Agenda and minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on Friday 2 November 2018, attached.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 2 November 2018 be signed as a correct record.

Items which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as matters of urgency.

There was no item raised as a matter of urgency.

Report on the Local Enterprise Partnership Annual Performance Review, attached.

(Councillor Hodgson attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Committee received a Report of the Chief Executive of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) on the Annual Performance Review of the LEP which was the process by which government monitored achievements and measured progress against three themes:

·         Governance

·         Delivery, and

·         Strategy.

The Report identified a lot of positive activity that was driven and influenced by the LEP and stakeholders recognised that it had achieved a great deal given the limited resources. There was greater partnership and cross-boundary working, particularly amongst local authorities, and the LEP had also identified key economic issues that needed to be addressed and promoted narrative within government circles to do this.

Areas of improvement identified within the Annual Review included, among others, a need for an action plan that clearly articulated the objectives of the LEP to address and how this would be achieved; the need to focus on infrastructure investments; improvements in how the Leadership Groups work together; better communication beyond the LEP partnership; reducing tension in the LEP partnership between private and public sector; the LEP being able to act independently from local authority influence; some rural areas may have benefited less from investment programmes to date; the need to distribute knowledge and information to a wider personnel within the partnership and the need to develop a ‘feedback loop’ to the Strategic Investment Panel to develop its wider understanding of what has worked well and what did not with investments made.

Members discussion areas included:

·         the need to deliver increased housing in Devon and for the LEP to work in partnership with Homes England;

·         the need to generate more GDP and revenue in order to finance social care;

·         the need for GDP growth to take into account the impact on social issues and the environment;

·         the impact of no devolution deal and how this may have hindered the incentive to receive more money from government to the south west;

·         the focus of the LEP on operational aspects of a no deal Brexit;

·         the benefits for the LEP in partnership working;

·         transport and the LEP being an advocate for investment in the South West’s railway; and,

·         the economic focus of the LEP.

Report of the Heart of the South West Social Inclusion Framework, attached.

(Councillor Hodgson attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Committee considered the Report of the Chief Executive of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the Chief Executive of the Devon Community Foundation (DCF) on the development of the Social Inclusion Framework which was to be delivered as part of the Productivity Plan.  The aim was to double the size of the economy over the next 20 years whilst providing opportunities for all within the emerging Local Industrial Strategy (LIS).

The Social Inclusion Framework outlined that inclusive growth had been highlighted by partners as a key ambition for the Productivity Plan and objectives included defining what was meant by inclusive growth, how the partnership could better understand and achieve inclusive growth and establishing a framework to capture performance over time.

Achieving economic growth remained the most effective way of improving well-being in the area, thereby improving both prosperity and social inclusion.  The Productivity Plan showed that economic growth had been principally driven by employment growth and not by a recovery in productivity levels.

Members discussion points included:

·         there had been national and international research around inclusivity and that those economies which reduced inequality, on average, had greater productivity;

·         the LEP had been looking at supporting social enterprise and local start-up businesses;

·         research was ongoing into the numbers of days lost due to illness/mental health and how to address this;

·         resources had been given to conduct this research and look at what the LEP could do to address this issue;

·         the challenge of social inclusivity in a largely rural area;

·         the need to consider the economic and social consequences of decision making;

·         some areas of the South West having the poorest social mobility in the Country;

·         issues of public transport and social mobility for young people; and

·         innovation and small business start ups in the South West and how this could be supported through the LEP.

In accordance with previous practice, Scrutiny Committees are requested to review the list of forthcoming business and determine which items are to be included in the Work Programme.

The Scrutiny Work Programme can be found at:

https://new.devon.gov.uk/democracy/committee-meetings/scrutiny-committees/scrutiny-work-programme/

In considering the work programme, it was RESOLVED that the work programme be agreed with the addition of items added at the meeting:

·         Update on housing growth;

·         Progress of Inclusive Growth;

·         Circular economy – Masterclass; and

·         Review of completed projects and lessons learned to include strategic forecast - Masterclass

[NB: The Scrutiny Work Programme was available on the Council's website athttps://new.devon.gov.uk/democracy/committeemeetings/scrutinycommittees/scrutinyworkprogramme/]  

Thursday 20 June 2019 @ 2.15pm

Thursday 17 October 2019 @ 2.15pm

Thursday 13 February 2020 @ 2.15pm

Dates of Future Meetings were noted as:

Thursday 20 June 2019

Thursday 17 October 2019

Thursday 13 February 2020

All meetings to start at 2.15pm with Masterclass sessions at 10.30am.