Agenda and minutes

Joint review with Support Services OSP, Growth and Prosperity Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Reviews) - Thursday 29 October 2009 2.30 pm

Venue: Council House, Plymouth City Council

Contact: Helen Rickman, Democratic Support Officer  Email: helen.rickman@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

9.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the code of conduct.

10.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 14 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2009.

 

Minutes:

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2009 be confirmed as a correct record.

11.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of chair’s urgent business.

12.

MONITORING OF PLYMOUTH CITYBUS LIMITED SHAREHOLDING PROJECT pdf icon PDF 20 KB

The Director for Corporate Support will submit a report regarding the monitoring of Plymouth Citybus Limited Shareholding Project.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel was informed that –

 

(i)

bidders were provided with access at this stage to more information such as financial prospects and details of the market;

 

(ii)

it was reported that the Project Board was presented with an assessment report updating the Panel on further progress;       

 

(iii)

it was reported that the Project Board was in unanimous agreement that the project should move into the third stage of the process;

 

(iv)

the project was on course to report to Full Council on 30 November 2009;

 

(v)

the Project Manager assured the Panel that the assessment report submitted to the Project Board had gone through the correct processes and was written with due diligence;

 

(vi)

the Project Manager was satisfied that the process had followed legal guidelines;

 

(vii)

the speed of the transaction carried out would ensure that risks to the CityBus Shareholding process were limited;

 

(viii)

comments made in the Herald newspaper with regards to the Citybus Shareholding process did not reflect the views of the Project Board;

 

(ix)

the Project Manager would ensure the report submitted to Full Council would contain information regarding the pension deficit and details about concessionary fares;

 

(x)

an evaluation of CityBus depot had taken place in which an environmental survey and an examination of the planning potential of the property had been carried out;

 

(xi)

potential costs for phase three of the project would be contained in the report;

 

(xii)

the Panel received assurances that appropriate legal and technical support had been used in the Citybus Shareholding project;

 

(xiii)

due to the commercial sensitivity of the information contained within the report submitted to the Project Board, the Task and Finish Group were unable to receive all information detailed within the report;

 

(xiv)

the panel noted that speculation in the press had taken place during the CityBus shareholding process was not helpful to the process itself;

 

 

The following concerns were raised by Members of the Panel –

 

(xv)

that the Panel was unable to fully ensure that the process set out in the 2 June 09 Cabinet report had been carried out correctly as they were unable to have access to the assessment report submitted to the Project Board; however the Panel had received assurances from others that the process was followed correctly;

 

(xvi)

that press coverage that coincided with the 1 October 09 Task and Finish Group meeting did not aid the process or keep members of the public accurately informed;

 

(xvii)

that the effect of the potential sale of CityBus upon the concessionary fares scheme and the pension scheme would be detailed in the report;

 

In order to achieve the required outcomes, listed as ‘benefits’ in the work programme request, namely, to ensure demonstrable oversight of the process, the following recommendations are proposed –

 

(1)

To note the report and the progress made to date, with special attention to be focused upon assurances from the Project Board regarding financial, legal and commercial probity;

 

(2)

for the whole CityBus Shareholding process  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) … of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.