Agenda and minutes

There were none.

The record of the meeting held on 5 June 2025 was agreed by the Sub Committee and signed by the Chairperson as correct.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.</AI3>

Background:

The report set out that on 6 June 2024, the Sub Committee had met and agreed governance arrangements. One year on, following a review of the effectiveness of the governance and in reflection of changes that had occurred with the Joint Venture, revised internal governance arrangements were proposed at the 5 June 2025 meeting of the Sub Committee. Although these changes were agreed in principle, the Sub Committee requested some further changes before a final review at an extraordinary meeting convened solely to confirm the governance arrangements. The report set out the new governance arrangements in full.

The Sub Committee thanked the Chief Finance Officer, Katey Durkin for her contribution to the processes associated with Medway Norse.

It was noted that meetings of the Medway Norse Liaison Board were chaired by Medway Council. It was requested that meetings of the Liaison Board, the Sub Committee and the Medway Norse Company Board take place within 48 hours of each other and that the timings of these meetings be based around when the Norse Board meetings were due to take place. It was requested that an item to discuss this be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the Sub Committee.

The Director of Place and the Assistant Director, Legal and Governance were due to discuss the vacant position on the Norse Board and the Director of Place indicated that he could remain on the Board while the vacant position was appointed to.

Recent progress made in relation to Medway Norse had included the recruitment of a Senior Programme Manager, which had brought benefits by bringing together different strands of work.

Reasons:

The Sub Committee is requested to approve the recommendations above to strengthen still further the corporate governance of the Council’s LATCO.

It is recognised that the agreed appointment of the officers to the Board of Directors improved the influence powers on the decision making by Medway Norse. The initial year of the Sub Committee also demonstrated that Members needed more control and input as the client. This coupled with the fact that the expected benefits of splitting up the liaison function and creating three separate client groups did not materialise and was better served by a Member led single liaison board.