Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies had been received from Mike Blackburn, Paul Foster and Alan Welsh.

In Mike Blackburn's absence Stuart Thompson took the Chair and welcomed all to the meeting.

None

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2019 were approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

It was commented that a query had been raised previously around how the wider business community would be incorporated into the Local Industrial Strategy, and around how support could be directed to the 'unproductive tail'. This would be raised at the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Board on 18 December 2019.

Amin Vepari, Senior Project Officer, Strategic Development, presented the report (circulated) on the developments in Lancashire to encourage and support businesses to scale up, and presented the new brand for the Scale Up programme.

The new brand and website would be launched on 9 January 2020, supported with marketing and digital campaigns.

It was noted that Lancashire County Council, as a member of the Scaleup Institute, now had a place on national steering groups, and would collaborate with organisations across the UK and showcase Lancashire's success.

In response to a question, it was confirmed that the plan was to connect widely with universities; conversations had already begun with Edgehill, UCLan and Lancaster University.

The committee discussed the importance of ensuring that subcontractors delivering publicly funded business support programmes in Lancashire are loading information onto the Evolutive system in a timely manner.  This is a contractual requirement of all ESIF programmes and it is a matter of some concern that some major contractors are still failing to meet this requirement.  Andy Walker, Head of Service Business Support, committed to continue to work with those organisation not currently providing data and to potentially escalate sanctions if they fail to comply.

In response to a question about the legacy of these programmes, it was highlighted that the alumni of the programmes would be approached to become ambassadors, to champion other businesses in their sector. It was clarified that performance indicators for the programmes' legacy were broadly turnover, employee numbers and GVA, although there were a number of other factors that would be monitored such as new products, new markets and international impact.

The committee discussed the Shared Prosperity Fund and requested an update at the March meeting.

Resolved: the Business Support Management Board:

1.  Noted the update

2.  Requested a further update in the new year on the progress of pilot programmes

3.  Requested an item on the Shared Prosperity Fund at the next meeting

None

The next meeting is scheduled to be held at 10.30am on 19 March 2020 in the Exchange Room 7, County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting was scheduled to be held at 10.30am on 19 March 2020 in the Exchange Room 7, County Hall, Preston

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.

Resolved: that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as indicated against the heading of each item. It is considered that in all the circumstances the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson presented his interim findings on procurement processes and practices in Lancashire (circulated), and tabled a document setting out his conclusions and recommendations.

The committee discussed the report and asked questions.

The importance of cash flow was discussed, and it was suggested that the procurement policy should include a requirement for SME suppliers to be paid within 10 days of being set up on the system.

In considering the assessment RAG matrix, it was suggested that it would be helpful to see some weighting on the recommendations, and prioritisation by area.

Resolved: that an update on this work be brought to a future meeting