Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room A, Wellington House, Leeds

Contact: Khaled Berroum, Scrutiny Officer 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed new members Councillors Andrew Hollyer and Olivia Rowley to their first committee meeting.

 

Apologies were received from Councillors Richard Smith and Yusra Hussain.

2.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.

3.

Possible exclusion of the press and public

Minutes:

There were no items requiring the exclusion of the press and public.

4.

Minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2020 pdf icon PDF 274 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted that the meetings on 20 March and 22 May 2020 were cancelled due to COVID-19 and two workshops for members had taken place in May and June for members to be briefed on mayoral devolution and to discuss how mayoral devolution preparations will be scrutinised.

 

The Chair noted that the consultation on mayoral devolution was still ongoing and members were encouraged to comment in their capacity as ward councillors. 

 

Resolved: 

 

i)                 That the minutes of the last meeting held on 17 January 2020 be approved.

 

ii)               That an update onthe sale of bus companies (Minute 35) be provided.

5.

Governance arrangements for 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 344 KB

To note membership, scrutiny standing orders and terms of reference for 2020/21.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee noted a report of the Scrutiny Officer explaining that, due to the absence of annual meetings in 2020 due to COVID-19, governance arrangements agreed by the Combined Authority at its annual meeting last year (27 June 2019) pertaining to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee shall remain the same for this municipal year (2020/21) – including retaining the current membership and chair.

 

Resolved: 

 

i)       That the governance arrangements for 2020/21 be noted.

 

ii)     That new members be welcomed and parting members be thanked for their service and contributions.

 

6.

Scrutiny Work Programme 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 265 KB

To consider the work programme, future agenda items, key decisions, and receive any updates from spokespersons and working groups leaders.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Scrutiny Officer outlining the proposed Work Programme for the 2020/21 municipal year, following discussion at a members’ workshop held on 26 June 2020.

 

It was agreed that this year scrutiny should focus mostly on preparations and implementation of mayoral devolution while maintaining an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on the organisation and the region.

 

Two working groups were appointed to support this – a Governance & Scrutiny working group to be led by Cllr James Baker and a Finances & Corporate working group to be led by Cllr Stephen Baines.

 

Members suggested that a date be chosen for when working groups will report back their findings to ensure there is a clear timeline and work is finished on time. Members also suggested that last year’s reviews, interrupted by COVID-19, be revisited and completed.

 

Members also asked to see the LEP Board’s forward plan and the LEP’s annual delivery plan so that scrutiny can follow COVID-19 economic recovery planning.

 

Resolved: 

 

i)       That the Work Programme in Appendix 1 of the report be agreed.

 

ii)     That two working groups (‘governance & scrutiny’ and ‘finances & corporate’) be appointed this municipal year with the following membership:  

·       Governance & Scrutiny: Cllrs James Baker (Chair), Dot Foster, Andrew Hollyer, Yusra Hussain and David Jones.

·       Finances & Corporate: Cllrs Stephen Baines (Chair), Paul Davies, Jacob Goddard, Olivia Rowley, Rosie Watson and Geoff Winnard.

 

iii)    That the existing spokespersons be re-appointed:

·       Business growth – Cllr Stephen Baines

·       Corporate issues – Cllrs Rosie Watson and Geoff Winnard

·       Employment and skills – Cllr David Jones

·       Environment – Cllr James Baker

·       Financial & strategic issues – Cllr Peter Harrand

·       Transport – Cllr Dot Foster

 

iv)   That the LEP Board’s forward plan and the LEP’s annual delivery plan for 2020/21 be circulated to members.

7.

Annual Scrutiny Report 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 121 KB

To note the 2019/20 Annual Report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Annual Report for 2019/20 which summarises and highlights scrutiny’s work in the 2019/20 municipal year.

 

Members discussed the importance of scrutiny in the context of regional democracy and how the role of scrutiny is still largely unclear to the public and even local councillors and officers.  It was agreed that scrutiny would benefit from better promotion and suggestions included:

·       that the annual report be promoted more widely and possibly sent to local authority scrutiny committees and officers in West Yorkshire as a precedent.

·       In future, framing the annual report to focus more explicitly on the impact that scrutiny has had as a way of demonstrating scrutiny’s value and importance.

·       the Scrutiny Chair seek the advice of the Combined Authority’s Head of Communications as to how scrutiny and its work can be better promoted.

·       this topic be added to the purview of the Governance & Scrutiny working group.

 

Resolved:  That the 2019/20 Annual Report be approved for publication.

8.

Effect of COVID-19 and the Combined Authority’s response pdf icon PDF 216 KB

To receive an update on how COVID-19 has affected the organisation and the region’s economy and what plans are in place to help the region recover.

Minutes:

The Committee considered two reports from the Directors of Corporate Services and Economic Services outlining the impact COVID-19 has had on the Combined Authority as an organisation and the West Yorkshire economy.

 

In the first part of the discussion on ‘corporate performance and budget monitoring’ the Committee discussed and noted the following:

 

Finances & programme/service delivery

·       Due to the statutory nature of much of its spending, the Combined Authority has less flexibility in how it manages its finances through the crisis. For instance, the Combined Authority continues to pay bus companies at pre-COVID levels, as required by government.

·       Although the government has promised some financial support for local authorities, it has not yet announced anything for combined authorities – although some funding support is expected in particular service areas, e.g. business support. Discussions with government are ongoing.

·       The risk figure is a potential £12m gap in the budget – the combination of loss of income and increased costs.

·       Current total reserves are around £7m and a review of other earmarked reserves is ongoing to see if funds can be redeployed.

·       Revenue from the usual sources such as bus stations, rents, and mcard sales have also been affected and reduced during the crisis.

·       Business rates income is not collected or retained by the Combined Authority, but by the local authorities directly other than for the Enterprise Zones.

·       The Combined Authority has not yet engaged in any active debt collection but has sought individual solutions with renters and customers in the interim.

·       There has also been an impact on delivery of capital programmes and infrastructure projects due to the increased difficulty of conducting consultations during lockdown, cashflow problems in all sectors and difficulties around securing necessary supplies and workers to advance projects.

 

Workforce issues

·       Local authorities were not able to furlough staff in the same way as the private sector and there are no Combined Authority staff currently furloughed. Affected staff were redeployed to other areas.

·       Bus station and AccessBus staff have been working throughout the lockdown while travel centres were closed – but due to reopen soon.

·       All office based staff have been working from home since the beginning of the lockdown. Thanks to the completion of much of the ‘Corporate Technology Programme’ prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, staff have the equipment needed to work from home long term if necessary.

·       Working from home arrangements are expected to continue into Winter, but based on government advice there might be a partial return in Autumn, after measures to ensure that infection risk is mitigated are in place

·       The organisation also anticipates an uptake for staff opting to work from home more regularly in the long term – which the organisation encourages and supports in the long term as it seeks to move all staff into the single location of the Wellington House head office. The accommodation refurbishment project of Wellington House is currently ongoing while staff are not in the building.

·       Staff have been kept busy due to the Combined Authority’s role in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

8a

Corporate performance and budget monitoring pdf icon PDF 134 KB

Additional documents:

8b

COVID-19 economic response and recovery pdf icon PDF 324 KB

Additional documents:

9.

Date of the next meeting - 11 September 2020