Agenda item

At the previous meeting of Economic & City Development Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 11 March, a further additional meeting was requested to review and discuss the Commissioning Agreement for Make it York. This report presents Members with the latest draft Agreement as of 19 March 2015.

The Committee received a report which detailed the latest draft agreement as of 19 March 2015 of the Make it York Commissioning Agreement.

The Chair invited Councillor Steward to stay at the meeting to answer any questions in relation to the Make it York Shareholders Committee. Councillor Steward agreed to this request.

Discussion took place in response to points raised by Councillor Steward under Public Participation. It was clarified that Cabinet would set the priorities for Make it York and the Shareholder Committee would scrutinise the delivery of these.

Councillor Steward raised concerns at the rushed delivery date of the SLA and pointed out to the Committee that the Shareholders Committee could only make suggestions to the Cabinet Member. He highlighted the lack of transparency in the process and explained to Members why some of the Labour Group appointees had changed.

The Director of Communities and Neighbourhoods explained that the SLA would be signed off by the Cabinet Members involved, Councillors Crisp, Levene and Williams and it was for that reason that it was felt to be inappropriate to have decision makers on the Shareholder Committee.

Questions from Members included;

·        Did the Shareholder Committee publish agendas?

·        What was the Shareholder Committee’s remit?

·        Could the Shareholder Committee dismiss the Make it York Board?

It was reported that formal agendas had not been produced, that there was a draft remit and an AGM would be held at a Cabinet meeting. The Shareholder Committee could not dismiss the Board, but it could make recommendations to the Cabinet who had the power to appoint and dismiss Board Members.

It was noted that the Make it York’s Board;

·        Included the Chief Executive and Leader plus representatives from different sectors in the city on its membership.

·        That roles of different bodies involved would be built into the articles of the company.

·        That it was intended to produce the agendas and minutes using the Council’s Committee Management System for Board Meetings, and this was highlighted in the Terms of Reference, which had been taken to the Shareholders Committee twice.

One Member questioned whether the remit of ECDOSC might change due to the Shareholders Committee’s role in scrutinising Make it York and suggested that there were too many Cabinet Members responsible for Make it York. Councillor Steward responded that as the Chair as the Shareholders Committee he felt happy to take on the scrutiny of Make it York, but felt there would be a significant overlap with the work of scrutiny committees. He also agreed with the Member’s comment that the inclusion of three Cabinet Members on the Board was too many.

The Director of Communities and Neighbourhoods introduced the  report and stated that the purpose of the SLA was to specify the outcomes for Make it York and its requirements for delivery.

Some Members wanted clarification on the measurement of the performance in the information presented and trend analysis for outcomes. Officers reported that they could bring back reports including these to the Committee.

One Member asked for details of the salary of the Chief Executive of Make it York and wanted his request minuted.

In response to the question as to when the Cabinet Member would make the final decision on the SLA, it was reported that delegated authority had been given to Officers and so there would be no public meeting held. The decision would be made before the company came into existence in early April. Therefore it was suggested that the Committee write to the Cabinet Member with their suggested recommendations. Officers suggested that a monitoring template could be formulated to see whether these recommendations had been followed.

Some Members felt that the decision should be taken in public, particularly given that there would be delays in signing and implementing the agreement until after the election.

Officers advised Members that it was critical that the SLA was agreed immediately as it could have impact on Council employees who were to be seconded to Make it York.

Councillor Waller moved the following recommendation; 

“that the Leader intervene and delay the Make it York Service Level Agreement as exhibited or amended to the Shareholder Committee until after the election having heard full representations from key stakeholder groups in a public meeting”.

Councillor Healey seconded this motion. On being put to the vote, this motion was carried.

Councillor Steward suggested that the Committee might like to add a recommendation to clarify with Cabinet what role they would have in scrutinising Make it York, given that the Shareholder Committee held a scrutiny responsibility for the organisation.

Resolved:  (i) That the following recommendations be forwarded to the Cabinet Leader¹;

                       That the Leader intervene and delay the Make it York Service Level Agreement as exhibited or amended to the Shareholder Committee until after the election so a decision can be made in public by the Cabinet member, having heard full representations from key stakeholder groups.

                 (ii) That any Service level Agreement must contain an assurance that ECDOSC continues to have the level of officer support required to maintain the scrutiny role of this Committee on economic development.

                 (iii) That outcome reports should include baseline and trend analysis figures, including those with national statistics.

The Committee also resolved:

                (iv) That a report be produced for the June meeting detailing the continuing role of the Economic and City Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee in scrutinising Make it York, taking into account the role of the Shareholder Committee.

Reason:   (i)  To make the public aware of the Commissioning Agreement for Make it York.

                (ii)  In order to ensure that Make it York can successfully deliver its outcomes.

               (iii)  To keep the Committee informed of all up to date statistics and trends.

              (iv)  To clarify the scrutiny roles of Economic and City Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Make it York Shareholder Committee.