Agenda item

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer.

Councillor Llinos Medi, Leader and Portfolio Member for Social Services presented the report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer which sought the Executive’s agreement in principle to the transfer of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board’s functions to the newly established North Wales Corporate Joint Committee (CJC) with the aim of achieving a streamlined governance model, avoiding duplication.

Regulations were made by the Welsh Government on 17 March, 2021 creating four Corporate Joint Committees in Wales and the North Wales CJC was established on 1 April, 2021. The four CJCs will exercise functions relating to strategic development, planning and regional transport planning. They will also be able to do things to promote economic well-being. Unlike other joint committee arrangements, the CJC is a separate corporate body which can employ staff and hold assets. There is a consensus among the North Wales local authorities that the CJC should continue in the direction established by the North Wales Economic Ambition Board. Further, the six Council Leaders and Chief Executives are agreed that the North Wales CJC should be built on the aims and principle set out in paragraph 8 of the report. There is also cross border agreement that the initial aim should be to establish a streamlined governance model avoiding duplication whilst having due regard to subsidiarity. The first priority therefore is to move the Economic Ambition Board to an empowered sub-committee of the CJC, noting that the region’s local authority Leaders will be in control of this corporate body.

Pinsent Masons, LLP who are advising several Welsh regions have considered operational structures available to the Economic Ambition Board going forward in light of the establishment of the CJC, Welsh Government policy direction and the regionally agreed principles noted under paragraph 8 of the report. Doing nothing or co-existence is insufficient, contrary to Welsh Government policy and doesn’t address how the Economic Ambition Board’s functions are to be discharged by the CJC. The most efficient and viable operational structure which satisfies the requirement to transition to a CJC is to transfer the Economic Ambition Board functions to an empowered sub-committee of the CJC. Consequently, transferring the functions of a sub-committee will retain core elements of the EAB, but provide a more robust and efficient delivery model directly via the CJC corporate vehicle. Pinsent Masons have advised officers in detail on the advantages and some key issues before the conclusion was reached that transferring the EAB function to a sub-committee provides the optimal structure for the CJC. The report set out the merits of the proposed transfer and addresses considerations from the perspective of decision-making, the added value of this approach, transition for Growth Deal arrangements and governance and finance. Approving the decision sought by the report regarding the governance model would not add any financial implication for the Council. However there will be an unavoidable and as yet not fully identified ongoing cost for local authorities to be able to administer and deliver the CJC. The direction set by the report is to make the CJC work effectively while minimising the financial burden on the Council.

The Executive’s members highlighted that very little publicity has been given to the formation of the Corporate Joint Committees and that it is therefore important that the wider public  be made aware that the CJCs are the product of Welsh Government and have been imposed by Welsh Government according to a prescribed model thereby creating what the  Executive believes is an unnecessary and unwanted layer of bureaucracy; as they are unelected bodies they go against the grain of local democracy and local choice. Whilst the Executive’s members emphasised that the Council is committed to regional working where the benefits of doing so are clear and is already operating in this way through GwE for example, they were of the view that the need for CJCs is not proven and that the costs of administering and servicing these separate bodies will put an additional financial, resource and time burden on councils who have no choice in the matter. This being so and given that the CJCs have been established through a mandate by Welsh Government the Executive believed it reasonable that Welsh Government should therefore be asked to fund them in full.

It was resolved –

·         To agree in principle that the functions of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board be transferred by way of delegation agreement to the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee on condition –

·         that the statutory framework that the Welsh Government is developing allows for the delegation of the relevant executive functions to a Corporate Joint-Committee;

·         that the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee agrees to the establishment of a sub-committee, with membership to be agreed with the Councils, to undertake the functions of the Economic Ambition Board.

·         That the Welsh Government having instigated the creation and establishment of the Corporate Joint Committees, be requested by letter to fund those entities in full.