Issue - meetings

To consider a report by the Scrutiny Co-ordinator (copy attached - which includes some confidential appendices) the purpose of which is to seek the Committee, in accordance with the Council’s Call-In Procedure Rules, to review the decision taken by Cabinet on 25^th April 2023.

10.15am – 11.15am

The Chair welcomed Members, Officers and the Leader, Councillor Jason McLellan to the meeting. Members were provided with background information and reasoning for the call in request.

Members were reminded of the reasons for the call in as stated in the report:

“An allocation of £25.6 million had been made to Denbighshire through the UK Prosperity Fund. An open and transparent process must be adhered to for the allocation of those funds”.

“Lack of understanding of the application process and shortlisting process. There was no evidence of a scoring matrix and was described as and art not a science. No sufficient evidence on how projects had been awarded and approved. A lack of evidence aligning the process with the UK Government guidelines. No evidence of a right of appeal for applicants or extra information gathering to support the applications. Lack of consultation with all Members throughout the process”.

The Scrutiny Co- ordinator provided Members with a detailed description of the call in procedure.

The Chair allowed all signatories present at the meeting to put forward their reasoning for calling in the Cabinet decision.

Signatories explained to the Committee that the reason for the Call In was to fully understand the process for applying, shortlisting and awarding the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) monies, it was not to hold up the process in any way. They highlighted their disappointment in the lack of communication that Members had received regarding the process and therefore this had led to minimal opportunities for Members to contribute.

The Signatories expressed their concerns over the matrix and scoring system and stated that clarity on this would be beneficial. They stated that Members felt isolated from the process and were of the view that many opportunities throughout the process to gain Member involvement had been missed. The discussions continued by signatories questioning the deliverability of the projects that had moved to the next stage of the SPF process.

Signatories continued to stress that they were disappointed by the lack of transparency of the process and the lack of communication with Members. They had signed the call-in request because they felt unsure how to answer potential questions from residents in and applicants in their wards due to the lack of information available to them.

Responding to the points raised by the signatories the Leader stated that he understood the motivations of the signatories in that members should be able to answer questions from residents and applicants within their wards with confidence.

The Leader continued by explaining that the process adhered to the UK Government guidelines which had previously been set out. The timescales given for the SPF were tight and the Group Leaders and the Chairs of all Member Area Groups (MAGs) were written to and asked to circulate the relevant information to Members (copy of the latter e-mail, dated 15 February 2023, had been included at Annex C to the report). 48 organisations were contacted to be involved with the SPF with 12 organisations responding. 1 Elected Member responded to a particular project with no other responses being received from other Members.

The Leader explained that all guidelines were adhered to. Information regarding the SPF was available via social media outlets and on the Denbighshire County Council website, they stated that the SPF was there to be engaged with.  At the close of the application stage the Fund was oversubscribed, with the applications far outstripping the funding available.

The Head of Housing and Communities informed Members that the application process was published online and there was a short list developed according to the availability of funds and in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6