Agenda and minutes

Chair welcomed members and apologies were noted from Lee Petts, Gary Lovatt, Councillor Frank McKenna and Kevin Duffy.  Andrew Leeming attended on behalf of Andy Walker, Alan Welsh on behalf of Barbara Murphy and Paul Foster on behalf of Gary Lovatt.

Chair also welcomed Steven Cochrane from Growth Lancashire and Mark Brennan from Freshfield attending to present information to the Board under Item 7.

There were no declarations of interest noted at this time.

Resolved: Minutes from the meeting held on the 30 August 2016 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the chair.

Further to discussions at the last meeting around International Trade – Strategy and Provision, members were advised that the draft strategy would be circulated to the Board for comment.

Members agreed that any proposal through Boost should be examined around the international trade element.

It was also recognised that there was a need to gain awareness on the capabilities for international trade in Lancashire.  Members agreed that there was a requirement to identify data on how many companies export to measure the outputs required for the strategy.

Resolved:

  i.  Data mapping and planning exercise requirements to be identified.

  ii.  To be brought back to the next meeting of the Board for further discussion.

Presented by: Andy Walker

Andrew Leeming, Boost Programme Manager, Business Growth and Innovation reported that future meetings of this Board would be scheduled in line with Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Board meetings to assist with more effective reporting to the LEP Board from the sub committees.

Presented by: Andy Walker

Andrew Leeming presented the report circulated with the agenda on the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Business Support Programmes update.

The report included a copy of the letter to Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential ESIF funding at risk following the EU referendum result.

Following discussions held by the Board on this report, a number of questions were raised and areas identified:

·  How could Lancashire start to plan requirements post Brexit and without EU funding?

·  Would Boost continue after Brexit and if so what would it look like?

·  Members agreed that there is a need for a mapping exercise to be completed and to look at apprenticeships and the type of apprenticeships required.

·  There is a need to look at how to incite a response by identifying initially what Lancashire would require post Brexit.

Resolved: The Board;

  i.  Noted the overall position in terms of ESIF funding

  ii.  Noted and endorsed the representations made by the LEP and shadow Lancashire Combined Authority to retain funds for key programmes

  iii.  Noted the new business support programmes which have commenced since the last meeting of the Board in August

Presented by: Andy Walker

Update includes a review of marketing and gateway activity

Presented by: Simon Turner and Mark Brennan from Freshfields

  Steven Cochrane from Growth Lancashire

In addition to the report provided to the Board on the Growth Hub update, Andrew Leeming introduced the following guest presenters to provide information to members on the marketing and gateway services of the Growth Hub:

Mark Brennan from Freshfield (Boost's marketing partner)

Steven Cochrane from Growth Lancashire (Gateway service provider)

Information (appended to the minutes) was tabled at the meeting which provided an update on the Boost objectives and enquiries.

From these discussions, members agreed:

·  That there was a need to look at learning from past experiences.

·  That there was a need for collaboration with other partners to avoid duplication.

·  Further information on the outcomes against the outputs to be identified.

Resolved: The Board;

  i.  Noted the Boost performance update

  ii.  Noted the presentations from marketing and gateway partners

Standing item

Andrew Leeming provided a brief verbal update to the Board on the wider LEP work.

It was reported that there is currently a skills area review for colleges taking place with meetings being held in November.  From this, proposals would be drafted by the end of November.

Standing item

Members identified items to be reported to the next LEP Board meeting following the discussions held around the ESIF update.

Resolved: The Board confirmed the following to be reported to the next LEP Board meeting:

  i.  The potential challenges around the EU funding and Lancashire's response to the upcoming changes.

  ii.  Boost/Business Support – what would Lancashire need to assist business growth (based on learned experiences) and what would the future hold. 

A request was made for clarification to be sought on whether the additional member for a HEI representative included in the current Terms of Reference for the Board would still be required given that Susan Smith has now joined the Board.

Resolved: A request for clarification to be made.

Board to note dates of future meetings and to agree whether the December meeting would still be required.

Members discussed the need for the December meeting given that it fell only five weeks from this meeting and that a meeting date has been set for January 2017.

Resolved: That the planned meeting in December be cancelled.

Next meeting would be held on the 19 January 2017 at 12pm, County Mess, County Hall, Preston.