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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Shareholder Committee |
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Date |
23 June 2025 |
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Present |
Councillors Lomas (Chair) and Kilbane |
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In Attendance |
Councillor Ayre (Leader of the Lib Dem Group) |
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Officers Present |
Helen Whiting, Chief Human Resources and Support Services Officer Patrick Looker, Assistant Director of Finance Dan Moynihan, Senior Lawyer (Contracts and Commercial) and Deputy Monitoring Officer |
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External Visitors |
Sandy Boyle, Managing Director (Yorwaste Ltd) Karen Bull, Managing Director (City of York Trading Ltd and Work with York Limited) Max Thomas, Chief Executive (Veritau) |
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1. Apologies for Absence (4.49 pm)
No apologies for absence were received.
2. Declarations of Interest (4.50 pm)
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.
3. Minutes (4.50 pm)
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.
4. Exclusion of Press and Public (4.50 pm)
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.
5. Public Participation (4.51 pm)
It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
6. Yorwaste Ltd Finance Update (4.51 pm)
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.
7. City of York Trading Ltd and Work with York Limited Update June 2025 (5.04 pm)
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 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 Work with York Limited.
8. Veritau Business Update Report (4.58 pm)
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.
9. Work Plan (5.03 pm)
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.
Cllr K Lomas, Chair
[The meeting started at 4.49 pm and finished at 6.05 pm].