Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received by Tijs Broeke, Deputy Keith Bottomley and Karina Dostalova.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes of the Sub-Committee meeting held on 10 December 2020.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2020 were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning section 6 of the Lisvane review on the City Corporation’s governance arrangement, focusing on the area of competitiveness.

The Policy Chair began by thanking her Deputy Chairman for his hard work in consulting with Members on this topic and holding useful engagement sessions. Members heard how these engagement sessions had provided opportunity for collaborative working between the Aldermen and Commoners and that there was a unity of purpose. Primarily, the key themes that emerged from the engagement sessions were as follows:-

1.    An informal, flexible focus group was needed

2.    Decision-making powers on competitiveness should continue to lie with Policy & Resources Committee

3.    It was important to be able to tap into Members’ expertise in financial and professional services.

The Chairman of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen underlined the importance of working together and structuring the governance around competitiveness to ensure that there was full access to the existing business experience on the Court of Common Council.

The Policy Chair then took the Sub-Committee through the questions in the report, as follows:-

(i)            Do Members agree with the need to establish a dedicated group, body, or committee in relation to competitiveness?

Members heard how the engagement groups had built unanimous consensus to establish this committee in a flexible way that ensured that Policy & Resources Committee maintained the democratic oversight of the competitiveness work.

(ii)           If so, do Members agree with the recommendation to establish a free-standing Competitiveness Committee, or would an alternative vehicle/format be preferable?

There was some detailed discussion around whether this group would be more akin to a Working Party, and therefore some Members had questions about whether discussions would be subject to the Local Government Act, and therefore held in public. The Deputy Chairman confirmed that

There were no questions.

The Sub-Committee considered a resolution from the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee from its meeting on 7 January 2021 concerning Departmental and Service Committee budget estimates 2021/22, to ensure that this Sub-Committee fully understood the issues facing Open Spaces since the 12% savings figure was agreed, and its joint impact on Open Spaces in combination with significant cuts in the Cyclical Works Programme (CWP) funding.

The Deputy Chairman opened the discussion by outlining that the Sub-Committee were sympathetic to the pressures facing Open Spaces at this time and that if there were further financial issues in-year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these could be taken into account.

The Chair of the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee then spoke in defence of the hard work of officers during the COVID-19 pandemic and underlined how hard the pressures had been. She also felt that the length of this particular meeting should have been scheduled for longer than one hour.

The Deputy Chamberlain underlined the Deputy Chairman’s point that there was recognition of the particular pressures that are faced by the Open Spaces department, and that there were mechanisms in place should there need to be financial flexibility in-year due to COVID.

RESOLVED, that:-

·         The resolution from the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee be noted.

MOTION – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Part 2 – Non-Public Agenda

The Deputy Chairman asked whether any Member wished to raise any urgent business or comment on the non-public minutes. Members were content to finish the meeting and so the following items were taken in public with no commentary.

To agree the non-public minutes of the Sub-Committee meeting held on 10 December 2020.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 10 December be approved as a correct record.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.