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: Committee Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Heather Gittins  Tel: 01772 533428 Email:  heather.gittins@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that apologies had been received from Committee Members Councillor Peter Rankin and David Taylor.  Officer apologies were presented from Martin Kelly.

2.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made in relation to items on the agenda.

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 1st June 2017 pdf icon PDF 97 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 June 2017 are confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

4.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

At the previous meeting of the LEP Performance Committee it was noted as an action for Edwin Booth to speak to the Shadow Combined Authority regarding support to the Local Transport Body. After discussing this it was agreed that it be deferred for the meantime.

5.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

The Committee noted that the Annual report for 2016/17 and the three year Business Plan had been approved at the LEP Board at the end of June.

 

Kathryn Molloy, Head of Service - LEP Coordination, Lancashire County Council informed the Committee that the Leaders had considered the LEP’s Business Plan and had been provided with the opportunity to feedback comments to officers prior to the LEP Board meeting in November.

 

The Committee were informed that the concerns raised by Local Authorities regarding the proposed constitution and powers of Transport for the North that was reported at the last LEP Performance Committee meeting had now been resolved.

 

It was noted that a query had been received regarding one of the City Deal Schemes. The Committee agreed that Laura Sales look in to this further and report back to the Performance Committee as soon as possible.

 

Resolved:

 

  1. That Kathryn Molloy circulate feedback from Leaders on the LEP’s Business Plan prior to the LEP Board meeting due to be held on  7th November 2017.

 

  1. That Laura Sales report back to the Performance Committee with more information relating to the query raised regarding one of the City Deal schemes.

6.

Date of Next Meeting

The next LEP Performance Committee is scheduled to be held on 30th November 2017, 10:30am in CHG:09 - A Floor, County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Performance Committee was scheduled for 10.30am on Thursday 30 November 2017 in Room CHG:09, County Hall, Preston.

7.

LEP Operational Budget 2017/18 - Update Report

Minutes:

The Committee received a report (circulated) setting out the final outturn position for the LEP’s operational Budget for 2016/17 and the revised Operational Budget for 2017/18. It was noted that the LEP Board had approved the Operational Budget at its meeting on the 29 June 17.

 

Included was a balance statement of the LEP’s Growing Places Investment Fund as at 31 March 2017 and it was agreed that this would be presented at each future meeting of the Performance Committee.

 

It was noted that in January 2017 a draft 2017/18 Operational Budget was approved by the Board. It was commented that subsequently a small number of additional items of activity and related expenditure were included and some areas of expenditure being reduced in the 2017/18 Operational Budget. Kathryn Molloy talked the Committee through the additional items of activity and explained where areas of expenditure had been reduced as set out in the report.

 

It was reported that a match funding contribution of £250,000 from the County Council had been secured in 2017/18 and that future years match funding contributions are subject to discussions with the County Council.

 

The Committee were informed that Jake Berry MP and Margot James MP, on behalf of Government, had written to the LEP Chairs over the summer advising them that a review will be taking place in the coming months into the future of the LEP’s to explore ways of putting LEP’s on a more consistent footing legally whilst still giving LEP’s the freedom and flexibility to attract private sector talent to their Boards. It was noted that they would be expecting more information on this matter in the coming weeks.

 

Kathryn informed the committee that the posts funded by LCC don’t charge until the end of the year and that the two additional posts have been included in the budget but not yet recruited.

 

The Committee discussed where the Luneside East scheme was up to and were informed that a strategic plan for this project was expected by December and once this was received officers would provide the Performance Committee with an update.

 

It was noted that the SEP and the reports that officers have produced have been really helpful and clear and thanked officers for all their work on this.

 

Resolved:

 

  i.  That the contents of the report including the LEP’s financial outturn position for 2016/17 be noted.

 

  ii.  That the Operational Budget for 2017/18 be noted;

 

  iii.  That the spend to date in 2017/18 be noted;

  iv.  That the balance statement for the LEP’s Growing Places Investment Fund be noted;

 

  v.  That the balance statement for Growing Places Investment Fund be presented at each future meeting of the Performance Committee; and

 

  vi.  That a further update on the Luneside East Growing Places Investment fund scheme be provided to the LEP Performance Committee Members when the Strategic Plan is received in December 2017.

8.

Marketing Lancashire Limited

Minutes:

Ruth Connor, Chief Executive, Marketing Lancashire, presented a report (circulated) to the Performance Committee setting out the funding position of Marketing Lancashire including the funding provided by other public and private sector partners.

 

Ruth talked the Committee through the background of Marketing Lancashire, what it does and explained what the vision for Marketing Lancashire is.

 

It was noted that to date Marketing Lancashire is predominantly funded by Lancashire County Council with significant programme funding also provided by the LEP. The remit of the organisation is to help support and promote a strong inward investment agenda and secure additional private sector funding.

 

Ruth informed the Performance Committee that Funding from LCC had been agreed at cabinet last week for 2017/18, and the following three years but it is subject to annual performance reviews.

 

It was recognised that a lot has been done recently to align Marketing Lancashire with partner objectives and to drive other income generation within the Company itself.

 

Ruth explained that Marketing Lancashire want to push the LEP forward where possible and focus on delivery. It was highlighted Marketing Lancashire’s focus over the next three months will be MIPIM, Energy HQ investment and the Enterprise Zone website.

 

It was noted that it would be good to see more national coverage of the LEP and perhaps one option would be to release information together in a package rather than bit by bit. It was also discussed that the way information is illustrated is important and it needs to be clear and easy for people to access.

 

It was highlighted that access to financal information had been an issue when looking at what is available and there needs to be a clear message of how to access business finance.  It was proposed that a simple process chart be put together that is user friendly.

 

Resolved:

 

That the LEP Performance Committee note the contents of the report.

9.

Reporting to Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Board

Minutes:

There were no items to be reported to the LEP Board.

10.

Informal Workshop Session focussing on Income Generation

Minutes:

At this point the formal meeting of the LEP Performance Committee ended. The Committee Members had an informal workshop to discuss income generation.