Agenda item

Alwen Williams (Portfolio Director and CJC Interim Chief Executive) and Dylan J. Williams (North Wales Councils’ Lead Chief Executive for the Economic Ambition Board) to present the report.

1.     To accept the update on work to establish the North Wales CJC including the transfer of the Growth Deal and progressing on tasks required to carry out the statutory duties of the CJC.

2.     To authorises the Portfolio Director to agree a revised programme and transfer date with the Local Authorities and Higher and Further Education partners within the target date of 31 March 2025.

3.     To approve the extension of the temporary arrangements to release the Portfolio Director's time for two days per week to undertake the Interim Chief Executive role until 31 March 2025 or the transfer date, depending on which comes first.

 

The report was submitted by the Portfolio Director and Chief Officer of Isle of Anglesey County Council.

 

DECISION

 

1.     To accept the update on work to establish the North Wales CJC including the transfer of the Growth Deal and progressing on tasks required to carry out the statutory duties of the CJC.

2.     To authorise the Portfolio Director to agree on a revised programme and transfer date with the Local Authorities and Higher and Further Education partners within the target date of 31 March 2025.

3.     To approve the extension of the temporary arrangements to release the Portfolio Director's time for two days per week to undertake the Interim Chief Executive role until 31 March 2025 or the transfer date, depending on which comes first.

 

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

 

In December 2021/January 2022, the Cabinet and Executives in each of the six Local Authorities and the wider Ambition Board partnership agreed, in principle, that the functions of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board (the Ambition Board) should be transferred by way of a delegation agreement to the CJC. The statutory framework and the establishment of the CJC require the focus and resources needed to develop the transfer work. Approval from all partner organisations and governments is required before the transfer can take place.

 

The functions and partnership organisation of the Ambition Board are currently set out in GA2. This also includes the governance and long-term arrangements for financially supporting the Growth Deal and the Portfolio Management Office to deliver the plan. Under the proposed delegation agreement, the Growth Deal and associated financial arrangements would transfer to the CJC and would respond in part to the power given to the CJC to promote regional economic well-being. This Economic Well-being function co-exists with the economic development powers of each of the councils in the north. Regional partners will need to agree and co-develop how these functions will work regionally, as part of the establishment of the CJC. It also needs to be recognised that the original decisions in principle to transfer the Growth Deal were taken when the CJC concept was still being developed. Therefore, the exact model for the transfer arrangements will be agreed with partners as part of the next steps.

 

In order to implement the transfer, there are key legal issues that are being developed

1.     Agreement with the Governments on the transfer (novation) of the Growth Deal to the CJC and the model for achieving this. The principle of transfer has received government support.

2.     Formal decisions by the parties to Governance Agreement 2 (GA2) and the CJC to agree to transfer the functions of the Growth Deal and the function of the Accountable Body to the CJC.

3.     Create a Collaboration Agreement between the GA2 parties and the Corporate Joint Committee. The agreement will be a successor to GA2 and will in many ways reflect the current arrangements. However, the different corporate status of the CJC will mean that aspects of the agreement will need to be approached in different ways. These reflect the fact that GA2 created a Joint Committee of Constituent Councils with delegated powers while the CJC (despite its name) was a statutory corporation. The aim, however, is to reflect and seek to replicate the partnership arrangements within the transfer model and to provide a contractual framework to ensure that the Growth Deal is delivered and to continue the partners' financial commitments to the project.

 

1 November has been set as a provisional target date for the transfer of functions from the Ambition Board to the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee. This date was contingent on the receipt of the required transfer approvals and a number of key steps and decisions remain incomplete. These include:

 

·       agreement on the governance model for decision making.

·       circulating and agreeing the draft GA3 (successor to GA2) to make coding arrangements.

·       reaching a novation agreement for the Growth Deal with the Welsh Government.

·       completion of a GA3 partnership agreement.

 

Therefore a transfer date of 1 November 2024 is unachievable.

 

DISCUSSION

 

It was explained that the discussion presented a further update on the process of establishing the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee (CJC), detailing the transfer of some of the functions of the Ambition Board to the CJC.

 

Members were reminded that Cabinet Members and Chief Officers of the Local Authorities had agreed to this transfer in principle with the Board's partners. It was noted that 1 November 2024 had been considered as a target date for the transfer, subject to the receipt of approval of it by all Board partners, the entering legal agreements and the need to complete necessary steps. It was acknowledged that it was not possible to transfer on this draft date.

 

A revised transfer timetable for the transfer of the Growth Deal was reported. It was confirmed that options were being considered and it was aimed at ensuring all appropriate steps to enable the transfer to be delivered no later than 31 March 2025.

 

The Portfolio Director left the meeting for Members to discuss temporary arrangements to free up the Portfolio Director's time to undertake the role of Interim Chief Executive of the CJC until 31 March 2025, or the transfer date (if the transfer took place before this date).

 

It was confirmed that there were no legal developments arising as approving this arrangement would only be an extension of existing arrangements.

 

Concern was expressed that the draft transfer date was being withdrawn due to the complexity of the appropriate steps and that this was having an impact on developments. Assurance was sought for the transfer to be implemented as soon as possible so that a full-time Chief Executive could be employed to provide leadership to the CJC.