To seek approval for the council to act as the accountable body for public funding allocated to the new Hereford university, NMiTE (new model in technology & engineering), during its establishment phase.

The leader of the council introduced the item. He noted that the council had undertaken a great deal of work to support the proposed university. This included support in preparing documentation for bids for funding and a willingness to make appropriate sites available for consideration.

The cabinet member finance, housing and corporate services introduced the report. Following a green book business case funded by the council and a bid to the local enterprise partnership (LEP) the university had been awarded £15m from the department for education (DfE) and £8m from the department for communities and local government (DCLG) via the LEP. The requirements of the DfE and the LEP required the council to become the accountable body for this funding. The role of the accountable body would be to give assurance that the university was fulfilling its business case and meeting the key milestones. The accountable body would ensure that spending was in accordance with the conditions of the grants.  

The chief finance officer confirmed that the arrangements for the two grants allocated were different. The council would be the accountable body for the £15m allocated from the DfE. The primary accountable body for the grant from the DCLG would be the LEP but the council would act as accountable body for the university project as a whole.

Group leaders were asked to relay the views of their group.

The leader of the Its Our County group commended all those who had worked to get the project this far and stated that his group had always supported the university project. It was understood that the council was the only acceptable accountable body in the eyes of the DfE but it should be made clear that the council’s accountability was only for the public funding. Any subsequent private sector funding would not fall within this role.

The leader of the green group commented on the full debate at the general scrutiny meeting. She stated she was happy to see the project going forward with the checks and balances discussed at the scrutiny meeting.

The cabinet member finance, housing and corporate services expressed thanks to members of the scrutiny committee who had examined the request in detail. The recommendations of the scrutiny committee and responses to these that had been published as a supplement to the main report were referred to. The cabinet member also expressed thanks to the officers who had worked on producing the report in a short length of time.

Resolved that:

(a)  the responses to the recommendations of the general scrutiny committee at appendix 4 be approved;

(b)  Herefordshire Council act as accountable body for public funding to support establishment of a new university in Hereford; and

(c)  the chief finance officer be authorised, following consultation with the monitoring officer and cabinet member corporate strategy and budget, to complete such legal documentation as is appropriate to protect the council’s interests and take all operational decisions necessary to implement the above recommendations.

To review proposals that the council act as the accountable body for the new Hereford University, NMiTE (new model in technology & engineering), during its establishment phase.

The Committee was asked to review proposals that the council act as the accountable body for the new Hereford University NMiTE (new model in technology & engineering), during its establishment phase.

The Chairman welcomed the following representatives from NMiTE:  Professor Janusz Kozinski, President and Chief Executive Officer; David Sheppard, Interim Chief Operating Officer; NMiTE, David Nolan, Interim Finance Director, NMiTE; and Jon Gorringe, Finance Advisor to NMiTE, ex Director of Finance, Edinburgh University.

The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) gave a presentation as appended to these minutes.  This replaced that published at appendix 3 to the report.  Mr Sheppard outlined the Department for Education funding assurance programme setting out the basis on which grant payments would be paid, the timing of payments, the internal processes in place to ensure that the business plan was delivered, the control structures and the audit framework.

In discussion the following principal points were made:

·        However beneficial the proposed University might be, the proposal that the council act as accountable body posed a potential financial and reputational risk to the Council.  Accordingly, it was suggested that if the council agreed to act as the accountable body the council itself should establish its own robust and appropriate governance framework to supervise the discharge of this role.  The Council might decide that it wished to carry out this role itself or delegate that responsibility to a committee or sub-committee.  If Council did decide to delegate that responsibility it was requested that in making such a delegation there was clarity as to the role of the body to whom responsibility had been delegated.  This should include, for example, what reports it would be expected to receive, and the level of input that could be expected from the council’s external auditors, so that appropriate resources could be allocated to enable the delegated role to be discharged.  It was noted that the cost of this monitoring work would be chargeable to NMiTE. 

·        During the points on behalf of NMiTE it was noted that they wish to avoid duplication and cost.  NMiTE has established its own audit framework upon which the council could draw.  However, members considered it essential that the council had its own independent assurance framework process in place.

·        The cabinet member – finance, housing and corporate services suggested the closest parallel would perhaps be the role delegated to the Audit and Governance Committee in relation to review and monitoring of the waste contract.

·        It was confirmed that accountable body status only applied to the grant funding stream.  Private funding that NMiTE had to secure, and obtaining this was one of the milestones, would be managed directly by NMiTE.

·        The Chief Finance Officer commented that if milestones were not being met discussions would be held with NMiTE in the first instance and if matters could not be resolved a report would have to be made to the Department for Education (DfE) for advice on the next steps.  He also commented that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55

To review proposals that the council act as the accountable body for the new Hereford University, NMiTE (new model in technology & engineering), during its establishment phase.