Minutes:
The Chair referred to the recent announcement of suspensions by Swansea University. The Chair advised that the suspensions were entirely a matter of Swansea University, however, it would be prudent for the Joint Committee to understand and be responsive to any potential concerns relating to the City Deal.
The Chair informed Members that, upon finding out about the suspensions, he had immediately contacted the University’s Registrar. The Registrar had assured him that, while the suspensions were linked to the Llanelli Life Science and Well-being Village, they did not relate to any of the other City Deal projects. The Chair reported that Swansea University had reaffirmed a strong commitment to the City Deal. He suggested, however, that in addition to these reassurances it would be valuable for the Joint Committee to undertake an internal review of due diligence into the City Deal. He suggested that the review could be undertaken in parallel with the independent review by the Welsh and UK Governments and chaired by himself with Pembrokeshire County Council taking responsibility for the Audit function.
The Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council advised the Joint Committee that Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board had endorsed the Llanelli Life Science and Well-being Village Full Business Case in principle and deemed it ready for submission to the UK and Welsh Government. Prior to any further action, however, Officers had been instructed to provide reassurance, including external expert legal advice that all due legal process had been followed and report back to the Executive Board accordingly. The Leader informed Members that this process was underway and that the results would be reported back to the Joint Committee. Officers had also been requested to look at alternative delivery methods to ensure that Llanelli Life Science and Well-being Village could be completed, and the Authority was fully committed to the project and confident that private sector funding could be obtained. The Authority continued to work with the two universities and Hywel Dda University Health Board to take the project forward, and he asked the Joint Committee to show support and remain committed to deliver all projects within the Deal.
The Chair thanked the Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council for the update on the Llanelli Life Science and Well-being Village, and confirmed that it reflected the view of the Joint Committee that the project could not progress until a revised proposal was resubmitted to the JC for consideration. He re-iterated that in his opinion, it would be sensible and prudent to take a review of due diligence for all projects, so that the City Deal remained on track and also ensure that all plans were robust. The review would include programme management, project status, visibility and ownership, capacity, roles responsibilities and functions and allow the Joint Committee to proceed with confidence. Findings of any Joint Committee review would dovetail into the Independent Review and be fed into Joint working arrangements. The project could not be progressed further until Carmarthenshire submitted a revised proposal to the Joint Committee and had received support for the new proposal which would include providing the Joint Committee with assurance and detail of the revised delivery model. He asked the Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council to forward to the Joint Committee, once available, all advice and documentation relating to the Carmarthenshire Council commissioned review, including the revised method of delivery.