Agenda and draft minutes

To receive and note apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence were received.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

(1)         Members must consider their interests, and act according to the

following:

(2)         Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

(3)         Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them. A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

Members were asked to declare at this point in the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interests or other registerable interests they might have in respect of business on the agenda, if they had not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Monday, 23 June 2025.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting held on Monday, 23 June 2025 were approved and then signed by the Chair as a correct record.

To consider excluding the public and press from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 6, confidential Appendix 2 on the grounds that this contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). This information is classed as exempt under Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006.

Resolved:   That the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 6, confidential Appendix 2on the grounds that this contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). This information is classed as exempt under Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings.  The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Thursday, 9 October 2025.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form.  If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services.  Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

To consider reports from Make It York (MIY) on the company’s financial performance since the last report in February 2025.  Included within the MIY report is a copy of the audited annual accounts for 2024/25 and an update of financial and non-financial performance for the trading period April to September 2025.

The Managing Director, Make It York presented the report.

·       She stated that Make it York was in a financially strong position; all objectives set by CYC had been met, the Shambles Market and events were performing strongly this year as last, the visitor economy was worth £2 billion to York and visitor numbers were up to 9.4 million. The website was performing strongly, but had seen the impact of AI due to people using this to search rather than visiting the website directly. Membership retention was strong, having increased above expected retention, showing confidence from members. The only complaints had been regarding busking and street entertainment, and Make It York planned to work closely with the city to resolve these issues. Shareholders had received a higher dividend for the first time in Make It York’s ten year history.

·       In response to a question on the possibility of using a “search engine optimisation” type method for targeting AI that could address this issue, the Managing Director, Make it York advised that she would consult her expert and respond to the committee.

·       On the subject of how York’s 5.4% level of economic growth compared with cities like Bath and Chester, the Managing Director, Make It York stated that York was doing better than these cities; in part due to focused marketing campaigns. She explained that York was collaborating with partner cities around Yorkshire as well as ferry and train operators.

·       The Managing Director, Make It York explained that York remained in a strong position relative to other comparable cities in part because of York’s focus on international visitors. Make It York had focused on countries like the US and China this year. They had also worked closely with Visit Britain and Visit England.  She noted that they had been inundated with requests for familiarisation visits from tour operators and trade influencers, allowing them to be selective and York had the resources to undertake these to showcase York regionally, nationally and internationally.

[Between 4:41pm and 4:48pm the press and public were excluded from the meeting during consideration of Confidential Appendix 2 to the report].

Resolved:   To note the Make It York (MIY) Shareholder Report at Annex A and the supporting documents from Appendix 1 to Appendix 4 supplied by MIY.

Reason:      To ensure the Council is updated on the financial performance of Make It York.

To consider reports from Yorwaste providing a trading update for the 2025/26 financial year as well as a general update on the business.

The report was presented by the Managing Director, Yorwaste Ltd.

·       He stated that annual accounts had been approved by Companies House. The budget was broadly in line with expectation, having been significantly down this year due to a rise in national insurance and living wage foundation costs; Yorwaste had kept its increase lower than inflation with both, leading the business to absorb costs. Consequently, Yorwaste was cautiously looking at figures of £600-800k, and not paying tax on this due to capital allowances and accumulated tax losses from prior years. He stated that cash was still being generating for the business longer term. 

·       He clarified in response to committee member queries –Yorwaste had implemented and swallowed the costs, rather than passing these on to the client authorities. He explained that Yorwaste needed to focus on identifying cost savings and continuing to grow the commercial business.

·       He advised that Yorwaste’s third-party commercial recycler had recently lost its contract to another provider on price. While attempts were being made to regain this, it did make the business more vulnerable to unforeseen shocks.

·       He advised that Allerton Waste Recovery Park was still on track to deliver on target. The tonnage delivered by the Combined Authority was slightly reduced from the previous year, meaning Yorwaste may need to source additional tonnage to top this up and meet the full year’s target. 

·       In response to member queries regarding tonnage dropping he said that waste was always a leading indicator on GDP, and suggested that this was more an element of GDP than people recycling.

·       He stated that deposit return scheme, depending on how enacted and fulfilled, could lose biggest earners on recycling – plastic and cans. There was also an emissions trading scheme where people might make less plastic because they want to pay less tax, but there would always be some things that people need to use plastic for, leading to costs being passed on to consumer. The intention was to repurpose this building in 50 years.

·       He stated that Yorwaste were 7 years into a 30-year contract for the Alum incinerator and papers had gone to councillors about how they wished to proceed going forward.

·       He responded to member queries regarding Harewood Whin reaching net zero by 2030 – saying the site did not need full solar but would need a total of 9 outbound.

·       In response to a query concerning why St Nicks were ceasing collection of tetra packs, he said he understood the political desire to increase recycling wherever possible, but tetrapacks were relatively small volumes and didn’t get fully recycled. They incur a large carbon footprint to get relatively small tonnage. It potentially costs more to separate out than is made from recycling.

Resolved:   To note the reports from Yorwaste Ltd attached at Annex 1 to this report and the audited financial accounts for 2024/25 attached at Annex 2.

Reason:      To ensure the Council is updated on the financial performance of Yorwaste Ltd.

This report presents the City of York Trading Ltd Performance Update October 2025 for the consideration of the Shareholder Committee.

The report was presented by the Managing Director, City of York

Trading Ltd.

·       She explained that CYT supplied staff commercially to anyone that wasn’t CYC or schools, adding the breakdown of which roles and which clients were supported by which part of the business.

·       She noted that both brands had clients throughout all authorities in Yorkshire and staff stayed on agency books for many years. CYT provided living wage payment and was now seeking accredited status. Employees had access to an employee assistance programme and occupational health. She added that across the brands the business currently employed 18 staff.

·       She stated that CYT made a loan of £625k to WWY, which averted the CYC needing to pay this. The business had not made a profit for last couple of years, but prior to that it had paid dividends in excess of £1m to the council.

·       She stated that a supply teacher framework had recently been introduced and public sector organisations encouraged. Sadly one of their staff had passed away earlier this year which had impacted the business.

·       In response to member suggestions she acknowledged that WWY would be open to having conversations with Veritau re making inroads into similar businesses outside York.

·       In response to member concerns about CYT not returning to profitability, she said plans were in place to avoid this scenario. She felt that changing their business model from being restricted to a maximum of 20% of business to being encouraged to take 100% of business had been challenging. Commercially some organisations were reluctant to make hiring decisions.

·       Moving forward, they were trying to focus on expanding the businesses and providing more temporary staff to organisations.

Resolved:   To Note the Performance Update from City of York Trading Ltd attached at Annexes A and B to this report.

Reason:      To ensure the Council is updated on the performance of and plans for City of York Trading Ltd.

This report presents the Work with York Ltd Performance Update October 2025 for the consideration of the Shareholder Committee.

The report was presented by the Managing Director, Work With York Ltd.

·       She noted that this part of the business was the one that dealt with City of York Council, placing a wide range of staff from cleaners to assistant directors.

·       She explained that placing social workers had faced issues.

·       She noted that the business was tied into the Council’s training system, providing a large number of courses (14) for Adult Social Care which needed updating over summer.

·       As with CYT she advised agency staff were provided with access to an Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health.

·       She noted that while WWY were paying off the loan from CYT, WWY were forecast to make a profit this year.

·       She advised that agency staff typically stayed with the business for about 3-4 months on average.

·       In response to member queries about employee demand for ongoing temp work and advantages of this over just working for the council outright she stated that sourcing staff was quicker, and WWY was able to flex pay since the council often paid under market rate. WWY were also able to contribute to Nest pension scheme at a far lower rate.

Resolved:   To note the Performance Update from Work with York Ltd attached at Annex A to this report.

Reason:      To ensure the Council is updated on the performance of and plans for Work with York Ltd.

This report provides an update on the performance and trading activities of Veritau Limited and Veritau Public Sector Limited (VPS) since the last meeting of this Committee in June 2025.

The Chief Executive/Head of Internal Audit, Veritau Ltd presented the report.

·       He advised that since writing the report accounts had been finalised and would be available at the next meeting.

·       He said that they were currently waiting for Middlesborough Council to join Veritau.

·       He stated that the 5-month forecast was to end the year on budget and there were no exceptional items.

·       He noted that Veritau had retained its Investors in People accreditation and gained a Pension accreditation.

·       In response to member concerns regarding the Teeside arm making a loss, he said that this was intentional, as this was a company they were trying to wind up. Running as an almost dormant company because cant wind up yet.

·       Addressing a member query about the higher cost of the second half of year to date, he said actual figures were at end of August so had not yet been reconciled.

Resolved:   To note the performance of both Veritau Limited and Veritau Public Sector Limited since the last business update report.

Reason:      To enable members to assess the performance of Veritau against the 2024/25 and 2025/26 business plans.

To consider the Committee’s work plan for the 2025-26 municipal year.

Members considered the committee’s work plan for the current municipal year.

Resolved:   That the committee’s work plan for 2025/26 be noted.

Reason:      To ensure the committee received regular reports in accordance with the functions of an effective Shareholder Committee.