Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Leader of the Council, Councillor Hamida Ali

Officer: Interim Corporate Director of Resources, Richard Ennis

Key decision: no

RESOLVED: To

1.    Approve the establishment of the Brick by Brick Shareholder Cabinet Advisory Board (the “Advisory Board”) for the purposes and with the responsibilities described in the report.

2.    Approve the appointment of the Leader (Chair), Cabinet Member for Resources & Financial Governance and Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal to the Advisory Board, with other invited attendees as described in the report.

3.    Approve the Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

4.    Approve the process for appointment and removal of directors from the Brick By Brick board of Directors in accordance with paragraph 3.14 of the report; and delegate authority to Corporate Director of Resources & Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal and Chief Executive on appointments and removals of Directors of the board of Brick by Brick Croydon Ltd, who shall have authority to exercise shareholder functions on behalf of the Council to approve such appointments and removals (any such appointments or removals shall be notified as part of the next scheduled report to Cabinet).

5.    Delegate to the members of the Advisory Board the authority to exercise limited shareholder functions on behalf of the Council when making recommendations to Brick By Brick relating to risk in accordance with paragraph 3.8 (recognising, however, that Brick By Brick shall make its own independent decisions).

The Leader (Councillor Hamida Ali) introduced the report which made recommendations for more refined strategic oversight, supervision and monitoring to ensure good governance practice in relation to Brick By Brick. She stated that this followed recommendations from the Report in the Public Interest (RIPI) and the approval at 26 July Cabinet to establish the Croydon Companies’ Supervision and Monitoring Panel (CCSMP); a group which would solely monitor Brick by Brick.

Members raised the following points:

·         The formalisation and clarity of these arrangements was positive, including that the Panel would only compromise of elected Members.

·         The establishment of the Panel and its arrangements reflected positively on responding to and delivering the RIPI recommendations.

The Leader of the Opposition (Councillor Jason Perry) raised concern over the CCSMP membership not being cross-party and expressed his view this did not represent the transparency and openness that the Administration professed as the Panel’s considerations would not be exposed to challenge. He additionally stated that this implementation was too little action and taken too late.  In response, the Leader of the Council disagreed and stated that the Panel would ensure the delivery of Brick by Brick; bring genuinely afford housing to Croydon and return value from the company back to taxpayers. She stated that any decisions arising from the Panel would be reported to Cabinet where the Opposition would have the opportunity to share their views.

A Member asked if all the required finance papers, as set out in the terms of reference as a requisite for the Shareholder & Investment Board, which set out the status of the loans, repayments and dividends had always been provided for consideration. The Interim Corporate Director of Resources and Section 115 Officer (Richard Ennis) replied that he would look into this information request outside of the meeting. The Interim Director of Commercial Investment (Peter Mitchell) stated that there had been good cooperation from the Brick by Brick Directors in providing the monthly financial updates and going forward the Panel would be set up with even greater transparency, moving from ad hoc reporting to Cabinet, to a regular planned item in the forward plan. It was confirmed that the Panel held no decision making powers.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.    Approve the establishment of the Brick by Brick Shareholder Cabinet Advisory Board (the “Advisory Board”) for the purposes and with the responsibilities described in the report.

2.    Approve the appointment of the Leader (Chair), Cabinet Member for Resources & Financial Governance and Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal to the Advisory Board, with other invited attendees as described in the report.

3.    Approve the Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

4.    Approve the process for appointment and removal of directors from the Brick By Brick board of Directors in accordance with paragraph 3.14 of the report; and delegate authority to Corporate Director of Resources & Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal and Chief Executive on appointments and removals of Directors of the board of Brick by Brick Croydon Ltd, who shall have authority to exercise shareholder functions on behalf of the Council to approve such appointments and removals (any such appointments or removals shall be notified as part of the next scheduled report to Cabinet).

5.    Delegate to the members of the Advisory Board the authority to exercise limited shareholder functions on behalf of the Council when making recommendations to Brick By Brick relating to risk in accordance with paragraph 3.8 (recognising, however, that Brick By Brick shall make its own independent decisions).