Agenda and minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2019, attached.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2019 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.

A Report of the Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership, attached.

The Committee received a Report from the Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which outlined key areas including the LEPs Route Map to Recovery in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic; sharing the key proposals of the LEPs Local Industrial Strategy which aimed to deliver clean and inclusive growth; and set out the LEPs response to the Chancellor’s consultation on Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).

Covid-19 Route Map to Recovery

The Report highlighted that whilst the levels of COVID-19 cases had been relatively low with the South West region, the impact on the economy had been severe.

The LEP had published its Route Map to Recovery on June 3rd 2020 which set out the challenges, priorities and next steps. As well as working with Local Recovery Plans, the LEP had identified 2 specific pieces of work to progress:

a)     to develop the LEPs pipeline into a series of prioritised interventions (to feed into the CSR)

b)     to bring together the actions from the Productivity Plan, LIS and Recovery Plans into a single work programme.

The Route Map could be found at https://heartofswlep.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2020/06/Heart-of-the-SW-C-19-Route-Map-to-Recovery-June2020.pdf  

In addition, the Local Resilience Forum in Devon, Cornwall and Avon had specific responsibilities and most local areas had developed local recovery plans.

Whilst much of the response to COVID-19 had been nationally applied, such as lockdowns, LEPs had been integral to the economic response to COVID-19 phase by providing:

a)     Government accredited advice and guidance to businesses through the Growth Hub;

b)     delivering local grants e.g. Kickstart and local response initiatives such as Bounceback Digital, Jobs and Skills launchpad, Better Business for All guidelines

c)     securing £35.4m Getting Building Fund (shovel-ready projects to be delivered by January 2022 targeted at Green Recovery, Work Hubs and individual projects – summary projects could be viewed at https://heartofswlep.co.uk/news/getting-building-fund-projects-announced-for-heart-of-the-south-west/#:~:text=HotSW%20LEP%20received%20%C2%A335.4,be%20complete%20by%20March%202022   

d)     working with local partners, stakeholders and key officials on particular issues affecting the HotSW area.

Local Industrial Strategy

The Local Industrial Strategy was submitted to Government in October 2020 following approval from the LEP Board and Joint Committee.  The LEP Board had agreed to publish the LIS as part of its recovery plan to build back better. 

The Government had identified the following key requirements of Local Industrial Strategies:

•       they would be long-term, based on clear evidence and aligned to the National Industrial Strategy;

•       they should set out clearly defined priorities for how cities, towns and rural areas would maximise their contribution to UK productivity. Local Industrial Strategies would allow places to make the most of their distinctive strengths and would better coordinate economic policy at the local level and ensure greater collaboration across boundaries;

•       they would help to inform local choices, prioritise local action and, where appropriate, help to inform decisions at the national level; and,

•       they would also provide strategic overview which would inform Local Enterprise Partnerships’ approach to any future local growth funding deployed through them. In conjunction with the key reforms set out in the Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships, Local Industrial Strategies  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

An update from the Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership, on the Getting Building Fund projects announced for Heart of the South West.

Further information can be found at:

https://heartofswlep.co.uk/news/getting-building-fund-projects-announced-for-heart-of-the-south-west/

The Chief Executive of the Local Enterprise Partnership provided an update on the Getting Building Fund projects announced for Heart of the South West. 

The LEP announced the 12 projects which would develop business cases to receive funding from Government’s Getting Building Fund.

The LEP had received £35.4m from the national pot of £900m from the Getting Building Fund and had chosen a final list of ‘shovel-ready’ projects from its bid. Projects would now complete a business case demonstrating job creation and that spending would be complete by March 2022.

The funding was allocated under three headings: Work Hubs and Fit out (£8.7m); Retrofit and Low Carbon (£5.3m) and Individual Projects (£21.4m).

The projects that progressed to business case submission, which would support employment, regeneration, skills, innovation and clean energy, were:

·       Torquay Gateway (£2m)

·       Concourse Phase 2, Brunel Plaza, Plymouth (£4.17m)

·       Firepool and Taunton Station Access (£0.4m)

·       Ilfracombe Watersports Centre (£1.5m)

·       Burrows Centre, Torridge (£0.4m)

·       Exeter Bus Station (£0.8m)

·       Enhancement of Future Skills Centre at Exeter Airport (£1m)

·       Taunton Digital Innovation Centre (£5.5m)

·       Welding Centres of Excellence, Plymouth (£0.35m)

·       Exeter Science Park Grow-out Building (£5m)

·       Green Housing and Business Programme (£5.3m)

·       Work Hubs and Fit-out project (£8.7m)

An update from the Area Lead for the Heart of the South West, Cities and Local Growth Unit.

Suzanne Bond, the Area Lead for the Heart of the South West, Cities and Local Growth Unit informed Members of the excellent work of the Joint Scrutiny Committee, with the issue of scrutiny practices having been raised in the mid-year review and it had been noted that the HotSW was ahead of most other LEPs in having robust and formal scrutiny practices already in place.  The annual performance review would take place during January, which the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee and other Members were welcome to attend.

The Members raised points around whether LEP Scrutiny Committees would receive clear direction and legislation from central government around how LEPs would function in the future and the role and purpose of the Joint Scrutiny Committees.  Members advised the government representative that one of the main challenges with LEP Scrutiny operating without any government guidance or legislation/resources had been trying to maintain the Scrutiny role as a critical friend and understand where the Scrutiny Committee fit within the LEP Board and LEP Joint Committee to avoid duplication of work. One of the main significant challenges included not being bale to scrutinise the LIS before being published as it was a confidential document not able to be discussed in the public domain, and the understanding of the relationship between the LEP Board and the Scrutiny Committee. It was asked how government envisaged Scrutiny being engaging and useful at the LEP level.  Ms Bond undertook to reflect the concerns of the Scrutiny Member’s feedback to the CLGU.

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/scrutinywork-programme/

In considering the work programme, it was RESOLVED that the work programme be agreed  as follows:

Please note that dates of future meetings will be included in the Devon County Council meetings calendar: https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1

All will take place virtually, unless otherwise stated.

11 Feb 2021 2.15 pm

17 Jun 2021 2.15 pm

21 Oct 2021 2.15 pm

10 Feb 2022 2.15 pm

Dates of Future Meetings were noted as:

11 Feb 2021 2.15 pm

17 Jun 2021 2.15 pm

21 Oct 2021 2.15 pm

10 Feb 2022 2.15 pm