To consider and approve legal arrangements to manage and regulate the relationship between Hoople and the Council and to agree the terms of reference for a Shareholder Committee to improve the governance of Companies or other arrangements that the Council is involved in.

That:

a)       Cabinet approve the terms of the new Services Agreement between the Council and Hoople Limited substantially in the form set out in Appendix 1;

b)      Cabinet note that Hoople Limited have been consulted on the Service Agreement;

c)       Cabinet agree the Terms of Reference for the Shareholder Committee as set out in Appendix 2, and nominate the Membership of the Shareholder Committee at the next meeting of Cabinet;

d)      That Cabinet recommend to Council changes to the Constitution to strengthen the governance framework to enable Audit and Governance Committee to have effective oversight of the governance of the Shareholder Committee; to extend the terms of reference of Scrutiny in relation to the operation of the Shareholder Committee, and to be explicit about the powers to set up the Shareholder Committee; and

e)      The Deputy Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate Services and Planning are authorised to finalise the Hoople Services Agreement and to take all operational decisions with regard to the implementation of the above recommendations.

To not agree to make the changes recommended in this report. However this is not recommended as it would not improve the governance of the various companies and arrangements the Council has and it would not help to better manage contractual arrangements with Hoople Limited.