Agenda Item No. 7
THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN COUNCIL
COUNCIL: 18TH JULY 2018
REFERENCE FROM ENVIRONMENT AND REGENERATION SCRUTINY COMMITTEE: 12TH JULY 2018
“ CARDIFF CAPITAL REGION CITY DEAL - PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (MD) -
The Principal Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer, in presenting the report, advised that in 2015 each of the ten constituent Authorities in South East Wales agreed to work towards developing proposals for a Cardiff Capital Region City Deal (CCRCD). On 15th March, 2016, each of the ten constituent Council Leaders in South East Wales, the First Minister, the Welsh Government Minister for Finance and Government Business, the Secretary of State for Wales and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury signed the CCRCD Heads of Terms Agreement.
Since the signing of the Heads of Terms Agreement on 15th March, 2016, the ten Authorities had been progressing work, in partnership with the Welsh and UK Governments to establish the necessary governance arrangements required to release the £1.229 billion investment fund. The Council, at a meeting held on 9th February, 2017, subsequently approved the Joint Working Agreement (JWA) as the legal document that formally established the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) Joint Committee (the Regional Cabinet) as a Joint Committee, with delegated functions, with a commencement date of 1st March, 2017. At the same meeting Council approved that the elected Member representative to the Regional Cabinet shall be the Leader of the Council, with the Deputy Leader as a nominated Deputy.
It was initially proposed that scrutiny of the CCRCD would be undertaken by each Councils' existing Scrutiny Committees but it has subsequently been agreed that the Councils would work together to create a new City Deal Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) as stated in paragraph 10.19 of the JWA. It was anticipated that Scrutiny would be involved in monitoring the performance and governance of the City Deal on an ongoing basis; but it would be a matter for the JOSC to determine what areas it wished to scrutinise.
On 20th November, 2017, the CCRCD Joint Cabinet received a report detailing proposals for the establishment of a JOSC and this report also set out the draft Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Joint Committee. The Regional Joint Cabinet report and draft TOR were attached at Appendices A and A1 to the report. The report also proposed that one of the ten constituent Authorities host the CCRCD JOSC to provide dedicated support and advisors as appropriate. With the agreement of the CCRCD Joint Cabinet, Bridgend County Borough Council agreed to be the Host Authority for scrutiny support for the JOSC.
In accordance with Statutory Guidance issued under the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, when establishing a JOSC, a report containing details of the proposal should be considered by each of the participating Authorities’ appropriate Scrutiny Committees (or sub-committees) before being endorsed by Full Council. The Principal Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer informed Committee that the report was currently being presented to all Scrutiny Committees in the ten Authorities with a view to submission to their Full Council meetings in July.
In considering the report, all Members of the Committee agreed that the Chairman of the Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee was the appropriate member to represent the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s JOSC. With regard to the appointment of a Deputy in the absence of the Chairman, a Member referred to paragraph 2.3 of Appendix B (Proposal and Draft Terms of Reference) which stated that “It is also proposed that in deliberations over nominations to sit on the JOSC, consideration is given to potential skill sets of Members including any prior knowledge and experience of joint working or professional knowledge that relates to the City Deal itself …….”
Therefore, having considered the report, it was subsequently
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T the Scrutiny Committee recommends to Full Council the establishment of a Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) for the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal (CCRCD) with the Terms of Reference as contained in the appendices to the report.
(2) T H A T the Scrutiny Committee recommends to Full Council that the Chairman of the Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee be appointed as the representative for the Vale of Glamorgan Council on the CCRCD JOSC.
(3) T H A T the Scrutiny Committee recommends to Full Council that Councillor N. Moore be appointed as the nominated deputy to represent the Council in the absence of the Chairman of the Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee.
(4) T H A T the Committee notes that it is the decision of each of the ten constituent Authorities if they wish to establish the proposed JOSC.
Reason for recommendations
(1-4) To allow the mechanism for the creation of a Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee and to secure representation on that Committee and to recommend to Full Council.”
NB. Attached as an Appendix to this reference, under item 7 on the Council agenda is the Report to Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee: 12th July, 2018