Approval of new sub-committee of cabinet to act as shareholder in joint venture companies in which the council has a financial interest and approval of new contractual arrangements with Hoople Limited for delivery of services.

Councillor Hitchiner declared a conflict of interest as a non-executive director of Hoople Ltd, relinquished the chair and left the room for the duration of this item.

The director of resources and assurance also declared a conflict of interest as a non-executive director of Hoople Ltd and left the room for the duration of this item.

(Councillor Harvey as deputy leader of the council assumed the chair for the remainder of the agenda.)

The cabinet member finance, corporate services and planning introduced the report and set out the recommendations to the cabinet. In a minor amendment to recommendation (c) it was proposed that the nomination of cabinet members to serve on the shareholder committee be dealt with at the next meeting of the cabinet.

Group leaders gave the views and queries of their groups. The establishment of the shareholder committee and the enhanced scrutiny of joint venture companies was welcomed as a step forward in the governance of such arrangements.

It was resolved 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.