Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Chief Executive.

It was resolved –

·        To note and welcome the progress on the development of a Growth Deal Bid.

·           To approve the first stage Governance Agreement subject to the Full Council’s approval of the non-Executive arrangements i. e. the arrangements for Scrutiny.

·           That Full Council be presented with the final draft Growth Deal Bid for review and consent in September/October 2018 prior to the stage of reaching Heads of Terms with both Governments.

·           To recommend that delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive and the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Leader to finalise the terms of the Governance Agreement substantially in accordance with the draft attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

·           To recommend that Executive arrangements contained within the Governance Agreement be included in the Constitution and that the Council be asked to include the non-Executive arrangements relating to Scrutiny within the Constitution.

The report of the Chief Executive incorporating a Governance Agreement for the first stage of regional working in relation to the Growth Deal Bid for North Wales was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Chair reported that all partners to the Growth Deal Bid work have adopted a preferred governance model i.e. a regional joint-committee under the working title of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board; the model is now well-established and is on track to present a Bid to Government for initial agreement within 2018. A Governance Agreement (GA1) has been developed for this first stage of the Growth Deal Bid for adoption by all partners to the North Wales Economic Ambition Board.

The Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer reported that the Governance Agreement has now been adopted by the other five North Wales local authorities. The four partner colleges are not expected to come to a decision until September following the summer holiday period. It is anticipated that the Governance Agreement will be signed at the end of September or the start of October. The Executive is asked to agree to the GA1 as the Governance model for the development and presentation of the Growth Bid to Government. The creation of a governance mechanism to be able to do this is one of the requirements of Government prior to its considering the Bid. In response to a question by the Executive regarding the engagement of legal specialists to undertake work on the Agreement, the Officer clarified that the Government requires public bodies in Wales to use the National Procurement Service framework to engage specialists such as legal specialists. Legal advisors Pinsent Mason were selected by Flintshire Council as the most appropriate to provide expert independent advice on the development of the GA1.

The Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer confirmed that no decision in relation to future financial contributions other than each partner organisation’s contribution to the development of the GA1, has been made.

It was resolved –

•  To note and welcome the progress on the development of a Growth Deal Bid.

•  To approve the first stage Governance Agreement subject to the Full Council’s approval of the non-Executive arrangements i. e. the arrangements for Scrutiny.

•  That Full Council be presented with the final draft Growth Deal Bid for review and consent in September/October 2018 prior to the stage of reaching Heads of Terms with both Governments.

•  To recommend that delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive and the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Leader to finalise the terms of the Governance Agreement substantially in accordance with the draft attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

•  To recommend that Executive arrangements contained within the Governance Agreement be included in the Constitution and that the Council be asked to include the non-Executive arrangements relating to Scrutiny within the Constitution.