Agenda item

Report enclosed.

The Committee received a report providing the annual assessment of the delivery of the Combined Authority’s Business Plan for 2018/19.  The Committee were asked to note the report.

The report stated that the business plan for 2019/20 was agreed by WECA and Joint Committee at its meeting on 1 February 2019.The report attached at Appendix One provided an annual assessment onprogress in delivering the business plan for 2018/19, including:

• An overview of delivery in 2018/19, with a description of key projects and activities

• A detailed commentary on each item in the 2018/19 business plan

• Specific information requested for the LEP delivery plan

The Corporate Risk Register was attached at Appendix 2.

During the discussion the following points were made:

• A question was raised as to how funds were allocated to different schemes, for example £60k was allocated specifically to women yet there was some underspend in the Adult Education Budget (AEB).  In reply it was stated that the Combined Authority had to adopt a mixed approach between being reactive and proactive while allocating funds depending on the conditions attached to the funding being received;
• A query was raised regarding the AEB budget.  It was stated that this had been nationally funded previously and the Combined Authority had to prove its readiness.  Funding had been based on a formula that had taken previous years’ spending into account and as a result there had been less money allocated than anticipated.  The current year would be about keeping the status quo although in future years the Authority can be more proactive in its budget allocation;
• In response to a question about delivering a bus strategy, Patricia Greer reported that although there was a requirement to produce a bus strategy there was no extra allocation of funds to go with it and as the Authority could not have any ongoing revenue streams, any solutions would have to be sustainable.  David Carter added that the process included Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) being agreed with all local bus operators.  He stated that the Authority anticipated being able to bring forward a report to its Committee in autumn 2019;
• Returning to the AEB budget a question was asked what mentoring was being provided for small and medium sized businesses to enable them to ‘scale-up’.  It was noted that there was already existing support freely available, but that the growth hub could take a lead in channelling this support more effectively;
• A comment was made that the success of Metrobus had had a negative effect on some areas which were now used for commuter parking and a suggestion was made that a solution could be to provide more small and medium sized park and ride sites;
• It was also noted that the Authority was aware of other issues regarding Metrobus such as cancelled routes, effect on existing services and the cost of providing new bus stops.  However, it was reiterated that the operation of Metrobus was completely commercial.  A move to a more simple fare structure was being looked at, such as the use of smart cards/oyster-style cards.  It was also noted that Metrobus was not a Combined Authority function but the Authority was working with the three local authorities who were providing services;
• There were a number of comments made about the ‘Climate Emergency’ declaration that had been made by a number of the local authorities and the Committee asked that WECA make a similar declaration.  This formed part of the comments made by the Committee to the WECA Committee and Joint Committee meetings.  Patricia Greer stated that green growth was embedded in the work of the Combined Authority which included reduction of carbon emissions, the switch of private cars to walking, cycling, use of shared transport etc and the use of information systems to cut down journeys made.  It was also noted that green growth was embedded in the obligations on the funding given to the Combined Authority.  However, the Committee still wished to raise the lack of an implicit commitment to tackling climate change and asked that a future briefing be provided.

Resolved: That the report be noted.