Loads-A-Money!

The ever brilliant Salford Star are reporting this week that management at Salford University are throwing other people's money around like there's no tomorrow, handing a staggering £42,362 to the Manchester-based 'community engagement' group, People's Voice Media.

People's Voice Media describe themselves as "a not for profit community development organisation" that specialises "in using social media as a community engagement tool."

Their latest Annual Accounts reveal that People's Voice Media have a total income pushing £600,000 per annum - so why they need another ~£50k from a cash-strapped University, which is itself legally recognised as a charity, is anybody's guess.

Those same Annual Accounts reveal, rather tellingly, that Salford's Professor James Powell is a member of the Board of Directors. They also tell us that the Charity's revenue stream is divided into 'restricted' and 'unrestricted' funds - it would be interesting to try and delineate whether Salford's contribution came with any strings attached.

Whilst we are sure that People's Voice Media undertake commendable work, it is worth noting that not all of this is Salford-centric (indeed much of it is not). But the bigger question surely is whether Salford University's educational objectives - legally enshrined in their Royal Charter - are served by throwing money at community groups? Less we forget, £42k is roughly equivalent to 14 people's tuition fees. Is this - if it were to have been taken from existing budgets - a justifiable diversion from the funding of teaching at a time when University budgets nationally are facing almost impossible overstretch? [edit - see below, there is some debate about the actual source of this money]

If this is any indication of the sort of activities submerged within the murky headings of 'Other Fees and Expenses' in the University of Salford's Annual Accounts, it becomes all the more enticing to learn what other activities moneys are being diverted toward. Time will tell.

[Edit]

A little more research adds a little more confusion in to the mix.

Salford Star are reporting that this money was provided to People's Voice Media as part of "Salford University's Transformation Fund". The only reference we can find to a "Transformation Fund" was one initiated within Peter Mandleson's tenure as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

This was a £20m fund designed to initiate informal adult learning at the community level. BIS's own website describes how just £1m of this was given directly to community engagement groups, with the remaining £19m handed over to the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education, who took responsibility for administering a competitive tendering process for the remaining money.

Unfortunately NIACE are describing themselves as both a "Company and a Charity", and neither their Annual Report nor their Financial Statement give any indication of the detailed fate of the £19m.

Salford's own website reveals that a 'consortium' involving the University, People's Voice Media, CSV Media, Salford Arts Theatre, Voice of BME Trafford, Chapel Street Business Group, MediaCityUK Public Sector Partners, the BBC and Peel Media successfully bid for a £300,000 'slice' of the Transformation Fund. The website claims that this came directly from the Government but obviously, in light of the above revelations, it is perfectly possible that it actually came from NIACE administering Government money.

The University's website then goes on to explain "the partners have additionally pledged a further £100,000 from their own resources to support and ensure sustainability of the development."

So is this where the £42k hand over to People's Voice Media comes in? Did the University bid for the £300k devolved Government grant on the pretext of further administering it to community groups, this being the source of the £42k? Have the University simply 'passed on' a restricted grant or is this indicative of their pledge to match the grant with their own resources?

Of course, all of this could be answered by a Freedom of Information Request - but we know how Salford University feels about those.