Agenda item
Leicester and Leicestershire Multi-Area Agreement.
Minutes:
The Commission considered a
report of the Chief Executive on the draft
The Commission was advised that
arising from a second round of consultations there had been a number of
comments on the draft MAA from Government departments and agencies. A revised draft would be submitted to the
Government next week. It was proposed to
arrange a workshop with Government Departments in early November to address
some of the issues arising from the consultations and then a final draft would
be submitted towards the end of November.
The Cabinet would consider the revised final draft on 14 November.
The following points and
issues arose from questions and discussion:
Executive Summary
- A glossary of acronyms should be provided and
plain English should be used in the text;
- There needed to be some comments included
reflecting on the potential impact of the economic recession on the objectives,
targets and performance indicators referred to in the document ;
- The impact of the economic recession on small
businesses should be monitored;
- The importance of the Government’s agreement to
ASK 3 should be emphasised as being fundamental to allowing the
flexibility to enable the objectives and targets of the MAA to be
achieved.
Introduction
No comments.
Principle and Objective
No comments.
Rationale
- It would be helpful to mark the location of the
main county towns on the maps;
- Some concern was expressed about both the
evidence for the statement made in the last sentence of paragraph 3.10
(‘The universities produce over 15,000 graduates a year and evidence
suggests that a significant number of graduates are forced to leave the
sub-region due to lack of suitable employment opportunities’) and its
emphasis on lack of suitable employment opportunities; it was suggested
that universities should be looking to attract more international students
and to offering greater flexibility in degree courses, especially for
part-time undergraduates.
Scope and Priorities
- Particularly in relation to the final sentence
of paragraph 4.4 there needed to be a reference to the potential impact of
future legislation.
Delivery and Resources
- It was noted that there would have to be full
consultation with the business sector before a proposal to raise additional funding through a Supplementary
Business Rate (SBR) could proceed; in any event, it would be necessary to
determine what could be achieved via the available existing resources
before contemplating seeking a SBR.
Governance and
Accountability
- Some reference to the role of Scrutiny in
scrutinising the activities of the Leadership Group and the delivery
agencies should be included in this section, including the diagram on the
proposed governance arrangements;
- It was considered that one representative was
insufficient to adequately represent the Voluntary and Community Sector on
the Leadership Group;
- It was suggested that the Universities should be
offered observer status on the Leadership Group;
- There needed to be a process agreed with the
Leicestershire District Councils for appointing a District Council Leader
representative on the Leadership Group.
Performance Management
No comments.
Business Cases
- It was noted that the employment rates referred
to in paragraph 9.3 represent the working population; a significant
proportion of those not in employment were those people in full-time
education.
The Agreement
No comments.
General Comments
- Given that much of the data in the draft MAA
agreement was derived from the 2001 Population Census, there needed to be
recognition of the impact of significant migration into Leicestershire of
people from eastern Europe after that date;
- It was noted that if the Government agreed to
ASK 1 it would require primary legislation to enable it;
- It was noted that delivery plans would need to
be in place by February/March 2009 and that these should be subject to
scrutiny.
RESOLVED:
That the Cabinet be informed
of the Commission’s comments on the draft MAA.
Supporting documents:
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