Agenda and draft minutes

Elizabeth Jackson welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised that the first item on the agenda would be the election of a Chair and Vice-Chair of the Combined Authority.

It was proposed and seconded that Councillor Carl Les be elected chair for the meeting, and this was agreed.

North Yorkshire Councillor Carl Les in the Chair

Councillor Carl Les welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, and proposed that the practice of appointing co-chairs for the Joint Devolution Committee should continue and it was

Resolved –

That there should be co-chairs for the Combined Authority, with the chair to be determined by where the meeting was held.  City of York Councillor Claire Douglas would chair meetings held in York and North Yorkshire Councillor Carl Les would chair meetings held in North Yorkshire.  As a result there would be no requirement for a vice-chair to be appointed.

Members were advised that the meeting would be recorded and broadcast and available to view on the North Yorkshire Council website.

The link to the recording of the meeting is here York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority - 2pm, 22nd January, 2024 (youtube.com)

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members are recommended to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the item of business listed in Column 1 of the following table on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraph specified in column 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006

The Chair, Councillor Carl Les, noted that there was an exempt appendix relating to minute no:

10 – Combined Authority Governance: Proposed Statutory Officers Structure for the Combined Authority and the Mayoral Combined Authority – Appendix

Resolved –

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 in view of the nature of the business to be transacted the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of minute no. 10 as it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).  The exempt information in question related to information relating to individuals, or which was likely to reveal the identity of an individual and information relating to labour relations issues.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services

The Chair, Councillor Carl Les, reported that Overview and Scrutiny Committees at both constituent authorities had reviewed the draft York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Constitution and a number of proposed amendments had been submitted for consideration at the meeting, which would be reviewed as part of consideration of the Constitution. 

(a)   Public participation

Two Scrutiny recommendations related to public participation and it had been agreed that meetings would be webcast, and also that public participation would be allowed under Chair’s discretion until a Mayor was elected.

Councillor Les advised that one member of the public had submitted a request to make a statement at the meeting and the following public statement was read out by Gwen Swinburn:

Thank you for using your discretions and letting me speak today.

Our City of York members were told by their statutory officers that they had no say over this draft constitution that they could ‘note’ only. To their credit, Members of all parties balked against this, asserting their rights to have their and our citizen voices

Their four hour meeting last week only addressed the first five parts.

It confirmed that this draft constitution simply does not reflect the values of City of York, fought for so hard by all of York’s political parties over the last decade. These include but are not limited to, engagement, openness, transparency and equalities.

On so many levels, it is not fit for purpose. With so many good examples, I am at a loss why Manchester’s was used as a model, not say, West Yorkshire’s.

These are my most important priorities

1.     Please amend to require all committee and sub-committee meetings to enable and encourage public and member participation, that they will all be webcast and they will be retained for at least six years. I know our members have requested this, it is the minimum we have in York.

2.     I know what isn’t legally bound can be changed, and that the Mayor will be able to do that. However the officers have not footnoted this draft so no one knows what is a legal obligation and what is a choice, this needs addressing amongst all the other changes needed please.

3.     As drafted your A&G Committee is not properly positioned to oversee and agree all changes to the CA constitution. It is crucial that all proposed changes are passed through them, not the loose and dangerous delegations as drafted.

4.     The complete fissure between the police and fire audit committees and any democratic oversight remains. This is a democratic outrage I must once again, now beg you to address.

5.     Members, I am all for having independent people on the Audit Committee but it cannot be that these unelected people are allowed a vote - they don’t have any accountability to us citizens at all. As we were told this voting right is a discretion, I am asking that you remove their voting rights, now, before any are appointed.

Councillor Carl Les advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Report of the Interim Director of Resources (S73 Officer)

Considered –

A report in the name of the Interim Director of Resources (S73 Officer), which sought approval of the initial budget for the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority from January 2024 to March 2025, the Treasury Management Strategy Statement, and the appointment of external auditors.  Agreement was also sought for the acceptance of grant funding.

Debbie Mitchell introduced the report and gave an overview of the key points, as summarised below:

·       Over the next few months work would commence on a Medium Term Financial Strategy for the Combined Authority

·       The budget before Members was an initial budget to get the CA through the first months of operation.

·       Support services in the first 12 to 18 months would be through Service Level Agreements with NYC and CYC, and authority was sought for the Interim Director of Resources and the Interim Director of Transition to enter into these SLAs on behalf of the CA

·       A draft Treasury Management Strategy Statement was attached as an appendix to the report for approval.  This provided a safe framework for the investment of any surplus funds.

·       Agreement was sought for appointment of external auditors through the Public Sector Audit Appointments scheme in the same way as other local authorities.

·       The CA had been awarded £2m to design an energy partnership model based on the Bristol Local Area Energy Plans (LEAP) model and delegated authority was sought for the Interim Director of Resources to accept the grant funding.

The Chair then moved to a recorded vote on the recommendations contained in the report, which were carried unanimously.

FOR: Councillors Gareth Dadd, Claire Douglas, Peter Kilbane and Carl Les.

Total = 4

AGAINST: None

ABSTENTIONS:  None

Resolved –

That     (1) the budget outlined in Table 1 be approved;

            (2) the Director of Transition and the Interim Director of Resources be delegated authority to enter into Service Level Agreements with the constituent Councils on behalf of the Combined Authority for the provision of support services;

          (3) the appointment of external auditors through the PSAA be approved;

            (4) the Treasury Management Strategy at Appendix 1 be approved; and

            (5) the Interim Director of Resources be delegated authority to accept the LEAP funding on behalf of the Combined Authority.

Report of the Director of Transition

Considered –

A report in the name of the Interim Director of Transition, which sought approval of a draft Local Assurance Framework for the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.  Local Assurance Frameworks were a requirement under the English Devolution Accountability Framework and set out how CAs would use public money responsibly, make robust and lawful decisions, achieve best value for money and act in an open and transparent manner.

Paul Clark introduced the report and gave an overview of the key points, as summarised below:

·       The role of the Local Assurance Framework was to provide assurance to members, the government and the public that the CA had adequate governance arrangements and financial processes in place to deliver the devolution obligations of the region.

·       Production was an iterative process and was taking place in consultation with constituent councils and the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and production and publication of the Framework was a requirement of Government to release the funding committed under Devolution.

·       A review process has taken place with Government and some minor amendments had been received.  However further amendments were expected from Government and therefore the CA was asked to delegate authority to sign off a final version to the Interim Head of Paid Service in consultation with co-chairs.

The voting members of the committee indicated their unanimous support for the recommendations in the report.

Resolved –

That     (1) the draft Combined Authority Local Assurance Framework be approved; and

            (2) the Interim head of Paid Service be delegated authority, in consultation with the Co-Chairs, to make any material changes which may be necessary for the agreement of a final draft with Government.

Report of the Interim Monitoring Officer

Considered –

A report in the name of the Interim Monitoring Officer which sought approval of the Combined Authority’s calendar of meetings for the remainder of 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Paul Clark introduced the report and advised the calendar had been drafted to avoid any meeting clashes with constituent council meetings.  An additional meeting would be included in March to consider the IRP, Economic Framework and the Constitution review, and the date would be agreed at the February meeting.  Approval was also sought to move the meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee scheduled for 16 April to March to avoid the pre-election publicity period.

Resolved –

That the calendar of meetings for 2023-24 and 2024-25 be approved, subject to the amendments described above.

To approve the Combined Authority’s Forward Plan

Considered –

The Combined Authority’s draft Forward Plan was submitted for approval for publication on the North Yorkshire Council website and also the Combined Authority website from 1 February 2024. 

Resolved –

That the draft Combined Authority Forward Plan be approved.

Report of the City of York Council Head of Human Resources

Considered –

A report in the name of the City of York Council Head of Human Resources regarding the appointment of statutory officers and the interim structure of chief officer and senior posts for the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Barry Khan, Interim Monitoring Officer, advised that the report mentioned a number of officer roles and it was for officers present to make a decision about whether they had a conflict of interest and should leave the room. 

The Appendix to the report was exempt.  The Combined Authority had resolved at minute no. 04 that the public should be excluded during discussion of the Appendix.

Helen Whiting introduced the open report and gave an overview of the key points, as summarised below:

·       An initial staffing report had been considered by the Joint Devolution Committee on 24 July 2023, which had a number of caveats as the final Order making the CA had not been passed.  Now that the CA was legally constituted and could make formal decisions it was necessary to confirm the interim Statutory Officers and recruitment to the roles for the future.

·       Section 3 of the report considered roles to be appointed to on an interim basis as well as the Combined Authority Returning Officer (CARO) which would be appointed on a permanent basis. 

·       The Interim Section 73 Officer and Interim Monitoring Officer had been appointed at the meeting on 24 July and were before the CA now for ratification.

·       In addition to the CARO both North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council would each designate a local Returning Officer

·       Paragraph 10 of the report detailed salaries for the key Statutory Officers and it was noted that these were the same as detailed on the 24 July report, updated with the 2023 pay award

The Chair moved to a vote and Combined Authority members indicated their unanimous support for recommendations (1) and (3) below.

Following the presentation of the report in open session the Combined Authority went into private session for discussion of the exempt appendix at 3:00 pm.

Helen Whiting then gave an overview of the exempt appendix which made recommendations based on a number of options for the appointment of permanent statutory officers after the interim arrangements have ceased on or soon after the election of the Mayor. 

On a vote being taken the recommendations contained in paragraph 20 of the exempt appendix, and as summarised at recommendation (2) below, were agreed unanimously.

Resolved –

That     (1) Appoint interim Statutory Officers as part of the interim structure for the Combined Authority including:

i)         James Farrar - Director of Transition as the Interim Head of Paid Service (as detailed in paragraphs 5 of the report and paragraphs 8 to 10 in the confidential Appendix A)

ii)        Debbie Mitchell - Chief Finance Officer of City of York Council as the interim Section 73 Officer for the Combined Authority (as detailed in paragraph 6a)

iii)       Barry Khan - Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services of North  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.