All applicable Tees Valley Review recommendations acted upon, TVCA meeting hears
Tees Valley Combined Authority has said that work undertaken in response to the Tees Valley Review recommendations is almost entirely complete, nearly a year on from the publication of the report.
The Tees Valley Review, an independent review into the Teesworks joint venture, was commissioned in 2023 by then Secretary of State, Michael Gove. The report found no corruption or illegality but said decisions taken by bodies involved had not met expected standards when managing public funds.
The review, published in January 2024, made 28 recommendations, 26 of which were actionable by TVCA, while two were for the Government to work on. Now, an “action tracker” document has been made public, demonstrating the progress made against the recommendations in recent months.
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The document, presented at the recent TVCA Audit and Governance Committee meeting on January 16, sets out that of the 26 recommendations applicable to TVCA, 25 are "complete" and one is "partially complete". Meanwhile it says that the two recommendations applicable to the Government are "not complete" and that "regular chasing emails have been sent” but no response has yet been received and that this is out of TVCA’s control.
Additionally, there are another two recommendations where TVCA state that while they can assist, responsibility lies with local unitary authorities. This refers to recommendations 14 and 15, where "statutory officers” of constituent authorities have a part to play to both inform representatives from local councils ahead of TVCA Cabinet as well as maintaining an “active and inquisitive engagement” with TVCA and South Tees Development Corporation (STDC).
The partially complete recommendation is number 19, which advocated conflict of interest training for STDC/TVCA officers and members. “Ensure proper declarations are made and individuals recuse themselves appropriately in meetings”, the recommendation explained. Training for officers took place on January 17, while training for members will take place in early February, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands.
Work completed in response to several of the recommendations is however only the start, as Emma Simson, TVCA Group Chief Legal Officer (Monitoring Officer) explained at the Audit and Governance meeting. She said: "We've implemented all the recommendations, but then what we need to show to the committee is, not only have the recommendations been implemented, they've been actioned."
She added: "So when we're talking about Cabinet receiving an update on the development corporations, we can show you that it's been done on these dates. It's all well and good implementing the recommendations, it's proving we're doing what we said we would do."
At the same meeting, chair of the committee, Darlington Labour Councillor Mandy Porter was positive about the action tracker. She said: “From our perspective as a committee, I think there’s some reassurance that some of them have been acted on and there are plans in place where necessary, going forward.”
When asked by chair of the TVCA Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Middlesbrough Labour Councillor Ian Blades, if he was happy with the Combined Authority’s response to each of the recommendations (sent to Angela Rayner in September 2024), Conservative Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “I think it’s an incredibly thorough piece of work and I’m pleased that it’s not just me that says that, but actually, all of the local authorities and local council leaders also agree with it, by signing it off, because ultimately without their agreement, we wouldn’t have been able to submit that response.”
At the separate meeting, which took place on Wednesday January 15, Mayor Houchen highlighted the work of TVCA officers and said: “They should be applauded for what is a really positive piece of work, that we’ll learn from and we’ll make improvements and it’ll take us onto the next level.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) was asked if they had a timeline or any update to provide on the recommendations that the Government needed to act on. Additionally, MHCLG was asked for an indication on when TVCA can expect a response from Angela Rayner to the letter she received from Ben Houchen and TVCA Cabinet on September 30, 2024.
Finally, MCHLG was quizzed on whether the Secretary of State is satisfied with the level of detail provided by TVCA on each of the actions the Combined Authority is taking and the changes that are being implemented.
In response, a spokesperson said: “We thank the mayor for his response to the independent review and will respond in due course. It is right that we consider this in detail before determining whether further action should be taken.”
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