer further reported that the Managing Director of Menter Môn has approached Officers of the Trust to ascertain whether the Trust will allow the transfer of £25,000 of funding from the LEADER project to be used on the Menter Iaith Môn project. 

Comments were made by some Members of the Trust that Menter Iaith Môn is paramount to promote the Welsh language on the Island.  It was noted that Menter Iaith Môn supports pupils and families within the Island’s schools in promoting the Welsh language.

Questions were raised as to whether transferring funding allocated to the LEADER project to Menter Iaith Môn conforms to the ‘Criteria for the Allocation of Grants from the Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust’.  The Treasurer responded that the application by Menter Iaith Môn in February 2018 was not approved due to the recommendation of the full Trust at its meeting held on 12 December, 2017 that applications whom had received grant funding within the previous five years may submit an a further application but will only be considered once all other applications have been considered and that funding is available.  He further said that Menter Môn has stated that if the Trust approves the transfer of £25k from the LEADER project to Menter Iaith Môn they are able to source match funding from other facilities to ‘claw-back’ the cap within the LEADER project.  He noted that Menter Iaith Môn will cease if this transfer of funding is not approved.  The Legal Services Manager said that the Trust has a fiduciary obligation to protect the charitable funds. He further noted that if Menter Môn did not require the whole funding received by the Trust toward the LEADER project, then they should return the surplus funding and not transfer the funds to fund another project.

Following further deliberations it was RESOLVED to defer consideration of the application so as to allow the Officers of the Trust to discuss the application further with Menter Môn.

Mr Dafydd Roberts abstained from voting.