Agenda and minutes

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interests received.

The minutes of the previous meeting, held on 6 June 2023, were approved as an accurate record.

Members received the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee Forward Work Programme.

It was confirmed that Officers would be arranging a workshop, for the Leaders and National Park representatives, in order to start discussions around the budget options for 2024/25; this would be a similar arrangement to that of the previous year. It was noted that the workshop would be arranged prior to the next meeting of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee scheduled for 5 December 2023.

The Forward Work Programme was noted.

The Committee were provided with a presentation from SQW in regards to investment zones.

It was explained that colleagues in Swansea and Carmarthenshire Councils commissioned SQW to develop a prospectus for a new green industries investment zone, covering the two local authority areas; the draft prospectus was included within the circulated agenda for the meeting.

Members were informed that investment zones was launched by UK Government in 2023 to develop ‘high potential clusters in areas with unmet productivity potential’ where local strengths and assets can be leveraged to create sustainable growth.

It was noted that a limited number of investment zones would be allocated across the UK; eight had been pre-announced in England, and there was likely to be one in Wales and one in Scotland.

SQW highlighted that the intention of investment zones was to build on areas where there were sectoral strengths in relation to a limited number of sectors, which government predefined in its policy offer; including green industries, advanced manufacturing, creative industries, life sciences digital and tech.

It was stated that UK Government had announced that each investment zone in England would receive a £80million package, which would equate to £20million per annum over four years; with a balance on how that might be used flexibly between fiscal incentives, business dates and other forms of spending.

The Committee was informed that the process for Wales had not yet been made clear; however, colleagues in Swansea and Carmarthenshire Councils were very interested in providing an early expression of interest to Welsh Government. It was highlighted that the proposal was focused on green industries, which was one of the governments stated priorities; and set out the prospectus as being complementary with the Celtic Freeport, with a large part of the narrative around adding value to the Celtic Freeport and South Wales industrial cluster.

In addition to the above, it was mentioned that there was emphasis within the guidance on the contributions that universities and business could make; SQW had built this into the prospectus, and had consulted with organisations such as Swansea University, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Local Authorities, when developing the document.

The core narrative was presented to Members, which highlighted that the investment zone will connect the energy generation potential, research and innovation capabilities, major sites and industrial strengths to support a higher-value, decarbonised economic future and greater wellbeing.

It was noted that SQW had completed an initial view of the potential benefits of the investment zone; it could unlock 5,300 jobs and £3.9billion in additional annual GVA. It was mentioned that this statement was broadly in line with the figures that had been quoted by other places that had been allocated an investment zone in England.

The presentation detailed the high level logic model, which was set out in the prospectus. When putting this together, it was mentioned that SQW were mindful in obtaining a balance between being high level enough in order to be flexible in light of the currently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Quarter 1 Financial Monitoring for the year ended 2023/24 was provided to the Committee.

It was highlighted that the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee had previously approved the budget of £617,753 for the financial year 2023/24, at their meeting on 24 January 2023; the budget was funded with a levy from each of the constituent authorities.

Officers explained that the current forecast outturn presented a total underspend of £328,878 against the budget. It was noted that there was an underspend in respect of the Sub Committees, due to the limited activity; as well as a £90,000 underspend on Planning and Programme management expenditure. Officers stated that there was also an underspend in respect of the Regional Management Office; mainly due to the Business Manager post currently being vacant, and a reduced forecast spend on external consultancy costs. It was also added there was a predicted underspend in respect of support services, which was due to the budgeted Senior Accountant post remaining vacant as it was not yet required due to the level of activity.

Reference was made to the earlier mentioned workshop for the budget setting for financial year 2024/25. It was stated that discussions around the treatment of this years projected underspend would be important.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

Officers provided a report to inform Members of contact with the Welsh Language Commissioner’s Office, with regards to the application of Welsh Language Standards and the issuing of a compliance notice.

It was explained that the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee had previously agreed to voluntarily adopt Carmarthenshire Council’s Welsh Language Standards, as a basis for the Committees work; it was encouraged by the Welsh Language Commissioner, not to wait for the statutory process to embrace the policy objectives around Welsh language.

The circulated report detailed that the Welsh Language Commissioner had now started that formal process of determining which standards will apply to the Corporate Joint Committee. Officers confirmed that they had been in discussions with the Welsh Language Commissioners Office to inform them that the Committee had adopted Carmarthenshire Councils standards on a voluntary basis, with the hopes that this will enable the statutory process to conclude much more quickly.

Members were informed that the timeframe to respond to the Welsh Language Commissioner would be up until 5 January 2024, as this was the set date for the consultation to end. It was mentioned that Officers were currently looking at what the Commissioner was proposing, against the standards that the Committee had already voluntarily adopted.

It was stated that it was intended to provide a further report at the next meeting of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee, to formalise the response from the Committee into the Welsh Language Commissioner’s process.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

The Committee was informed that the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee had a duty to prepare a Regional Transport Plan (RTP); the first stage of this work was to produce an Implementation Plan, for submission to Welsh Government by the end of October 2023.

The draft Implementation Plan was attached as Appendix 1 of the circulated report, and Officers were seeking Members approval to submit this Implementation Plan to Welsh Government.

Officers presented the draft Implementation Plan to the Committee, and highlighted key points in regards to the project goal, the work packages required to completing the development of the RTP, the identified risks and the timeline for delivery.

Members were sighted on the policy context of the RTP, and were informed of the importance to ensure that the RTP was reflective of the Wales Transport Strategy (Llwybr Newydd); and aligned to other National, Regional, Local strategies and priorities.

It was explained that there were two main elements to the preparation of the RTP; Developing the Case for Change, and Developing the Regional Transport Plan. Officers provided the Committee with an overview of some of the work required to be undertaken, in order to progress with these work streams.

The high level risks associated with delivering a Regional Transport Plan for South West Wales were presented to the Committee:

·        Political agreement on polices and high level outcomes – although the RTP was a Regional Plan, it also needed to suit the individual Local Authorities (not just the agreement of the plan, but the timescales for the approvals through the individual Local Authorities);

·        Regional agreement on prioritised Regional Transport Delivery Plan (RTDP) schemes list – producing this list would require Officers to have an indication of the level of funding that will be made avaliable to deliver the schemes, however this was still unknown;

·        Challenging timescales for submission and adoption of the RTP – the fixed deadline for final RTP submission (29 March 2025) was first set some time ago, and since then there had been delays associated with this work stream, such as the delay in Welsh Government providing their guidance. However, the fixed deadline had not been amended and was noted to be very ambitious in terms of delivering a meaningful piece of work;

·        Available resource within Local Authorities to deliver the RTP, and the number of specialist studies to be untaken in the development of the RTP and lack of funding to deliver – there were limited resources in each of the Local Authorities, and therefore certain pieces of work will need to be commissioned. However, currently there were no clear streams of funding to be able to do this.

Reference was made to the draft letter for the Minister, attached at appendix two of the circulated report, which addressed the risks highlighted in the plan; it was proposed that this letter be submitted, along with the Implementation Plan, to Welsh Government. The Chair of the Regional Transport Sub Committee provided an overview of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Members were provided with Audit Wales’ Commentary on the Corporate Joint Committee’s progress letter with regards to the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee, and the proposed action plan.

It was explained that there were a range of statutory duties placed on Corporate Joint Committees, and Audit Wales were responsible for auditing compliance with a range of those duties; specifically around the duties set out in the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.

The Chief Executive for the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee was pleased with the conclusion contained within the letter, as it demonstrated making good process in discharging a range of those duties. It was noted that the Child Poverty Action Plan and the Participation Strategy were two particular pieces of work that needed to develop further over the next six months.

In addition to the above, it was mentioned that the auditors had drawn some conclusions in regards to the progress of the Regional Transport Plan (RTP) and the Strategic Development Plan (SDP); the Chief Executive for the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee, had been clear with auditors in respect of the ongoing discussions between the Committee and Ministers around the funding of these processes and the amount of investment avaliable to deliver the change.

The Committee was informed that Audit Wales had also produced their overview report which summaries the position across the whole of Wales. It was confirmed that this report would be brought to the next meeting of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee.

Audit Wales confirmed that they had carried out some initial work last autumn, and fed that back to representatives of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee in the spring of this year; before then carrying out some further work in the summer to update their findings. It was recognised by Audit Wales that the letter, included within the circulated report, set out a position at a particular point in time, and work had clearly moved forward since then. It was added that Audit Wales would be monitoring progress over the course of the year.

It was explained that Audit Wales had issued letters to each of the four Corporate Joint Committees. The following points were highlighted in respect of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee:

·        Welsh Government Aims – it was evident that there was a clear understanding of Welsh Government’s aims for the Corporate Joint Committees; although it was apparent that it wasn’t entirely supportive of the need for the Corporate Joint Committees. Audit Wales appreciated that this was in part linked to the concerns about lack of resources to support the implementation of the Corporate Joint Committees and its functions. Nevertheless, it was recognised that the Corporate Joint Committee was generally positive about the opportunities that could be brought forward for the region.

·        Governance Arrangements – Audit Wales were assured that the majority of core governance arrangements had been established, and were up  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Any urgent items at the discretion of the Chairperson pursuant to Section 100BA(6)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

There were no urgent items received.