The Independent Advisor to the Board presented the report and noted that findings were generally positive with evidence of continuous ongoing improvement. The report identified potential training requirements and the need for better resource provision for Members of the Board and the will of the Board to input into Authority business prior to Authority meetings rather than just giving feedback after decisions are made.

The Head of Governance and Corporate Services acknowledged the issues raised and explained that all comments to action would be entered into the LPB Action Tracker and monitored with progress fed back to the Board regularly. Further comments, requests, and feedback from the Board on areas for improvement was encouraged by Officers.

The Director picked up on the Board’s request for the opportunity to give pre-decision scrutiny and explained that this was encouraged and identified the upcoming review of a number of policies where comment from the Board would be welcome. The Chair welcomed the idea of the involvement of the Board in consultations on issues and policies and accepted the depth of pre-decision scrutiny depended on the depth of Board engagement.

The Independent Advisor to the Board queried whether the Governance Review conducted by Aon had identified other options for sharing information between the Board and The Authority.

The Director explained that there had been a workshop for Board Members with the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny to examine different scrutiny techniques, including working groups to examine key reports prior to approval, and said SYPA would facilitate different methods of Scrutiny as requested by the Board.

The Director explained that the Authority did not require a Forward Plan but that the work programme for the Authority that set out the upcoming decisions and plans should be developed to build in more time for the Board to scrutinise reports and recommendations.

The Head of Governance and Corporate Services informed Members that there were plans to implement quarterly meetings between the Chair of the Authority and the Chair of the Board to improve communications and highlight any issues.

RESOLVED:  Members agreed the Effectiveness Review report at Appendix A and the recommended actions therein.