The Cabinet Office has refused to name the people it interviewed as part of Nick Hurd’s investigation into the grant that Big Society Network received from the Social Action Fund.
And not one of the non-government attendees at the meeting at 10 Downing Street where Big Society Network discussed its proposed bid to the Fund have confirmed that they were interviewed by Cabinet Office officials for the investigation.
The minister for civil society (pictured) was moved to investigate the circumstances surrounding the 31 January 2012 meeting after receiving a formal complaint about the process followed by the government and Social Investment Business in awarding the £199,900 grant to Big Society Network last year.
Nick Hurd, in his response to the complaint dated 31 January 2013, wrote that the government “takes charges of impropriety regarding funding or misconduct by officials very seriously” and so had ordered a “thorough review” of the issues raised.
He concluded: “Having reviewed the totality of the evidence from this investigation I am satisfied with the Social Action Fund process and conduct of Number 10/Cabinet Office officials in relation to this matter.” His findings were also on behalf of the Prime Minister’s office, he said.
He wrote that as part of the investigation, his department “had discussions with a number of people who attended the meeting at Number 10 on 31 January 2012 - including Shaun Bailey and attendees external to government - to understand what was said and understand the purpose of the meeting”.
But Civil Society News contacted all of the non-government attendees and two of the four - Olivier Smith from UK Active and Fred Turok from the Fitness Industry Association - confirmed they were not contacted by the Cabinet Office for the investigation.
The third, Annette Wiles from PTA-UK, refused to answer, referring the question to her CEO David Butler. Butler finally responded after three days, with the statement: “It would be incorrect to state that we have not been contacted by the Cabinet Office.” But he declined to give any details about who contacted him, when or what it was about.
Cabinet Office: no evidence of wrongdoing
Pressed to name those that were interviewed, the Cabinet Office refused. A spokeswoman said: “We found no evidence of any wrongdoing so we don’t feel it necessary to name the individuals that we consulted.
“The criteria was met and there was no evidence of any wrongdoing, that is what we want to get across from the Cabinet Office perspective.
“The main point we want to make there is that no expectation of money from the Social Action Fund was made to Big Society Network or any other organisation at that meeting by officials and none of the attendees were involved in the Social Action Fund selection process.”
Asked how the Cabinet Office could be sure of this if investigators didn’t speak to any of the people present at the meeting, the spokeswoman said: “Like I said, there was no evidence.”
Overriding published criteria ‘standard practice’ for new grant applicants
Civil Society News also asked which criteria were met, when Big Society Network had not filed the required two years’ audited accounts or provided proof of £100,000 income, as the published criteria had demanded.
The spokeswoman said: “When two years’ audited accounts are not available, we look at the experience of the senior management team. That is standard practice for new organisations, it’s quite common across the sector.”
Grant ‘not all spent yet’
She also responded to a question about how the grant had been spent by Big Society Network. Steve Moore, chief executive of Big Society Network, has already told Civil Society News that the money had been spent devising a campaign aimed at addressing obesity among schoolchildren, but that the campaign had now been put on hold by the Cabinet Office.
But the Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the whole of the grant has not been spent, and that the Cabinet Office is “now assessing how BSN and the project is going to work in the context of the broader Olympic legacy”.
