Agenda and minutes

PRESENT:   Councillors: P Davies (Kirklees MBC)

J Lewis (Leeds CC)

J Scullion (Calderdale MBC)

Councillor C Douglas (City of York)

In Attendance:  C Duffill (Kirklees), P Heptonstall (Wakefield),

R Ellis (LCC), R Colley (LCC), and H Gray (LCC)

Nominations were sought for the position of Chair. Councillor Hinchcliffe was nominated for the position of Chair, the nomination was seconded. Upon being put to the vote it was

RESOLVED – That Councillor Hinchcliffe be elected as Chair for the duration of the meeting.

To consider any appeals in accordance with  Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information  Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and  public will be excluded).

There were no appeals against the refusal of inspection of documents.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration. (The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes).

No late items of business were added to the agenda.

To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

1)  To consider whether or not to accept the officers’ recommendation in respect of the above information.

2)  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:-

The agenda contained no exempt information.

To receive apologies for absence (if any).

The following apologies for absence and notifications of substitutes were reported:

Councillors S Pandor (Kirklees MBC) and D Jeffery (Wakefield MDC) 

Councillor P Davies (Kirklees MBC) attended as a substitute and Mr P Heptonstall attended as the representative for Wakefield MDC.

Apologies were also received from R Tuddenham, J Gedman, T Riordan, V Bradshaw, C Carter, K England and I Floyd.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

No declarations of interest were made.

To approve as a correct record, the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17^th March 2023.

RESOLVED – The minutes of the previous meeting held 17^th March 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

To consider the report of the Chief Officer Financial Services, Leeds City Council which sets out the context in which the 2023/24 Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool has been set up and includes the governance arrangements and Memorandum of Understanding for the Leeds City Region Pool, and the Terms of Reference for the governing Joint Committee. The report also presents the current position of the 2023/24 Business Rates Pool, including the latest income projections for 2023/24; and the proposed allocation of funding for 2023/24, including a £50,000 administration fee to Leeds City Council.

The Chief Officer, Financial Services, Leeds City Council submitted a report for consideration which set out the following:

a)  The context in which the 2023/24 Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool had been set up,

b)  The governance arrangements and Memorandum of Understanding for the Leeds City Region Pool, and the Terms of Reference for the governing Joint Committee,

c)  The current position of the 2023/24 Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool, including the latest income projections for 2023/24,

d)  The proposed allocation of funding for 2023/24, including a £50,000 administration fee to Leeds City Council.

The report included a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at Appendix A and the Terms of Reference for the Joint Committee for 2023/24 at Appendix B to be ratified by the Joint Committee.

The revised Memorandum of Understanding for 2023/2024 reflected the re-organisation of Local Government in North Yorkshire and set out the methodology for administration of the Net Retained Levy which had been agreed by the Section 151 Officers of the six member authorities for the purposes of making an application to the Secretary of State to pool in 2023/24.

The Joint Committee noted that pooled levy payments must first meet any safety net payments due to individual member authorities. Any surplus pooled levy payments (known as the Net Retained Levy) can then be used at the direction of the Joint Committee in the following ways:

A.  The running costs of the Pool, if any, will initially be paid by the lead authority and will be reimbursed to them from the Net Retained Levy.

B.  If after paying the running costs, the Net Retained Levy is greater than £0 (i.e. the pool has made an overall gain), then the first £200k of Net Retained Levy will be paid to the City of York Council recognising that this member is the largest contributor of funding to the Pool.

If after paying the administration fee and the payment to City of York Council, there is any further Net Retained Levy, then the Joint Committee may make decisions as to how it can be used to further regional economic growth as a Residual Benefit of the Pool. The Residual Benefit was proposed to be returned to all member authorities using the following apportionments: -

·  25% in proportion to population, to recognise the most significant driver of need,

·  25% in proportion to growth above the baseline, to continue to incentivise growth in the business rates tax base in the region,

·  25% in proportion to the levy payments made to the pool, to recognise the contribution of the 2 levy-paying authorities to the income of the pool,

·  25% to the 4 top-up authorities in proportion to the top-ups they receive from Government, to recognise that without the participation of top-up authorities levy payments could not be retained within the region.

Estimated levy payments of £3.7 m to the 2023/24 Leeds City Region BR Pool were reported along with an indicative level of each member authority retained income and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.