Agenda and decisions

In the event of a fire, please await direction from South Gloucestershire Council staff 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: a) State the item number in which they have an interest, b) The nature of the interest, 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 from 28^th January 2022 of West of England Joint Committee Meeting.

To receive announcements from the Chair of the West of England Joint Committee.

To be presented by the Chairs of the West of England LEP and Overview & Scrutiny.

Members of the public can speak for up to 3 minutes each. The total time for this session is 30 minutes so speaking time will be reduced if more than 10 people wish to speak.

If you wish to present a petition or make a statement and speak at the meeting, you are required to give notice of your intention by noon on the working day before the meeting by e-mail to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk.The deadline is 12pm on 7^th April 2022.

If you wish to ask a question at the meeting, you are required to submit the question in writing to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk no later than 3 clear working days before the meeting. The deadline is 5pm on Monday 4^th April 2022.

Any member of the West of England Joint Committee may present a petition at a West of England Joint Committee Meeting.

This report presents the forecasted revenue outturn for the West of England Joint Committee for the financial year 2021/22 based on data for the period April 2021 to February 2022. The report covers the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Invest Bristol and Bath (IBB) revenue budgets.

The Joint Committee RESOLVED to:

1)     Note the Revised Analysis of LEP External Grants as at the end of February 2022.

2)     Note the LEP revenue outturn as set out in Appendix 1.

3)     Approve the Full Business Case for the acquisition of property in Milsom Quarter, Bath for the Fashion Museum and the award of funding in line with the Red Book valuation and able to be accommodated within the headroom in the Revolving Infrastructure Fund programme.

4)     Approve the change requests for schemes in the Local Growth and Getting Building Fund programme as set out in Appendix 2.

5)     Approve the change requests for schemes in the Economic Development and Revolving Infrastructure Fund programmes as set out in Appendix 3.

This report has been produced by Unitary Authorities CEOs, in consultation with the Monitoring Officers of the Unitary Authorities, S151 Officers. There also been engagement with the Chief Executive and the Chair of the LEP Board prior to the publication of this report. This report sets out a series of recommendations to renew the governance arrangements for the West of England Joint Committee that will ensure effective collaboration between all West of England authorities as a way of ensuring maximum impact.

The Joint Committee RESOLVED:

1)     The Joint Committee is to be re-established with new governance arrangements that make accountability clearer, and decision making more transparent. This includes the receipt of any relevant recommendations from the Local Enterprise Partnership Business Board, and any other relevant legacy matters that involve both the West of England Combined Authority area and the area of North Somerset Council.

2)     Joint Committee will play its full role in the development of strategy for the West of England region as a whole, working with the LEP, Combined Authority and Western Gateway and other partners to advocate for the region with Government and other stakeholders.  

3)     That the four Unitary Authorities (Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council, North Somerset Council) agree to dissolve the existing Joint Committee arrangements subject to new Standing Orders being agreed by the Joint Committee, subject to Unitary Authority council governance processes.

4)     To note the comments made by the Scrutiny and LEP Chairs, which will be considered as part of the report produced by Monitoring Officers setting out new standing orders which be considered at the next meeting of the Joint Committee.

5)     Monitoring Officers will produce new standing orders which be considered at the next meeting of the Joint Committee. The new standing orders will include provisions which detail arrangements for the management of Joint Committee meetings and agenda setting; election of a chair; the co-production of reports; voting arrangements; the relationship with the Combined Authority; and the role of the Combined Authority Mayor. 

6)     One Front Door funding administrative arrangements should continue with regards to relevant funds such as the Economic Development Fund and Resolving Infrastructure Fund.

7)     To ensure clearer accountability of the Joint Committee and in line with Quality Assurance Framework, approve the principle that for those funds that are the responsibility of the 4 Unitary Authorities, for example the Economic Development Fund reports, will be commissioned by the Committee and signed-off by Unitary Authority (UA) CEOs in partnership with the CEO of the LEP before publication.

8)     Note the Government White Paper "Levelling Up the United Kingdom”, published on 2 February 2022, proposes changes to the current framework for the governance and funding of LEPs. To welcome the agreement of the LEP Board to establish a working group, comprising representatives from the Combined Authority, the LEP, North Somerset and a representative from the three other Unitaries to consider options and proposals regarding the future governance of the LEP to bring before the respective bodies in the early summer. 

9)     Note the letter received from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities regarding ‘Integrating Local Enterprise Partnerships into local democratic institutions’ on 31st March 2022. Note that bespoke arrangements to maintain West of England LEP will need to be developed and welcome the opportunity to be engaged in the development of a preferred option.

10)  To provide greater transparency and accountability the Joint Committee will produce an annual report which will  ...  view the full decision text for item 10.