Agenda and decisions

In the event of a fire, please await direction from staff members who will help assist with the evacuation. Please do not return to the building until instructed to do so by the fire warden(s).

To receive apologies for absence from Members.

Members who consider that they have an interest to declare are asked to state:

a) The item number in which they have an interest;

b) The nature of the interest, and;

c) Whether the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, non-disclosable pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest.

Any Member who is unsure about the above should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting in order to expedite matters at the meeting itself.

To consider and approve the minutes of the West of England Combined Authority Committee meeting held on 26 January 2024.

To receive any announcements from the Chair of the West of England Combined Authority Committee.

WRITTEN PUBLIC QUESTIONS

1. Any member of the public can submit a maximum of two written questions in advance of this meeting.

2. The deadline for the submission of questions is 5.00pm, at least 3 clear working days ahead of a meeting. For this meeting, the deadline for questions is 5.00pm on Monday 11 March 2024.

3. Questions should be addressed to the Chair of the meeting and e-mailed to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk.

4. Under the direction of the Chair, wherever possible, written replies to questions will be sent to questioners by the end of the working day prior to the meeting.

5. Please note - under the Combined Authority’s committee procedures, there is no opportunity for oral supplementary questions to be asked at committee meetings.

6. The written questions and replies will be circulated to committee members in advance of the meeting and published on the Combined Authority website.

PUBLIC STATEMENTS

1. Any member of the public may submit a written statement (or petition) to this meeting.

2. Please note that one statement per individual is permitted.

3. Statements must be submitted in writing and received by the deadline of 12 noon on the working day before the meeting. For this meeting, the deadline for statements is 12 noon on 14 March 2024. Statements should be emailed to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk.

4. Statements will be listed for the meeting in the order of receipt. All statements will be sent to committee members in advance of the meeting and published on the Combined Authority website.

5. Please note: If any member of the public wishes to attend the meeting to orally present their statement, they are asked please to notify the Combined Authority’s Democratic Services team of this at the point when their statement is submitted and by 12noon on the working day before the meeting at the very latest.

6. For those presenting their statements at the meeting, up to 3 minutes ‘speaking time’ is permitted for each statement. The total time available for the public session at this meeting is 30 minutes.

To receive comments from the Chair (or the Chair’s representative) of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Board.

To receive comments from the Chair (or Chair’s representative) on behalf of the Combined Authority’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

To receive comments from the Chair (or Chair’s representative) on behalf of the Combined Authority’s Audit Committee.

To provide an update on progress across the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Transformation Programme.

1)         Note that Government issued a Best Value Notice to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority on 5th March 2024 setting out specific action the Authority is required to take in order to continue improvement.

2)         Note progress and planned next steps across the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Transformation Programme; and that the Programme will be reviewed and updated as required to respond to the issues set out in and required action contained in the Best Value Notice.

3)         Note that, in line with previous Committee decisions, work will soon commence to support the SOLACE ‘one year on’ report to follow on from the Independent Peer Review they delivered in March 2023

To update the Member Code of Conduct, adopt a complaints procedure and appoint a panel of Independent Persons whose role is to assist in dealing with Code of Conduct complaints.

(1)   Adopt, with effect from 3 May 2024, the LGA Model Code of Conduct (Appendix 1).

(2)   Adopt, with immediate effect, the Code of Conduct Complaints Procedure (Appendix 2) in accordance with Section 28(6)(b) of the Localism Act 2011.

(3)   Appoint, with immediate effect, Tony Drew, Roger Morris, Marc Hole, and Ian Carrington-Porter as Independent Persons in accordance with the requirements of Section 28(7) of the Localism Act 2011

To provide an overview of employment and skills activity delivered so far by the Mayoral Combined Authority and partners and to recommend the creation of a new Employment and Skills Fund.

(1) To create the Employment and Skills Fund with an initial allocation from the Investment Fund of £15.68m to fund the first two years of delivery against the objectives of the Employment and Skills Plan.

(2) A formal review of the Employment and Skills Fund is presented to Committee 18 months after establishment of the Fund, covering performance to date and recommendations for the next allocation.

(3) If further UK Shared Prosperity Fund is confirmed for skills delivery by government, where possible this will replace the Investment Fund allocation within the Employment and Skills Fund and return it to Investment Fund headroom.

(4) Delegation of authority to the West of England Combined Authority Strategic Director of Economy and Skills, in consultation with equivalent Directors from the Unitary Authorities, to agree and administer funds (through the approval of Full Business Cases and Feasibility and Development Applications) and ensure delivery of initiatives under the Employment and Skills Fund (through approval of grant and/or contract funding recommendations). In event of consensus not being reached at Director level, decision making will be escalated to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in consultation with Unitary Authority CEOs

To update the Committee on regional progress towards tackling the climate and ecological emergencies and seeks approval to update the action areas in the regional Climate and Ecological Strategy and Action Plan (the Action Plan) for 2024/25

(1)   Note the progress on actions for the 2023 action plan – sections 6 -23, with detail in Appendix 2;

(2)   Approve the approach to develop Corporate Carbon Management for the Combined Authority over the next 12 months – sections 26-31;

(3)   Approve the updated action areas, and the enhanced focus on climate resilience and green infrastructure over the next 12 months – section 32-39.

To update the Committee on the overall Investment Fund programme and headroom.

(1) Approve the Feasibility and Development Funding Application for the Digital Office Pilot, as set out in paragraphs 6 -10, and the award of £2.519m to produce a Full Business Case by March 2027, and to delegate the approval of the detailed scope of work and ongoing oversight of the project to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Strategic Director of Economy and Skills in consultation with Unitary Authority Economy and Skills Directors. In the event of a consensus not being reached at Director level, decision making will be escalated to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEOs.

(2) Approve the Feasibility and Development Funding Application for the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund Bid and the award of £268k to support the activity until April 2027, as set out in paragraphs 11-13.

 (3) Approve the Feasibility and Development Funding Application for Green Infrastructure Implementation, as set out in paragraphs 14-15, and the allocation of £423k to support this work until October 2025, and delegate the finalisation of the detail of delivery to the Mayoral Combined Authority Director of Environment in consultation with the Directors of Environment of the Unitary Authorities. In the event of a consensus not being reached at Director level, decision making will be escalated to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Chief Executive Officer in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEOs.

(4) Approve the Outline Business Case for the Bath and North East Somerset section of the Bath to Bristol Strategic Corridor and the development of a Full Business Case by October 2025, as set out in paragraphs 25-27.

To consider changes to schemes within the Investment Fund and City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programmes against the agreed delivery assurance principles

Approve the change requests for schemes within the current programmes as set out in Appendix 1

Members of the committee are asked to note the forecast financial positions set out in the report.

That Committee notes the forecast position for the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Revenue Budget as set out in Figure 1 and the forecast position for the Mayoral Revenue budget as set out in Figure 7. Notes the changes to the Capital Forecast as set out in Appendix 2.