Update from Ian Curryer, Chief Executive, Nottingham City Council.
Minutes:
Ian Curryer, Chief Executive of Nottingham City Council updated the Committee on the proposed Combined Authority (CA), and the devolution deal. The following information was provided:
(a) the second reading of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill is next week. At the moment, the D2N2 deal (Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire) is ‘paused’. This is equally an issue in West Yorkshire. Officers have been assured that any pause will not impact on the final scale of the deal;
(b) Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner has written to the Home Office expressing his support for devolution. Anne Western, Leader of Derbyshire County Council has been working with the Police and Crime Commissioner in Derbyshire. Replacing the existing Police and Crime Commissioners with a single Mayor would reduce the governance layers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire;
(c) more deals are now being created nationwide, which is helpful in terms of learning about their governance. The North East, Tees Valley and West Midlands deals are now available to view;
(d) in devolution deals around the country, elected Mayors have different degrees of influences over voting arrangements. In the Sheffield City region, the Mayor must be on the majority side of a vote. The West Midlands have a slightly different alternative.
These votes will take place mainly when it comes to the subject of additional powers;
(e) a ‘one-size fits all’ approach’ could be disadvantageous for parts of the country that feature two-tier local government;
(f) Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire have a very different make-up to other proposed CA deals, with 19 authorities within the D2N2 area. This is a much larger number of authorities than in any of the other proposed deals, as all the deals thus far relate to unitary areas;
(g) the D2N2 CA could include a Cabinet containing all 19 constituent members, with a Mayor as Chair. One proposal could be an executive cabinet of 7 with the Mayor as Chair, along with representatives from the two counties, 2 cities and two districts, although thinking needs to be hardened on this issue;
(h) the D2N2 deal is currently one of 8 or 9 main deals. There are a host of proposed County Council details, but they are less advanced than the D2N2 proposal;
(i) Government have suggested that a smaller cabinet might lead to smoother working, but this decision would lie with the constituent authorities themselves;
(j) if the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) were to join it would make 21 members of the Combined Authority. In Sheffield, the LEP come along to meetings as an observer;
(k) it is fundamental that powers are not transferred up the Mayor from Councils;
(l) housing is an issue that is sensitive in a lot of districts, and should be bundled together with ‘right to buy’ as an issue that needs further negotiation with Government;
(m) getting Leicestershire included in any deal is unlikely, as they are much further behind D2N2 authorities;
(n) the case for the CA must be built publicly – the consensus within the D2N2 area is excellent, but the public need to be aware of this work. Major organisations within the region could help with this by outlining why a CA would be good for the area;
(o) Chief Executives are due to meet on 30 November regarding the overlaps in area that the D2N2 authority will encounter, and how these overlaps can be dealt with;
(p) any discussion with health in the area would be around how it can be improved, rather than a complete takeover as happened in Manchester. There must be recognition that health in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is very complex.
RESOLVED to:
(1) ask Chief officers to produce a report on progress over the devolution deal to come back to a future meeting of the Economic Prosperity Committee;
(2) circulate the latest ‘refined deal’ document to members.