Purpose

Croydon Music &
Arts (CMA) is the council’s service for music and arts
education. It relies on core funding from the DfE (£0.521m
next year), distributed by Arts Council England (ACE).  This funding supports a turnover of around
£1.2m and is essential for contributing to service overheads,
as well as support for schools and heavily subsidised tuition and
other opportunities for disadvantaged children and young people. It
is unlikely the service could survive without this funding.
Following a national funding restructure, ACE has decided that from
September 2024 this funding will go to a single sub-regional Hub
Lead Organisation for South West London
covering seven boroughs, including Croydon. These seven boroughs
have a history of collaborating informally,
and are willing to work together under a more formal
arrangement, but they require a mechanism for receiving and
distributing the DfE/ ACE grant.

 

The seven music
services have agreed to create a new Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
company, Southwest London Music Limited, as the lead body for
applying for the DfE/ACE funding.  The
sole purpose of the company is to submit the revised bid, and act
as the body that will receive and distribute the core funding
according to an existing funding formula. This report seeks
approval for Croydon Council to join the company and nominate a
suitable director on the company board.

 

Content

For the reasons set out in the
report, the Executive Mayor AGREED to:
 
2.1Agree that
Croydon Music & Arts (Croydon Council) becomes a Member of a
new special purpose vehicle company, South West London Music
Limited (along with Hounslow Music Service, Merton Music
Foundation, Kingston Music Service, Richmond Music Trust, Sutton
Music Trust, and Wandsworth Music), and take all steps necessary to
participate in the company and receive allocation of DfE
funding.
 
2.2Agree that the
Director of Culture and Community Safety, be appointed as a
Director of the company and be the Member representative on the
Council’s behalf.
 
2.3Delegate
authority to the Corporate Director of Sustainable Communities,
Regeneration & Economic Recovery to finalise and enter into any
relevant agreements between the Council and the company to receive
the DfE funding.
 
2.4Note that the
company, Southwest London Music Limited, has already been set up
with Companies House, by board members of the five independent
organisations. Kingston Council, the only other LA member, has
since approved joining the company and have appointed their Company
Director.
 
2.5Note that the
Croydon Companies Supervision & Monitoring Panel (CCSMP) has
been consulted on this proposal and the Council’s group
company supervision arrangements will apply to Southwest London
Music Limited.