Agenda and decisions

Apologies for absence were received from Jonathan Browning, Councillor Ian Courts, Councillor Shaun Davies, Councillor Steve Eling, Councillor Dennis Harvey, Councillor Lee Jeavons, Councillor Abdul Khan, Councillor Roger Lawrence, Councillor Peter Nutting and Stewart Towe.

(1)       The Mayor welcomed Tim Pile, the new Chair of Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, to his first meeting, replacing Steve Hollis.

(2)       The Mayor reported that, at its meeting on 7 November, Birmingham City Council had appointed Councillor Brigid Jones as its representative on the WMCA Board to replace Councillor John Clancy.

(3)       The Mayor noted that this was the last meeting that Paul Sheehan, Chief Executive of Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, would be attending before he retired. He thanked him for all that he had done to help establish the WMCA and supporting its work programme during the last 18 months.

(4)       The Mayor reported that the ‘Social Value in Procurement’ policy had been further improved and strengthened following the Board’s consideration of it at its meeting on 8 September. The policy would be launched at the National Social Value in Procurement conference being held in Birmingham on 14 November.

The minutes were agreed as a correct record, subject to the addition of Councillor Peter Hughes and Councillor Sayeed Khatun in the list of attendees.

The appointment of Councillor Ian Ward as the WMCA’s Portfolio Lead for Economic Growth, replacing Councillor John Clancy, was agreed.

The update on the latest developments regarding a future devolution agreement with the Government was noted.

The plan of items to be reported to future meetings of the WMCA Board was noted.

(1)       The adjustment to the Minimum Revenue Provision policy as detailed in Section 11 of the report was approved.

(2)       The results of the Treasury Management Strategy as at 30 September 2017 were noted.

(3)       It was noted that the Authority’s borrowing was within the prudential indicators established at the beginning of the year, as outlined in appendix 1.

(4)       It was noted that the West Midlands Combined Authority was currently in dialogue with HM Treasury and the Department for Communities & Local Government regarding an amendment to WMCA’s borrowing powers, and that further details would be shared with the WMCA Board at a later date.

(1)       It was agreed to proceed with the transition option during the transitional year 2018/19 prior to full devolution of the Adult Education Budget in 2019/20.

(1)       The West Midlands Combined Authority would continue international collaboration with other City Regions that were engaged in whole system transformation to improve the mental health and wellbeing of their citizens, and would support efforts to establish a thriving virtual network to share evidence, learning and ideas.

(2)       The West Midlands Combined Authority would send representation to the event in Stockholm in 2018.

(3)       The West Midlands Combined Authority would seek to host a joint event with London in 2018 or 2019.

The resolution passed on 17 March 2017 to authorise the West Midlands Combined Authority to submit an application for the Midland Metro (Birmingham City Centre Extension, etc.) (Edgbaston Extension Land Acquisition) Order to the Secretary of State for Transport was confirmed.

The minutes were noted.

The minutes were noted.

The minutes were noted.

The minutes were noted.

The date of the next meeting was noted.

[That, in accordance with s100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it was likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information specified in paragraph 3 of the Act.]

The exclusion of the public and press for the remainder of the meeting was agreed.

(1)       The West Midlands Combined Authority pledged its support to work with the Coventry City of Culture Trust and other partners to maximise the benefit of a winning bid to the promotion of the West Midlands.

(2)       The West Midlands Combined Authority resolved to work with Coventry 2021 to build on the momentum of the bid and its work in repositioning culture in Coventry and across the region.

(3)       Consideration of a potential allocation of £4m over four years to support a total of £37.9m investment if Coventry was successful in being named UK City of Culture 2021, to be done alongside all the other requests for capital and revenue investment into the WMCA and in line with the current and future analysis of aggregate funding availability, would be included in the WMCA’s medium-term budgeting process.

(4)       Consideration of a potential allocation of £1m over four years to support the programme if the Bid was unsuccessful would be included in the WMCA’s medium-term budgeting process, in order to help deliver the alternative legacy cultural programme.