Agenda item

(Led by: Mark Roberts, Lead Officer: Caroline Allen)

The Board considered a report of the Head of Legal & Governance Services regarding changes to governance arrangements

The Chair introduced this item and then presented the report to the Board. The Board was asked to:

·   Appoint a co-optee member to the LEP Board

·   Recommend to the Combined Authority that the co-optee appointed in accordance with recommendation 10.1 be appointed to the role of Deputy Chair of the Culture, Heritage & Sport Committee.

The Chair explained that Helen Featherstone, who is a private sector member of the Board, had advised that she will be moving to a new role with a public sector organisation in mid-January 2023 and was therefore stepping down as a private sector member from both the LEP Board and Culture, Sport and Heritage Committee.  Helen will continue to sit on the Culture, Sport and Heritage Committee in her new, public sector, role.

The Chair noted that Helen was moving into a new role at England North for the Lottery Heritage Fund. He thanked Helen for all her work on the Cultural Framework as a member of the Culture, Heritage & Sport Committee and for her contribution as a member of the LEP Board. On behalf of the Board, he also wished her all the best in her new role.

As well as this resulting in a further private sector vacancy on the LEP Board, Helen’s departure will also leave the Deputy Chair role on the Culture, Heritage & Sport Committee vacant which is held by a private sector member.

A private sector member from the Culture, Heritage & Sport Committee had been sought for this role, with the intention that this individual would also become a co-opted member of the LEP Board, serving a term of office until Summer 2023 when LEP governance arrangements become clearer.

One Expression of Interest for the role had been received from Nicky Chance-Thompson, CEO of The Piece Hall. Board approval was therefore sought that she be appointed as a co-opted Member to the LEP Board until June 2023.

The Board were asked to approve a recommendation to the Combined Authority to appoint Nicky Chance-Thompson to the Culture, Heritage & Sport Committee and to hold the role of Deputy Chair of that committee.

Resolved:

i.   That Nicky Chance-Thompson be appointed as a co-opted member to the LEP Board for the term of office of the Interim Chair

ii.   That Nicky Chance-Thompson be recommended to the Combined Authority to be appointed to the role of Deputy Chair of the Culture, Heritage & Sport Committee.

Chair’s Update on the LEP Integration Plan

The Chair also provided the Board with an update on the LEP Integration Plans.

At the last meeting the Board agreed that work would be undertaken to make the necessary changes to the constitution to bring into force the proposals for the LEP that are set out in the implementation plan that the Board agreed in the summer. Work has been progressing on the details of how to make those changes happen, including formalising the relationship with the Combined Authority and the Committees, but these plans won’t be finalised until after the Government has agreed to the implementation plan which had been completed on 27 July 2022 and submitted to the Government.

It had been hoped that the Government would respond in time to report back to the previous LEP Board meeting which was held on 21 September 2022. However, a response from Government is still awaited and the Plan cannot be finalised until a formal response is received.

As such, the revised Constitution for the LEP Board will be brought forward to the next Board meeting in March next year. This will include a revised recruitment procedure for private sector members, and therefore we need to wait until then before launching a new recruitment round. One of the greatest strengths of the Combined Authority’s model, which the Government supports, is the formal role of private sector members voting and taking decisions alongside elected members on all of the decision-making committees.