Agenda item - Changes to the role of the Chief Executive & Growth Director and Strategic Management Board

To consider the report of the Chief Executive & Growth Director.

Agreed:

RECOMMENDED thatCouncil:-

(1) approve the secondment of the Chief Executive & Growth Director for two days per week to head up the work of Exeter City Futures CIC in support of the Net Zero Exeter 2030 Plan, commencing on 2 January 2022;

(2) approve the secondment of the Director of Transformation for up to three days per week to Exeter City Futures CIC, to design and lead the programme of change in support of the Net Zero Exeter 2030 goal, commencing on 2 January 2022;

(3) agree to the review of the secondment arrangements in 12 months;

(4) approve the commission of additional work to establish a carbon budget for the City of Exeter to show the baseline position for the city, the various city sectors who contribute to carbon emissions, the targets to achieve Net Zero and the carbon emission implications in pursuing the proposals, as set out in the Net Zero Plan;

(5) note the changes to the Strategic Management Board reporting lines; and

(6) request that Strata Service Solutions Ltd consider amending its constitution to allow for the officer representation on its Joint Executive Committee to be the Chief Executive or his nominee of the three constituent authorities (rather than the Chief Executive).

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report.

The Executive received the report which sought Member approval to enable the Chief Executive & Growth Director to lead Exeter City Futures Community Interest Company (CIC) for two days a week, to provide leadership on the Net Zero Exeter 2030 Plan, supported by the Director for Transformation, working three days a week. The proposed deployment would be for a 12 month period and the report highlighted the proposed changes in the Strategic Management Board reporting lines during this period.

The Chief Executive & Growth Director in presenting the report, reminded Members that the Council had set a Net Zero by 2030 target on behalf of the city, and had engaged with various institutions across the city, who had signed up to the 2040 vision and worked with the Council, as part of Exeter City Futures to publish a Net Zero 2030 to deliver the ambition. There would be a magnitude of work involved on a political, technical and financial level to address the methodology to achieve the goals, which included the retrofitting of private housing to meet the requirements of the low-carbon agenda.

Members noted that organisations across the area would need to be working in partnership on a regional level to address the issues for Exeter City Futures to achieve the Net Zero target. The Chief Executive & Growth Director and the Director for Transformation would be focussing on the priority actions identified in the report. These secondments would enable engagement with various partners to bring in resources to deliver the vision. The process would be reviewed in 12 months.

Particular reference was made to:-

· the key institutions who sit on the board of the Exeter City Futures, included the University of Exeter, Exeter College, Devon County Council, the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, Oxygen House and the City Council. All institutions would be working in partnership to deliver the Net Zero Agenda, with leadership from the Chief Executive & Growth Director; and

· there was a significant challenge to develop the funding and delivery mechanisms to implement the retrofit of the city’s private housing stock.

Councillor D. Moore, as an opposition leader, spoke on the item, stating that in 2019, the United Nations called for a 7.6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions each year between 2020 and 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Following on from the recently held COP26 (Conference of the Parties) climate change conference, it was stated that quicker and more timely efforts were needed. Councillor Moore welcomed the proposal but considered the report to be complex and was set apart from the goals to establish a carbon budget for Exeter as shown in the recommendations. She further considered that there was no risk analyses and sought clarification on how the report author reached the analysis of the risks outlined in Section 9 of the report and enquired on the following areas:-

· What assessment criteria regarding the impact of the secondments did the Council intend to use?

· What due diligence had the Council undertaken for Exeter City Futures and its capacity to deliver on its financial viability, governance arrangements and ability to recruit staff?

· With the 2019 accounts showing a loss and the current reliance of secondments to Exeter City Futures (ECF), what investment was being made from other members of ECF to fund the secondments?

· What would the impact be, to the Medium Term Financial Plan for the two secondments and to the quality of Council services?

· How did the Council intend to deal with governance and oversight of the work in relation to potential conflicts of interest?

· With Exeter City Futures working on a Government backed asset investment fund, Exeter City Council was expected to be a principal shareholder investing a significant portion of the £200million initial investment, will the seconded Officers focus on delivery of this project and how will the level of the Council’s exposure to risk to be independently assessed?

· Should the Executive Committee be fully informed of the Exeter Development Fund and its associated risk before proceeding with the secondment?

The Leader in responding stated that the Chief Executive & Growth Director would be working with other organisations to encourage them to engage with their commitment to the Net Zero agenda. All details of the secondments would be managed through the Council’s relevant departments as an internal matter. The Leader agreed that, although the secondments would have an impact on the Council, there were experienced officers available to manage the Council’s work during the secondment period. Investments from various partners would be sought and the impact to the Medium Term Financial plan would be included in the Council’s budget in February 2022. All decisions which impacted on Exeter City Council would continue to be reported to the Executive and be available for scrutiny by the relevant Scrutiny Committee.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

· risk assessments, governance and conflicts of interest would be managed appropriately to identify potential impacts to the Council and any required mitigation would be put in place;

· the report was a positive statement of the Council’s leadership and a strong demonstration of its commitment to working with partners;

· the Council had previously undertaken a vast volume of work on the climate emergency and environmental issues, including work on the valley parks and greenspaces and energy efficient buildings, such as St Sidwell’s Point;

· the outcomes listed in the report were important and it was important to have the right leadership and skills in place to achieve a carbon neutral city; and

· the report was transparent and outlined the secondment arrangements, which were reasonable to support the delivery of the net Zero carbon agenda.

The Leader in summarising referred to the other options listed in the report presented at the meeting, highlighting that there was no statutory obligation to lead a city wide Net Zero agenda and the Council could solely focus on the carbon emissions from their organisation. There had been frequent requests to appoint a dedicated officer to lead on the Net Zero agenda, which the secondment of the Chief Executive & Growth Director would demonstrate the Council’s focus on delivering Net Zero with experienced leadership. The Leader thanked the Director Finance for preparing the emergency budget to allocate the funds needed to undertake the work and enable the Chief Executive & Growth Director to lead on the work and engage with partners.

Members welcomed the report, which provided an overview for a new chapter for Exeter City Futures and highlighted how the Council will lead on the Climate Emergency and implement changes that would be needed to achieve the Net Zero target.