Decisions

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Adam Aston (Dudley), Councillor Stephen Craddock (Walsall) and Councillor John O’Shea (Birmingham).

It was recommended to the WMCA Board that the contents of the Strategic Risk Register be noted with concerns over optimum bias being referenced.  

It was recommended to the WMCA Board that the report be noted with no further action being required. 

A forward plan of items to be reported to future meetings of the Committee were noted.

·         Chief Executive of West Midlands Combined Authority to be invited to the Committee to answer questions on the effects on resources for the Combined Authority’s plan / objectives in relation to the work undertake for the Police & Crime Commissioner merger and other resourcing pressures. 

·         Update of the Governance of subsidiaries; with a particular focus upon 5G.

·         Proposal on Governance for the absorption of Fire and Rescue to be presented to the Committee in January 2019 for approval.

·         An update from Health and Safety to address as to whether or not the commitments had been achieved by the 31 December 2018 deadline.

It was recommended to the WMCA Board that:

(1)  The Conflict of Interest Policy for non-elected participants in WMCA governance processes was agreed.

(2)  Solihull Independent Person Panel to be appointed as the Designated Independent Person for dealing with any complains under the Code of Conduct for Elected Members.

(3)  The Monitoring Officer consults with the Chair on behalf of the Committee around the arrangement of appointing Solihull Independent Person Panel and the Terms of Reference.   

(4)  The Committee to be provided with a regularly updated list of those individuals that the policy applies to.

·         Chair welcomed Hannah Begum from West Midlands Fire Service.

·         Sean Pearce, Director of Finance will be leaving WMCA towards the end of December 2018. Process of recruitment to this post is currently being reviewed.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2018 confirmed as a correct record subject to amendments minute No. 95. whereby the minutes should reference ‘Unfortunately, there had been one recent death at a bus station, and an inquest had recorded this as accidental death’.

It was recommended to the WMCA Board:

(1)  That the report provided to the Committee be noted.

(2)  That the Committee were satisfied with the assurance activity undertaken between April 2018 – October 2018 with the caveat that Assurance requirements will have a step change rise over the next 12 – 24 months.

(3)  That regular updates on major programme slippage be reported at Committee.

It was recommended to the WMCA Board:

(1)  That the update of progress towards the transfer of governance from West Midlands Fire Authority to the WMCA be noted.

(2)  The Chair to be consulted upon the proposed Governance Arrangements.

(3)  That the emerging proposals with regard to the handling of Audit, Risk & Assurance arrangements be noted and to be reported back to the Committee in January 2019.

The minutes of the meeting were noted.

The minutes of the meeting were approved.

The minutes of the meeting were noted.

The minutes of the meeting were noted.

The minutes of the meeting were noted.

The minutes of the meeting were noted.

The minutes of the meeting were approved.

That date of the next meeting was noted.

(1)       The Mayoral Q&A event held with members of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 28 September 2018 was noted, along with:

(a)       The committee’s views on the need for a ‘prescribed/dedicated’ time slot within the Mayor’s diary for such events;

(b)       Proposals to increase the number of events to three per year, in order to facilitate a wider range of questioning, and ensure greater transparency;

(c)        The continued need for the WMCA Board to ensure that pre-decision scrutiny was embedded throughout the work of the WMCA.

(2)       The recommendations of Overview & Scrutiny Committee arising from the Mayoral Q&A event were approved:

(a)       A report on Brexit, and the implications for the region, to be presented to the WMCA Board as soon as possible, as it was considered that there was a need for a co-ordinated regional approach on the potential impacts and mitigations of Brexit.

(b)       Any WMCA Air Quality Strategy should be drafted in co-ordination with all constituent authorities, and include reference to impact on non-constituent authorities;  also  the WMCA should develop a region-wide database for all local authorities to input into, and to access information.

(c)        The WMCA should provide leadership on vehicle emission standards impacting on air pollution, and therefore any decision on the engine type to be used in the proposed Sprint vehicle should avoid the use of diesel; and WMCA should seek to be the market leader in environmental emissions.

(d)       Overview & Scrutiny Committee should undertake pre-decision scrutiny on any proposals or recommendations arising out of the Ring & Ride review prior to its consideration by the WMCA Board.

(3)       The following questions being asked of the Mayor were noted, which, in accordance with the WMCA’s constitution, he was required to provide a written response to the committee, within two months:

(a)        To provide a detailed breakdown on how the Mayor had utilised the £2m central Government funding allocated to the WMCA to boost mayoral capacity and resources, and whether any of this funding had been, or was intended to be, allocated to support an effective scrutiny function.

(b)        To provide greater clarification on the extent to which the Mayor was utilising the powers provided within the Bus Services Act 2017 in respect of bus franchising.

(c)        To provide further details on the support being provided by Transport for West Midlands to ensure vehicles operated on subsidised routes achieved high standards of environmental emissions.

(d)        To provide further details on the number and percentage of housing delivery programme targets that would be designated as ‘affordable homes’, and also social housing.

(e)        To provide further information of the economic benefits that the Mayor envisaged for the region as a result of hosting the Commonwealth Games 2022, and how this would contribute to the region’s inclusive growth.

The forward plan of items of future business was noted.

The minutes were agreed as a correct record.

(1)       The financial position as at the end of September 2018 was noted.

(2)       The Authority’s mid-year Treasury Management position against the approved strategy was noted.

The public and press were excluded from the remaining items of business.

·         The Mayor congratulated Councillor Roger Lawrence on recently being awarded LGiU Leader of the Year.

·         The Mayor congratulated Councillor Pete Lowe on being appointed the new leader of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.

Apologies for absence were received from Jonathan Browning, Councillor Shaun Davies, Councillor Steve Eling, Councillor Tony Jefferson, Councillor Peter Nutting, Tim Pile, Councillor Izzi Seccombe and Stewart Towe.

(1)       The decision by the Black Country Joint Committee that, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, funding from the Black Country Land and Property Investment Fund (LPIF) was made available to the City of Wolverhampton Council as Accountable Body for the fund to facilitate the delivery of the Phoenix 10 project was noted.

(2)       It was approved that a derogation was provided in respect of the Phoenix 10 project with regard to the Commissioning Framework for the Black Country Land and Property Investment Fund (approved by WMCA Board in September 2017) in recognition of the fact that the outputs from the project would be delivered outside the agreed timeframe; subject to:

(a)       a business case agreed by WMCA that followed the principles of the HM Treasury ‘Green Book’ analysis and which would also establish if those further derogations were were necessary; and

(b)       the additional conditions set out in section 5 of this report.

(3)       It was approved that the consent to derogation was specific and exclusive to the Phoenix 10 project, and did not set a precedent for any future decisions.

(4)       The WMCA’s Chief Executive, Section 151 Officer, Director of Housing & Regeneration and Head of Governance collectively, and in consultation with the Portfolio Lead for Finance & Investments, were provided with delegated authority to agree the detailed business case for Phoenix 10 and those further derogations that might be necessary as set out in Section 4.

(5)       It was noted that as a result of the proposed investment in Phoenix 10, the overall package of outputs might differ from original expectations.  The extent of any variation would be informed through consideration of the detailed business case for Phoenix 10.