Agenda and minutes

County Councillor Gina Dowding replaced County Councillor Liz Oades for this meeting.

Apologies were received from County Councillors Richard Newman-Thompson and Clare Pritchard.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None were received.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed Beckie Joyce, Head of Strategic Development, and Joanne Ainsworth, Senior Management Accountant, to the meeting. A presentation was given on the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership's (LEP) Assurance Framework.

It was reported that Lancashire County Council is the accountable body for the LEP, and is therefore required to sign off the LEP's Assurance Framework. The Framework will be reviewed on an annual basis, and it was confirmed that the Scrutiny Committee would be involved in that process. It was emphasised that Government have directed local growth funding resources through local enterprise partnerships, with the LEP now managing the Enterprise Zone, City Deal, Growing Places Fund and Business Boost Lancashire. Lancashire's LEP is one of the largest in the country with £250m of local growth fund resources being made available up until 2021.

As the significance of LEPs has increased with increased funding, Government has issued the requirement for an Assurance Framework document to be produced, before the commencement financial year, 2015/16, and has produced a guidance document for accountable bodies. The Framework was likened to a constitution with regard to its aims and purpose, this being to put all information relating to assurance into one all-encompassing document. It was reported that briefing sessions were offered to all local MPs in February and March, although there was no take up of the offer.

The Committee were informed that a report will be delivered to the LEP Board on Tuesday, 17 March, 2015, with an update from the Scrutiny Committee to be provided at the meeting. Additionally, a presentation will be delivered to Lancashire Chief Executive Group on 30 March, 2015. The document will then go through the Executive Scrutiny Committee, 31 March, 2015, and will be considered for approval at Cabinet on 2 April, 2015.

The Assurance Framework was organised into five sections; these being:- 

•  Governance and Decision Making

•  Local Authority Partnership working

•  Transparent Decision Making

•  Accountable Decision Making

•  Ensuring Value for Money

Section 1, Governance and Decision Making: This outlined the six committees the LEP have, who the Board members are, what the terms of reference are for the aforesaid committees, and what measures are taken to ensure that its governance is tight. In addition to the six established committees, there are two proposed groups - the Performance Committee and the Growth Deal Management Board.

The Growth Deal Management Board is planned to specifically run the Growth Deal, akin to current arrangements around the City Deal.

The Performance Committee would focus on four key areas:-

1.  Ensuring that the LEP is getting everything it can into Lancashire and whether it is doing everything it should be doing in comparison to other similar enterprise partnerships.

2.  Whether the LEP is prioritising its investment in the right way and whether the factors that are guiding these decisions are strong. 

3.  Once the LEP has agreed certain project initiatives to be funded, the Performance Committee will be concerning itself with whether they are on track, whether they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

An update was provided on the Committee's work plan and current task groups.

Resolved: That the current workplan and task group update be noted

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There was no urgent business

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday 17 April at 10:30am at the County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday, 17 April at 10:30am at the County Hall, Preston.