Minutes:
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The Board were invited to address the questions posed and provide guidance to officers on the governance arrangements considered appropriate for groupings of councils or other arrangements established in non-metropolitan areas.
Members commented in their discussion as follows:
· The governance proposal arrangements needed to be clear and understandable to the general public.
· Overview and Scrutiny models varied across authorities and a useful model was that used in the joint body to hold the Police and Crime Commissioners to account in Kent. The Bill required a combined authority to arrange for the appointment of one or more overview and scrutiny committees which would be committee or subcommittee of a principal council.
· The need to further consider alignment with LEP boundaries and how democratically accountable LEPs could be.
· Government needed to trust local authorities as democratically elected bodies and give them the tools to do their jobs and devolve powers as far as practicable. They had delivered very large savings which proved their worth.
· The Government should be held to account in the promises it made on devolution and authorities needed to submit their own proposals for the way forward whilst the Bill is going through its stages in Parliament.
Decision
The Board noted the report and agreed that Group Leaders would advise on officers’ proposals in the gap between Board cycles.
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