Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Bruce Tennent. Councillor Wayne Irish attended in his place as the Liberal Democrat substitute.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 18 January 2019.

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

There were no deputations on this occasion.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman welcomed both the Enterprise M3 and Solent Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to the meeting and advised Members that their presentations would now be a joint one rather than two single items, as shown on the agenda.

To receive a presentation from the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Committee received and noted a joint presentation from the Chairman and Chief Executive of both the Enterprise M3 and Solent Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) (Items 6 and 7 in the Minute Book).

Both LEPs answered a number of queries, relating to their respective governance and scrutiny arrangements and Assurance Frameworks and advised the Committee that they were continuing to share best practice in this regard.

It was reported that the LEPs had ran clinics to engage with local businesses on BREXIT and export opportunities and in the future  would assist them in applying to the Government’s Stronger Towns Fund.

Members heard  that over 2,000 businesses engaged when a consultation was carried out on their Local Industrial Strategy documents. It was also noted that the Solent LEP had secured one of only 20 ‘Careers Hubs’ around England to help transform careers education for young people.

Further discussions were had on the following areas:

·         the wider visitor/tourism economy and how this could be taken forward.

·         Expansion plans for Heathrow airport and associated traffic management arrangements for both this and Farnborough Airport.

The Committee thanked the LEPs for their informative presentation which had enabled Members to gain a better understanding.

To receive a presentation from the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership.

See Minute 82 above.

To receive a report of the Chief Executive regarding Transformation to 2019 being considered by Cabinet at its March meeting.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive on the Transformation to 2019 programme (Item 8 in the Minute Book) which was being presented to Cabinet at its meeting on 11 March 2019.

The Director of Transformation and Governance reported that progress with Tt2019 continued to track to plan with £69m of savings secured to the end of January. Of this figure, £23m related to the full achievement of investment and borrowing savings, together with an element of increased council tax income. The remaining £46m flowed from delivery in the different Departments.

Members noted the strong contributions being made by the three Tt2019 enabling programmes; Digital 2, Enabling Productivity and Strategic Procurement and that these contributions would  continue to evolve and be more influential as the programme developed.

Members discussed the opportunity for the further on-boarding of other London boroughs to the high performing shared service arrangements with the County Council. It was reported that this may be a possibility in the future.

The Director also answered queries relating to the Children Looked After grant and Consultations exercises.

RESOLVED:

That the Policy and Resources Select Committee notes the content of the report and supports the initiatives to maintain services.

To review the work programme of topics to be considered by the Select Committee in future.

The Chairman presented the proposed work programme for the Select Committee, as updated since the last meeting (Item 9 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That the Work Programme for the coming year be agreed.