Minutes:
Not for publication – exempt information as defined in paragraph 41 (Information provided in confidence relating to contracts) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information).
In presenting the report the Chair Highlighted the following points
· Spend to date and anticipated for 2015-16 is as in the circulated papers.
· With regard to project GF01-11 Lancaster Health Innovation Park it was noted that a £2m for 2015-16 would not be realised as the project is yet to submit a business case for LEP approval. The spend profile will be moved accordingly and reported to the next meeting.
· The spend for GF01-09 Blackpool Integrated Traffic Management has formally been reported by the sponsor as slipping into 2016-17 financial year which is reflected in the summary
·
It was noted that following the LEP approval of GF02-29 Engineering
and Innovation Centre – Uclan
work had commenced on developing a Growth Fund Agreement. As part
of this it has emerged that the funding requirement for the project
was not in line with the allocation to the project.
Work is underway to resolve this. To
date Miss Ainsworth had been unable to match the allocation to the
funding requirement in full, but had managed to align the first two
years funding and would continue to attempt
to align future years as the programme developed, with
the cumulative position for the project being no worse off than the
original allocation at all times.
It was reported that work was underway to develop a pipeline of potential projects which could be referred to in the light of further information regarding the availability of future funding. Whilst it was not considered appropriate to have an open call for pipeline projects it was suggested that some promotional work be done to highlight the funding and support available from the LEP.
Mr Allen informed the meeting that that an announcement regarding future Growth Deal allocation from central government was expected shortly.
Resolved:
1. That the Growth Fund Profile, as set out in the report presented, is accepted following adjustments from the last meeting.
2. That both the spend to date and the spend to be made in 2015/16, as set out in the report presented, are noted.
3. That the 2015/16 in year spend be balanced to the funding as set out in the report presented and the unallocated skills monies of £2.1m moved from 2018/19 to 2020/21 to accommodate the acceleration of spend on project GF02-29 EIC.
4. That the allocations of the skills programme of £12.63m to individual projects be noted and that those individual projects form part of the Growth Deal programme.
5. That
further consideration be given to the profiling of funding for
projects in order to ensure it is as accurate as possible at
initial stages of project
development.
6. That a list of pipeline projects be identified for consideration in relation to any underspends in growth deal together with large projects to be ready for Growth Deal 2 if announced as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.