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 3 February 2025.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting held on 3 February 2025 be 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 7, confidential Annexes A and B, on the grounds that they contain 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 7, confidential Annexes A and B, on the grounds that they contained 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 19 June 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 a report from Yorwaste providing a trading update for the 2024/25 financial year as well as a general update on the business.

The Managing Director of Yorwaste Ltd provided the committee with a trading update for the 2024/25 financial year and a general update on the business. It was noted that:

·        Investment in health and safety performance had proved successful with no Lost Time Incidents (LTIs) in the fiscal year for the first time ever, and no RIDDOR incidents for over two years. A new safety measure to reduce the risk of collisions had been trialled at Harewood Whin and would be rolled out to other sites

·        A fall in revenues from landfill gas generation had been offset through increased commercial revenues.

·        The challenge posed by recent regulations requiring the separate collection handling of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) such as old foam sofas had been met but could require additional capacity in the longer term. POPs were disposed of by incineration rather than landfill, which could present a challenge if Allerton Park was in contingency and had to redirect waste.

·        Yorwaste had upgraded its Materials Recycling Facilities (MRF) to handle increased volumes at a higher level of quality, while planning approval for the Harewood Whin solar farm had been granted. Medium term strategic considerations included MRF requirements, capacity at Waste Transfer Stations, and future treatment of compost and food waste.

·        The upcoming landfill ban in Scotland had the potential to be financially beneficial if prices were pushed up; consideration could be given to utilising spare capacity at Allerton Park to dispose of additional commercial waste.

Resolved: To note the report from Yorwaste Ltd attached at Annex 1 to the report.

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

To consider and receive the City of York Trading Ltd Performance Update June 2025 provided as confidential Annex A and the Work with York Limited Performance Update June 2025 provided as confidential Annex B.

The Managing Director of City of York Trading Ltd (CYT) and Work with York Limited provided the committee with an update on the performance of the two companies. It was noted that:

·       Approval was sought from the committee for certain appointments to the Boards of the two companies; approval for these appointments would also be needed from the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee which was due to meet next on 14 July 2025.

·       Since the last meeting of the committee, a major undertaking had been the creation of, and transfer of staff to, Work with York Limited. This company now provided temporary, interim and some permanent staff services to the Council, while CYT handled commercial and non-Council work; the split had been required to ensure continuing Teckal compliance.

·       While acknowledging that there had been a period of change and that in certain areas commercial confidentiality needed to be preserved, it was suggested that in future reports as much information as possible should be included in the public papers.

[Between 5.12 pm and 6.05 pm the press and public were excluded from the meeting during consideration of Annexes A and B to the report].

Resolved:

                i.                    To note the confidential Performance Update from City of York Trading Ltd attached at Annex A to this report.

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

              ii.                    To note the confidential Performance Update from Work with York Limited attached at Annex B to this report.

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

             iii.                    Subject to the approval of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee, to approve the appointment to the board of Work with York Limited as Non-Executive Director, Councillor Claire Douglas and delegate authority to the managing director of Work with York Limited to make all necessary filings with the Registrar of Companies and all necessary updates to the statutory registers, letterhead, website, etc. of the Company in relation to said appointment.

Reason:     To ensure Work with York Limited has an appropriate number of Non-Executive Directors on its Board as required by the Work with York Limited Shareholders Agreement.

            iv.                    Subject to the approval of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee, to nominate Councillor Claire Douglas as Chair of the Board of Directors of City of York Trading Ltd, the previous Chair Cllr Ian Cuthbertson having on 6 June indicated to the CYT Board his intention to step down as chair, though to continue as Non-Executive Director.

Reason:     To confirm chairing arrangements for the Board of Directors of City of York Trading Ltd.

              v.                    Subject to the approval of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee, to nominate Councillor Claire Douglas, once appointed as a Non-Executive Director in line with the resolution above, as Chair of the Board of Directors of Work with York Limited, the previous Chair Cllr Ian Cuthbertson having on 6 June indicated to the Work with York Limited  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider a report providing an update on the performance and trading activities of Veritau Limited and Veritau Public Sector Limited (VPS) since the last meeting of the Committee in February 2024.

Members considered an update from the Chief Executive of Veritau on performance and trading activities of Veritau Limited and Veritau Public Sector Limited (VPS) since the last meeting of the committee. It was noted that:

·        There were a handful of outstanding issues to resolve following the recent corporate restructure, including a decision expected in July from Middlesbrough Council on joining VPS. If approved this would allow for the winding-up of the subsidiary company Veritau Tees Valley; the dormant subsidiary Veritau North Yorkshire could be wound-up at the same time, saving some costs.

·        Draft financial results for the two companies were still subject to audit but significant changes were not expected; total turnover was slightly higher than anticipated.

·        Since the last meeting of the committee, Veritau had signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant and its Cyber Essentials accreditation had been renewed.

·        Response rates to the main client satisfaction survey sent to member councils had risen to 17.6% from 9.8% in 2024 following efforts to increase responses.

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.

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