Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chair and Vice Chair of the General Purposes Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year.

Lead: Julie Openshaw

1.1          The Head of Legal and Democratic Services welcomed Members to the meeting and invited nominations for the Chair of the Committee. Cllr Swarbrick nominated himself and this was seconded by Cllr Foulkes. Cllr Swarbrick was elected unopposed.

1.2          The Chair then invited nominations for the Vice Chair of the Committee. There were no nominations for this and the matter was deferred to a future meeting. 

Resolved:

1)   That Cllr Swarbrick be elected as the Chair of the General Purposes Committee for the 2024-25 Municipal Year.

2)    That the election of a Vice Chair be deferred.

The Chair to welcome Members to the meeting.

Lead: Chair

2.1          The Chair welcomed Members to the meeting and apologies were received from Mayor Skaith and Mayor Coppard and Cllrs Kilbane, Hunt and Mitchell.

Members are required to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interest they may have relating to items on the agenda and state the nature of such interest.

Lead: Chair

3.1          There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held 8 February 2024(including updates on agreed matters as appropriate).

Lead: Chair

4.1          The minutes of the consultation call meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 8 February 2024 were considered and there were no matters arising.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2024 be noted and confirmed as a correct record.

To consider proposals to revise the membership of the Rail North Committee  and the General Purposes Committee and make recommendations to the Transport for the North Board.

Lead: Julie Openshaw

5.1          Members received the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services who outlined the key elements of her report.

Resolved:

That the Committee makes the following recommendations to the TfN Board:

1)   That the groupings for RNC and GPC membership are abolished, once the new authorities are in place

2)   That from that time, each Constituent Authority and co-opted member of TfN be allocated a separate seat on RNC

3)   That from that time, each Constituent Authority of TfN be allocated a separate seat on GPC

4)   That from that time, the existing voting allocations and arrangements remain unchanged for both RNC and GPC

5)   That, once established, the Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral Combined Authority

·       be co-opted on to TfN Board as a non-voting Member

·       be granted a seat at Rail North Committee, with the voting shares formerly allocated to Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council be invited to TfN Board meetings as an observer during any shadow period.

To consider and make arrangements for how the role of substitute members for the Audit and Governance Committee might operate, and ensure alignment with arrangements for other committees.

Lead: Joanne Barclay

6.1          Members received the report from the Head of Legal and Democratic Services who outlined the key points within her report.

Resolved:

That the Committee recommends to the TfN Board:

1)   That a substitute Members for the A & G Committee be permitted

2)   That the arrangements to appoint such members for the remainder of the municipal year be approved

3)   That the Constitution be amended accordingly.

To consider the proposed amendments to be made to the Contract Procurement Rules governing Transport for the North’s procurement processes.

Lead: Gavin Legg

7.1          Members received the report from the Governance, Data Protection & Contracts Lawyer who then outlined the key aspects of the report.

7.2          Cllr Hinchcliffe highlighted an opportunity to ensure that social value is included any procurements which TfN enters into ensuring that expenditure delivers value for money in our communities across the North.

7.3          The Governance, Data Protection & Contracts Lawyer thanked Cllr Hinchcliffe for the feedback, and noted that  TfN’sProcurement Manager factors in social value and environmental considerations, and he confirmed that he would discuss this feedback with   the Procurement Manager.

Resolved:

1)   That the Committee notes the key provisions of the new legislation which will affect the Rules, and that TfN Executive has in hand the necessary arrangements to comply

2)   That the Committee notes that the Monitoring Officer will exercise delegated authority to amend the Rules to align with the new legislation and prior to publication of the revised Constitution, members will be sighted with a red line version of the amendments to the same

3)   That the Committee notes that the changes to the Rules are due to legislative changes, undertaking minor amendments and improving reference to existing legislation.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Item 9 and 10 on the grounds that:

(1)They involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as set out in the Paragraphs 1 & 2 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Items 9 and 10 on the grounds that: They involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as set out in Paragraphs 1 & 2 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To approve the private minutes of the meeting held 8 February 2024(including updates on agreed matters as appropriate).

Lead: Chair

9.1          The private minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held 8 February 2024 were considered and there were no matters arising.

Resolved:

That the private minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2024 be noted and confirmed as a correct record.

To consider the proposed process and timetable for recruitment to the statutory officer role of Monitoring Officer (Head of Legal Services).

Lead: Stephen Hipwell

10.1       The report was received by Members who were then invited to ask questions and make comments.

Resolved:

That the report be noted