Agenda item

Director for City Services and Commercial and Director for Coventry Municipal Holdings Limited

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered a report of the Director for City Services and Commercial and Director for Coventry Municipal Holdings Limited, that would also be considered at the meeting of the Audit and Procurement Committee on 17^th March 2025 and the meeting of the Coventry Shareholders Committee on 25^th March 2025.

Coventry Municipal Holdings Limited (CMH) managed the commercial interests of the wholly owned Council investments in a number of arm’s length company investments. A key legal document called the Group Governance Agreement (GGA) was developed to provide the governance framework for Coventry Municipal Holdings Limited (CMH), the parent for the Council’s wholly owned investments. The GGA stipulated that CMH should produce an Annual Performance Report looking back at the operation of the Group to the year-end. The report was presented to Coventry Shareholder Committee each year with the published accounts being presented to Audit and Procurement Committee.

The report looked at the year ending 31st March 2023 and 31st March 2024 for the CMH group of companies based on their audited accounts which were available at Companies House. Tom White Waste and Coventry Municipal Holdings Group received an extension for filing, granted to 31st March 2025 and as such although they had been approved by the Board of Directors may not yet appear on Companies House. The accounts for all other companies would be available at Companies House.

The accounts for the year ending 31st March 2023 for Tom White Waste Limited Group, Coventry Technical Resources Limited and Coventry Regeneration Limited were previously presented to the Audit and Procurement Committee on 29th January 2024.

In considering the briefing note and a presentation by officers, the Committee asked questions and received responses on matters in the following areas:

• The new governance process to come into place from the next municipal year.
• The guest profile of Coombe Abbey Hotel, which occupies a middle ground between luxury and budget.
• The focus on the casual weekend leisure market as well as the corporate weekday market.
• The detail of the heading “Other” in the accounts.
• Whether a brief summary of the key highlights in non-technical language could be provided for future reports.
• The Auditors had signed off the accounts and were therefore confident that the businesses were on-going concerns.
• The costs of maintenance and refurbishment of a listed historical building, and the current redevelopment programme which was coming back on line following the halt due to Covid.
• The timescales for any likely dividends, as well as the other £1.2million income streams from Coombe Abbey Hotel.

Members requested that information be circulated to them on the following and that this information also be provided to the Audit and Procurement Committee when they consider the report:

• Details of what “other” expenditures, referred to throughout the accounts.
• Clarification of the increase in the costs for 2024 in respect of ‘Management and Administration’ and ‘Directors’ Pension contributions to money purchase schemes.
• A private note detailing the timescales for when a dividend can be expected.

Members also requested that future reports include a cover report providing highlights, key points of the accounts as well as information about marketing spend and plans.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:

1)  Notes the financial position as reported in the Annual Accounts for the Companies to 31st March 2023 and 31st March 2024.

2)  Had no further comments or recommendations for the Coventry Shareholder Committee arising from this meeting.