The Lancashire Combined County Authority is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, 16 December 2025 at County Hall, Preston. Items for discussion include a review of governance, the transition of local transport authority powers, allocation of the Adult Skills Fund, a new procurement framework, budget monitoring, grant principles, a local innovation partnership fund bid, and updates from the Business Board and Advisory Boards.

Local Transport Authority Powers/Functions Transition

The Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) is set to become the sole Local Transport Authority for the areas of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council from 1 April 2026. The meeting will include an update on the transition of Local Transport Authority functions to the LCCA, including a proposed commissioning and assurance model for 2026/27. The key Local Transport Authority functions that will become the direct responsibility of the LCCA from April 2026 include:

• Developing and maintaining a Local Transport Plan for the LCCA area
• Establishing and managing a pan-Lancashire Enhanced Partnership with local bus operators, with the ability to explore Bus Franchising if desired
• Administering a Concessionary Travel Scheme and relevant multi-operator bus ticketing schemes
• Securing public passenger transport services which the LCCA deems appropriate to secure, principally where socially necessary journeys cannot be made by the commercial bus network
• Provision of information on public transport in any way deemed appropriate
• Receiving and utilising grants and other public transport related funding including Bus Service Improvement Plan / Bus Grant

For each power and function that will become the responsibility of the LCCA, the report pack considers three headline options for undertaking them: delivery of the function by LCCA; a single Constituent Council being commissioned by the LCCA to undertake the function; or commissioning the function back to all three Constituent Councils.

The LCCA Transport Transition Report outlines the approach for transitioning transport functions from Lancashire's constituent authorities to the LCCA, ensuring a unified, efficient, and inclusive transport system that supports economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability. The report recommends a Commissioning and Assurance model for 2026/27, requiring agreements to be drawn up in January 2026 for the commissioning of functions by the LCCA to the Constituent Councils, with signing required by March 2026.

The report pack also includes more detailed reports on specific aspects of the transition, including:

• Bus Stops and Stations: The LCCA will write to the constituent councils, district councils and other parties with an intent to enter into a formal agreement to confirm that all bus stops, shelters and bus station will continue to be owned and maintained by their respective current owners on behalf of the LCCA, and the LCCA's Enhanced Partnership Board will consult with the relevant owners to agree a set of standard provisions for consistency across Lancashire.
• Infrastructure Design and Delivery: Infrastructure design and delivery services in relation to public transport infrastructure will be commissioned by the LCCA from the Constituent Councils as and when needed.
• Mainstream School Transport: The provision of mainstream School transport should remain a function of the Constituent Councils as it is an Education service requirement.
• Marketing and Branding: The LCCA is requested to endorse the development of a new brand and style at the LCCA level for roadside publicity, printed materials, online information, and marketing, to be approved by the LCCA once developed.

Adult Skills Fund Allocation

The Lancashire Combined County Authority is scheduled to discuss its strategic approach to prepare for the full devolution of the Adult Skills Fund¹ (ASF) from August 2026. The report pack sets out how implementation funding is being used to build capacity, systems, and governance arrangements, and proposes strategic flexibilities to national funding rules to better align ASF delivery with Lancashire's priorities. The meeting will include a discussion of how the indicative £40.8 million annual ASF budget, plus the additional £2.9 million in ringfenced Free Courses for Jobs funding (FCFJ), will be allocated and utilised, with the likelihood of supporting around 36,000 residents annually.

The LCCA approved the Lancashire ASF Strategic Skills Plan earlier in the year. The plan highlights key challenges including economic inactivity, youth unemployment, and the need for better integration between work, health, and skills provision, and these priorities are reflected in the wider Get Lancashire Working plan, published in September 2025.

The report pack also proposes a number of strategic flexibilities to national funding rules, including:

• Ringfencing 3% of each grant-funded provider's allocation for innovative activity against LCCA priorities
• Approving a £200 payment for each learner who is referred to and starts Connect to Work or Skills Bootcamps
• Raising the Level 3 earnings threshold to £29,431 (median wage in Lancashire), increasing eligibility by approximately 50,000 individuals
• Extending fully funded provision to individuals under formal redundancy consultation, regardless of income

Lancashire Combined County Authority Procurement Framework

The meeting will include a discussion of the strategic approach to the LCCA's commissioning and procurement activity, which is supported by a suite of documentation intended to ensure that procurement activity supports the vision and aims of the LCCA and that overarching principles are consistently applied to ensure all procurement is well-governed and compliant with local and national rules and legislation.

The approach to procurement is supported by a suite of documentation which includes the Procurement Strategy, Procurement Policy, Social Value Policy and standard LCCA Contractual Terms and Conditions.

The Procurement Strategy sets out the high-level focus of LCCA procurement aligned to other strategic documents at local and national level, including the LCCA vision and objectives, and includes an action plan for continual improvement which has been developed in line with the Local Government Association Procurement Strategy Toolkit.

The Procurement Policy sets out the approach to LCCA procurement activity to ensure that the processes that are followed by officers when engaging third parties are compliant with legislation and local rules, supports effective governance and seeks to ensure procurement is conducted in a compliant manner but that drives out best possible outcomes for the LCCA.

The Social Value Policy sets out how social value will be embedded into LCCA commissioning and procurement practices, identifies priority areas aligned to LCCA themes in a manner that will provide optimum benefit to residents and businesses, and identifies that social value principles and benefits will extend into other place and person based LCCA activity, whilst remaining proportionate and flexible.

Quarter 2 September 2025 Budget Monitoring

The meeting will include a discussion of the monitoring position against the 2025/26 Lancashire Combined County Authority Budget and Capital Programme for Quarter 2 to September 2025. The overall forecast for 2025/26 year-end is for a net positive position of £782,046 which is to be added to the reserves.

Some of the capital grants expected to be received to the LCCA have been paid to the Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLAs). The grants referred to are Bus Service Improvement Programme (BSIP) and Combined Active Travel (CAT) funding.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund² and Rural England Prosperity Grants have been received by the LCCA and 50% has been paid to the relevant Unitary and District Councils.

Grant Apportionment Principles 2026/27

The meeting will include a discussion of the principles to be adopted in 2026/27 to apportion any Grants received by the LCCA to the Constituent Councils where it is appropriate and agreed that the funding be allocated or passported to the constituent councils. It is proposed to apportion the grants using the following hierarchy:

1. Use the apportionment set by the grant awarding body where it has provided a Local Authority breakdown for 2026/27.
2. Use the method adopted by the grant body in allocating an amount to the LCCA to recreate an apportionment at a Local Authority level.

3. The most appropriate method of:

   i. Historical apportionment using 2025/26 percentages ii. Split by population basis, or other metrics (such as deprivation) depending on the nature of the grant

Local Innovation Partnership Fund Bid

The meeting will include a discussion of a single Lancashire bid to the £500m national Local Innovation Partnership Fund, to underpin activity around defence, security and critical national infrastructure. The bid should be focussed on real clusters of business and capability with growth potential, and will be based on a Lancashire geography to reflect how all aspects of the triple helix partners work to support the identified clusters.

The thematic focus of the bid will be:

• Primary Cluster: Defence, Security & Critical National Infrastructure:

  • Anchored by BAE Systems (Samlesbury/Warton), National Cyber Force HQ, and nuclear assets.
  • Cross-cutting capabilities: advanced manufacturing, engineering, cyber resilience.

• Innovation Themes:

  • AI & Data Exploitation
  • Uncrewed Systems & Autonomy
  • Space & Electromagnetic Domain
  • Energy & Sustainability
  • Advanced Materials & Directed Energy

Report of the Lancashire Combined County Authority Committees

The meeting will include updates from the LCCA's Audit and Governance Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report pack includes the draft minutes of the LCCA Audit and Governance Committee meeting held on 22 September 2025, and the draft minutes of the LCCA Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 10 October 2025.

The Audit and Governance Committee discussed key updates from Matthew Sidgreaves, Interim Chief Operating Officer for the Combined County Authority, the role of KPMG as the appointed external auditor, an internal Audit Progress Report, and the Corporate Risk and Opportunity Register.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the appointment of Anthony Oakman as the Independent LCCA Overview and Scrutiny Chair, discussed the LCCA Key Decision Definition and Threshold, and received an update on the Lancashire Growth Plan.