Issue

Joint Committee20

Joint Waste Authority ("JWA")

Comments

1

Ease of establishment

Requires the resolution of the Executives of each of the participating authorities (if the Joint Committee is to exercise just Executive functions) or of the Council if the Joint Committee is to exercise just Non Executive functions or a combination of both

Established by order of the Secretary of State after consideration of a proposal from two or more local waste authorities which must have been consulted on locally before submission.

2

Ease of dissolution

Any of the participating authorities can resolve to withdraw from the Joint Committee and to withdraw any powers which it has delegated to the Joint Committee

The JWA can only be dissolved where all the constituent authorities agree to do so or where the secretary of State considers it necessary to do so. The JWA is dissolved by order of the Secretary of State. The effect of such dissolution would be to return powers to the constituent local authorities.

If authorities had established a Joint Committee and had also entered contractual arrangements with each other and /or the private sector, legally enforceable contractual agreements would need to be entered into to be sure that, even where an authority wished to withdraw from the Joint Committee arrangements the costs of seeking to disentangle any contractual arrangements would be significant.

3

How are the transferred powers defined?

In the agreed Constitution of the Joint Committee.

This enables the Joint Committee to be established with limited powers and then to have additional powers delegated by the participating authorities as the \project progresses, and enables the authorities to reserve critical decisions for their individual approval

In the Order establishing the JWA.

Local waste authorities may choose which waste functions they wish to be transferred to a JWA and specify this in their proposal to the Secretary of State. There may be some possibility of varying the Order, subject to local consultation.

4

How effectively are those powers transferred?

The delegation of powers by each Executive to the Joint Committee does not prevent each of the participating authorities from also exercising those powers within its own area

The functions are transferred from each of the participating authorities to the JWA, and the authorities then no longer have the power to discharge those functions

In the Joint Committee model, the IAA would place a prohibitive financial penalty on any authority which used these powers to disrupt the project

5

Are there any limitations on the powers which can be transferred?

For reasons set out below, it is likely that the powers delegated would be limited to Executive functions, which means that the Joint Committee would have to operate within the Budget and the Municipal Waste Management Plan approved by each authority. The Secretary of State can delegate any of his own functions to the individual authorities, and they can then delegate them on to the Joint Committee

The waste functions potentially transferable are Part 2 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (waste on land) Part 4 of that Act (litter etc) Section 32 of the Waste Emissions Trading Act 2003 (joint Municipal waste management strategies) and a function has to be transferred in whole.

A JWA, as for other local authorities, will have a general power to accept the delegation of additional functions from local authorities.

6

Who does the body comprise?

On the assumption that the Joint Committee has only executive functions delegated to it, the Joint Committee must comprise members of the Executives of the participating authorities, appointed by those Executives

JWAs will be governed by a Board comprised of elected members from each of its constituent authorities.

7

Does each authority have equal powers on the body?

Assuming that the Joint Committee is set up with equal membership from each authority, all decisions must be taken by a majority vote of those members present and voting, with the Chairman having a second or casting vote.

A JWA is an independent authority, and does not discharge the functions on behalf of the local authorities. It has all the powers which are given to it by the Order. It is proposed that JWA constitutions should identify any decisions for which a unanimous decision will be required.

8

Can the body enter contracts in its own name?

No. The Joint Committee merely takes decisions on behalf of the participating authorities, but is not a separate legal entity. So it can take the decision on behalf of each authority to enter a contract, but the contract would then be entered separately by each authority (or, more likely, one lead authority enters the contract on behalf of each of the other authorities).

Yes. The JWA is a separate legal entity and can enter a contract in its own name.

9

Can the body employ staff?

No. The Joint Committee is not a separate legal entity, so it cannot enter a contract of employment in its own name. Instead, it relies on staff employed by each of the participating authorities to implement its decisions. Such staff may be made available part-time to the Joint Committee, or can form a dedicated team, seconded exclusively to undertake work on the instruction of the Joint Committee.

Yes. The JWA is a separate legal entity and can employ staff directly. The establishment of a JWA is likely to involve the transfer of staff from the constituent authority to the JWA through a TUPE transfer. The JWA could also arrange for support services to be provided to it from one or more of the constituent authorities.

10

Can the body own land?

No. The Joint Committee merely takes decisions on behalf of the participating authorities and is not a separate legal entity. But each of the participating authorities would have the full powers to acquire (if necessary, compulsorily), hold, manage and dispose of land at the instruction of the joint committee

Yes. The JWA is a separate legal entity and would have the normal powers of a waste authority vested in it, to acquire (if necessary, compulsorily), hold, manage and dispose of land.

11

What happens if the body is dissolved?

Any contracts entered into by any of the participating authorities on the instruction of the Joint Committee would remain binding on that authority. The Inter Authority Agreement between the participating authorities would define their liabilities to each other, for example in terms of their contributions to the cost of continuing contracts.

The JWA can only be dissolved by an order of the Secretary of State, and that order would make provision for the return of functions from the JWA to the local authorities, and for the distribution of assets and liabilities between those authorities.

12

What is the process of decision-making?

The Joint Committee takes all decisions by a majority of those members present and voting, with the Chairman having a second or casting vote. It can delegate decisions to officers.

Where the Joint Committee is a Joint Executive Committee (i.e. it has only executive functions delegated to it), it will operate under the Executive Access to Information Rules, which means that it need only hold meetings in public which are taking "key decisions" It must operate within the powers delegated to it by the participating authorities and the Budget and Strategic Plan Framework approved by each participating authority, and any "departure decision" would have to be referred to the full Councils of the relevant authority(ies) for decision

The JWA would probably wish to21 establish a Policy and Executive Committee to which a number of decisions will be delegated in order to ensure effective, practical working arrangements (see Section 6 for further examples that JWAs may adopt to ensure robust decision making process is achieved.)

13

How is the body financed?

The Joint Committee has no separate power to raise money by borrowing, or levying Council Tax. Instead, it is dependent upon the participating authorities who agree in the JWA to meet its costs.

The Joint Waste Authority will not have precepting powers. Revenue Support Grant will continue to be paid to relevant constituent authorities even where a JWA is discharging waste functions on their behalf. A proposal for the establishment of a JWA will need to specify funding arrangements for the JWA and how costs will be split. In practice this means that the JWA will need to enter a cost sharing agreement with the constituent authorities. A waste infrastructure capital grant could located to the JWA and a JWA would also have the same prudential borrowing powers as a normal local authority.