-
Agenda item
Update on Town Deal Board and Governance Structures
10:40
Minutes:
The Town Deal Investment Panel
Victoria explained:
· The investment panel will provide independent scrutiny to the assessment of business cases
· Is a development of the Executive Delivery Group (EDG) and will include those with skills/expertise to scrutinise and have oversight of business cases
· Will be chaired by the private sector town deal board co-chair and will meet quarterly or as required
· The EDG will still be available as and when required for other board matters
· The membership is as listed in the report which was circulated prior to the meeting
It was suggested that the panel should consider undertaking health impact assessments to identify the short, medium and long-term health outcomes of the proposals as they are developed and how these may be sustained beyond the term of funding. The EDG will discuss this and a way to include this in the programme will be identified.
MP Sally-Ann Hart advised that Professor Whitty is currently working on his annual report which focuses on health disparities in coastal communities which is due to be published shortly. A discussion will take place outside of this meeting between Public Health, HBC and the MP in her capacity as the new chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group of Coastal Communities, once the report is published.
Town Deal Project Leads and Engagement Working Group
Hannah explained:
· It is proposed that a Town Deal Project Leads and Engagement Working Group is set up
· These will be informal meetings and the terms of reference are to be agreed
· Membership will include all project leads, plus those wishing to support delivery of the engagement/communications programme
HBC Internal Programme Board
Victoria explained:
· HBC as the accountable body, and the Managing Director with the Section 151 Officer (Chief Finance Officer) have the final decision on the programme and investments
· The programme board is being established as per HBC’s project management processes and will have strategic oversight, management and approval of the stages in the Town Deal programme
· The membership is as described in the report
· The programme board will meet every two months and as required to fit in with HBC cabinet and council and town deal board meetings
HBC Programme Management Team
· A dedicated team is being established to deliver the programme and includes existing resources and additional support and external expertise as required
· A new project officer will be recruited once this is agreed by HBC cabinet on Friday
A question has been raised about HBC capacity to manage this process and other funding streams. The ambition is to look at the other funding streams coming forward, including the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) as a future round may be announced in the Autumn, the Future High Streets Fund, as another round may be announced in January and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is the successor to the Community Renewal Fund and is due to be announced next year. LUF is only open to local authorities, so HBC would coordinate and support other projects coming forward and capacity funding attached to this will be utilised to build capacity to undertake the required work. It is understood that government is looking to align the monitoring and reporting of these funds to make it easier for organisations and accountable bodies to manage. Discussions about capacity for delivery at a local level continue. It is important that this board keeps an overview of all funding initiatives. A list of the successful Community Renewal Fund projects was requested and MHCLG will be contacted to check if this can be circulated. Action: James Harris
The timescale and process for taking the identified projects forward was clarified. Business cases for all projects would have to be developed and go through the internal assurance processes at HBC, followed by the Town Deal Investment Panel. For HBC projects, cabinet approval would be required, if not, delegated authority (assuming this is agreed by HBC cabinet this coming Friday) will be used to proceed. Sign off will be required from the HBC Section 151 Officer. Once the investment panel has agreed, a summary document will be written and presented to the town deal board for agreement, and will then be submitted to government with an accompanying letter of support from the board. It is not known how quickly the funding agreement will be received from government and clarification is being sought. The process document will be re-circulated. Action: Victoria
It was clarified that Hannah and Victoria are leading on curriculum. A pilot project with A-Level students at Ark Alexandra has been carried out and this includes visits to some of the board member’s places of work. Hannah will be attending the local Heads Forum meeting to gauge interest from the other schools to have this embedded into the GCSE and A-Level curriculums and have students involved in at different stages of the programme and with different projects. Work is also ongoing with the Hastings Opportunity Area to see how to aide schools to engage in the process. Discussions will be held with the Youth Council to see how they can be involved.
Supporting documents:
-
My council
Contact
Contact us if you have a question about democratic services.
Content
The content on this page is the responsibility of our Democratic Services team.