Agenda item

Hedd Vaughan-Evans, Operations Manager to present the Quarter 3 (October-December) Growth Deal report and updated Portfolio Risk Register.

To note the Quarter 3 Performance Report and updated Portfolio Risk Register.

To approve the submission of the Quarter 3 Performance Report to Welsh Government and UK Government as well as the local authority scrutiny committees.

The report was submitted by Hedd Vaughan-Evans

DECISION

To note the Quarter 3 Performance Report and updated Portfolio Risk Register. To approve the submission of the Quarter 3 Performance Report to Welsh Government and UK Government as well as the local authority scrutiny committees.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

In December 2020, the NWEAB and the Welsh and UK Governments agreed the Final Deal Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal. Regular reporting on progress against the North Wales Growth Deal is one of the requirements of the Final Deal Agreement.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted, noting that reporting on progress over the last quarter against the Growth Deal was one of the requirements of the Final Deal Agreement. It was explained that, following the Board's consideration, the reports would be shared with Welsh Government, UK Government as well as the local authority scrutiny committees.

The quarter highlights were explained, noting that the Growth Deal's first Full Business Case had been approved back in December, namely the Digital Signal Processing Centre with Bangor University. It was noted that two other projects had completed their Gateway 2 assurance reviews successfully, namely the Former North Wales Hospital, Denbigh project and the Llysfasi Net Zero Farm.

It was noted that an update on the 2021 Portfolio Business Case had been submitted to both Governments as part of the annual award of funding process. It was outlined that the new 'Ambition North Wales' brand had been launched together with the new website. It was noted that recruitment activities had been completed also, with the last three posts in the team filled from January 2022.

Members were guided through the projects, giving an update on the work that had been carried out over the last quarter. It was noted that the risk register had been updated in full with a number of adaptations recorded in the document which included amended risk descriptions, scoring and amended mitigation measures. Attention was drawn to three residual risks which had changed, the first - capacity risk, had reduced now that the PMO's recruitment activities had been completed, the second - public sector investment, and third - expenditure objectives. It was explained that the second and third had increased as a result of a number of project change requests being considered.

Observations arising from the discussion

¾     It was noted that phosphate was having an impact on a number of specific projects in Flint and Wrexham and it was asked what impact this would have on other projects. It was emphasised that a number of projects were under threat, and it was noted that it needed to be identified as a risk for the portfolio and a further discussion would be needed at the next meeting.

¾     It was also noted that there was a need to look at flood risks, as there were implications for all projects, and as a result there was a need to map out all the projects.

¾     Thanks were given for the good work undertaken by Bangor University pushing the Digital Signal Processing Centre forward.