Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Exchange Room 7 - The Exchange - County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Holly Tween  Tel: 01772 537955 Email:  holly.tween@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made by all in attendance.

 

Apologies had been received from Stuart Thompson and Sarah Kemp.

 

Sue Barnard, Senior Manager for the North West at the British Business Bank was in attendance.

 

Heather Murray, Senior Leader for External Relationships at Department for Work and Pensions was in attendance.

 

2.

Declaration of Interests

Minutes:

Miranda Barker and Paul Foster declared an interest in Item 8, as they worked for organisations involved in the Kickstart gateways.

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 27 August 2020 pdf icon PDF 121 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: that the minutes from the meeting on the 27 August 2020 were approved as an accurate record.

4.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

Sue Smith, UCLan, reiterated the Centre for SME Development's offer to support action learning coaching.

 

It was noted that the next NP11 meeting was due to take place at the beginning of December, and that the Phoenix Project would be raised as an item of interest.

 

Covid Recovery Grants – over 12,000 Expressions of Interest had been processed and replies sent out. The process of sending out full applications form had begun, and it was hoped that grants were allocated before Christmas.

 

Resolved: that the updates be noted

It was agreed to take Item 8 as the next item, due to a meeting clash for the presenter.

8.

Kick Start Programme - DWP

TBC presenter

Minutes:

Heather Murray, Senior Leader for External Relationships, DWP, gave a presentation updating on the Kickstart Scheme, different youth offers and the job finding support services. It was highlighted that the schemes being described were all in addition to the usual provision.

 

Responding to questions, it was noted that although the many opportunities offered by organisations not currently registered with Companies House could not be included, this was being considered. A new system had also been developed to deal with the current high demand, and further staff were being trained.

 

Resolved: that updated slides, including links to further information, would be circulated to the Board

5.

Wider LEP Update

Presented by: Andy Walker

Minutes:

Andy Walker, Head of Service Business Growth, gave an update on the work of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership.

 

The Task and Finish Group for Aerospace had completed their work and produced an outline report which was available on the LEP website.

 

The Energy and Environment Group had also produced a paper to the LEP; the officer group were considering deliver and implementation plans for the recommendations.

 

The Digital Group would be adding three non-executive directors.

 

It was noted that Food and Farming task force may also be looking for new members and nominations could be referred to Andy Walker.

 

Work was restarting on the Local Industrial Strategy, beginning with the evidence base refresh.

6.

Update on British Business Bank and Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund

Sue Barnard - Presentation

Minutes:

Sue Barnard, Senior Manager for the North West, British Business Bank, gave a presentation outlining the objectives and current programmes of the British Business Bank including Bounce Back Loans, Future Fund and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme as well as the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

 

Discussion and questions followed. Andrew Leeming offered to promote the funds through Boost.

 

Sue was thanked for her presentation.

 

Resolved: that the information be noted, and several members agreed to contact Sue separately.

7.

Phoenix Programme

Sue Smith - Presentation

Minutes:

Sue Smith, Director, Centre for SME Development, gave a presentation, updating on the Phoenix project covering research so far and outlining the proposed 6 remote working principles, with an aim to encourage employers to sign up to these principles.

 

Following questions and discussion, it was agreed that an event to publicise the principles and encourage uptake would be welcomed.

 

It was agreed to include an update on the project in the next LEP Board report, and brief the LEP Chairman, with a view to presenting the project and principles to the NP11 and NO11 groups.

 

Support was also offered from the Chamber of Commerce, ICAEW and the Federation of Small Businesses, as well as an offer to link up with other growth hubs.

 

Resolved: that:

i.  support was given for an event on 25 November for LEPs. Business support organisations and growth hubs

ii.  the various offers of support be followed up outside the meeting

 

9.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

It was noted that Downtown in Business had not sent a representative to the meeting for some time.

 

It was agreed that Andrew would contact Downtown to check if they wanted to be involved.

 

There were two suggestions for two further Board members. Miranda and Andy agreed to speak to them before the December LEP Board meeting to confirm they would be interested in joining the Business Support Management Board, before they were presented to the LEP Board for approval.

 

Resolved:

 

i)  that Downtown in Business and the two suggested nominees be contacted before the LEP Board meeting on 08 December

ii)  that, if agreeable, the names of the two nominees be presented to the LEP Board for approval

10.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting was scheduled for 10.30am on 11 February 2021. Venue/virtual details tbc.

Minutes:

The next meeting was scheduled for 10.30am on 11 February 2021.

Venue/virtual details to be confirmed.

11.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as indicated against the heading to the item.

Minutes:

At this point the Business Support Management Board approved that the meeting move into Part II, Private and Confidential, to consider the remaining agenda items as they contained information defined as confidential or exempt in accordance with the relevant paragraph of Part I to schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as set out in each report or presentation. It was considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

12.

Growth Hub Bi-annual Report

Minutes:

Andy Walker presented the report updating on the Growth Hub bi-annual report to be submitted to the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

 

It was noted that the current key challenges now are to continue to support businesses, principally focussed on survival, and re-grow demand for growth-orientated services as business become ready.

 

Resolved: that the report and information be noted.