Third parties' accountability to local council
When a third party is sub-contracted to undertake all or part of the administration of the scheme, they're contractually accountable to the local council, not to Creative New Zealand.
Agreements with third parties
Local councils must enter into a formal written agreement with any third party they work with to deliver the Creative Communities Scheme. A copy of this agreement must be filed with Creative New Zealand.
Any agreement with a third party must be consistent with the terms and conditions of the agreement between Creative New Zealand and the council, eg on the duration of the agreement, or the make-up of the assessment committee.
What the agreement should cover:
- Third party's responsibilities:
- A detailed description of the responsibilities the council is devolving to the third party under the agreement
- Amount of funding and number of funding rounds
- the amount of annual funding available to the third party (including a clause that states that this amount may be varied)
- how many funding rounds there will be
- Administration
- methods for recording applications and funding activity
- procedures for paying grants (including details for managing GST)
- the level and type of administrative support the council will provide
- Assessors
- the make-up of any third party assessment committee (this will need to meet CCS requirements)
- Promotional activities
- how the third party will promote the scheme
- Accountability and reviews
- accountability procedures for the third party
- how the third party's role will be reviewed
- Duration and termination
- the length of the agreement (we recommend that it not go beyond the length of the council's agreement with Creative New Zealand)
- events that will bring the agreement to an end (we recommend the agreement state that it can be suspended or terminated if the council's agreement with Creative New Zealand is suspended or terminated).
Reporting by third parties
When a third party is responsible for assessing applications but not for administering the scheme, Creative New Zealand recommends that they provide the council with relevant reporting information for you to then report on to Creative New Zealand.
However, if the council has completely devolved the management of the scheme to a third party, the third party may, according to its agreement with the council, be responsible for reporting directly to Creative New Zealand.
Administrative costs of third parties
Creative New Zealand expects local councils to meet any costs incurred in administering the scheme.
Councils should provide third parties with a reasonable level of support, which should reflect the extent of the third party's role and responsibilities.