Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Nicky Alberry and Barry Dennington. The Baroness Scott of Bybrook, and Cllr Gary Perkins gave their apologies, and were substituted by Cllr Tony Sturgis and Cllr Russel Holland respectively.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the relevant Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest made.

1)    To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2015.

2)    To receive the minutes of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Scrutiny Task Group held since the last meeting of the JSEC.

The meeting considered the minutes of the meeting held on the 1 December 2015, and the minutes of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise

Partnership Joint Scrutiny Task Group held since the last meeting of the JSEC.

Resolved

1.    To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on the 1 December 2015.

2.    To receive and noted the minutes of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Scrutiny Task Group held on the 9 December 2015.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

There were no Chairman’s Announcements

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the Wiltshire Council Constitution. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of the agenda no later than 5pm on Wednesday 4 February 2016. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

There were no questions or representations from the public.

The Committee considered a report that provided an update on the draft Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) which had been recently refreshed, and asked the Committee to note the content of the Plan.

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: the iterative process undergone so far; that SWLEP was one of the few LEPs to refresh SEP since 2012; that three key zones that would be the focus of activity; that some work would be applied across the whole county; that the Board had approved the plan in January 2016; how the plan would be presented in a range of formats to better communicate with current and potential partners.

It was agreed that, in a change to officer’s recommendation in the report, the Committee should endorse as well as note the Plan.

Resolved

To note and endorse of the wording in the Strategic Economic Plan, January 2016.

The Committee considered a report that provided an update on progress and recommended to the Committee that the indicator dashboards be published on a regular basis alongside the SWLEP Economic Bulletin be approved, and asked the Committee to consider the options set out regarding reporting period.

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that officers had developed the indicators following feedback from the Chairman and other members of the SWLEP Board; how the board could be kept up to date with the progress of projects; how the different outcomes of projects are monitored; how key indicators could be compared to other LEPs on a quarterly basis; the proposals to publish information on the website, and that some of this is already in the public domain;  and that the Junction 16 was getting close to the procurement stage.

Resolved

1.     To note the progress made on the publication of the indicator dashboards for both the SWLEP programme of projects and key economic indicators for the area

2.     To confirm the Committee preferred option for a quarterly frequency and format of publication on the SWLEP website to the SWLEP board.

3.     To note that, once publication is formally underway, the Dashboards need not be further formally considered at JSEC unless the format, measures and period of the report are proposed to be substantially changed. As reported previously, as further funding programmes and funded projects become live, e.g. European Structural and Investment Funding, the relevant indicators will be added to the dashboards for monitoring.

To receive an update from the SWLEP Commissioning Group on LGF Project Delivery.

The Committee considered the report which provided an update on the delivery of the Local Growth Fund Projects

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that £140 million had been allocated to Local Growth Fund projects in the LEP area; that the commissioning group meets monthly to review progress; how a traffic light system is used; the status current projects;  how the project managers for each project share information on performance; how the Department for Transport has retained control of some funding; the success of interim management arrangements; and how each priority has a sub-group and officers assigned to support them.

Resolved

To note the report

The Committee considered the report which provided a summary of the SWLEP risk management procedure.

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that the SWLEP’s approach to risk management had been used recently as an example off good practise; that mitigating actions are identified and progressed through rigorous programme management techniques; and how action is monitored and escalated for sign-off as appropriate.

Resolved

To note the report

The Committee received the report which full update, following a previously received highlight report, regarding the progress of the Higher Futures project.

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that £1.4 million had been previously awarded to the project, with a focus in improving the higher skills amongst the workforce; that particular attention was placed on army leavers in the area; that skills at NQ Level 4 and  above were required to meet the needs of the economy over the next decade; that universities from around the country are being approached to help develop courses to meet the needs of employers; that progress had been slow, but the pace has had since picked up; that a full team of staff had been recruited to take this programme forward; that the previous deal was very ambitious, will have to renegotiate on this position; the income projections were not sustainable in the short-term; that some courses had started already with more to come; that businesses will start to contribute to income later in the lifespan off the project, with some funding expected from colleges; how best to harness larger businesses and groups of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), so that they can help develop course; and the possibility of involving secondary schools once the project for higher skills refines the model.

Resolved

1.    To note the progress in establishing the Higher Futures Programme as a Programme of the SWLEP, with robust performance management reporting arrangements to the SWLEP Commissioning Group and from there to the SWLEP Board.

2.    To note the Board’s decision at its meeting on 20 January to approve the change in the profile of budget spending as outlined in paragraph 5.

3.    To note the Board’s decision at its meeting on 20 January for the Chair of the Sub-Group, the Head of Economy (Swindon Borough Council) and Associate Director of Economy and Planning (Wiltshire Council) enter in discussions with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to review the outcomes in the City Deal Agreement.

4.    To note that the Chair of the SWLEP and Board sponsor will meet with the MOD and Careers Transition Partnership at a national level to facilitate moving forward the military elements of the programme.

Alistair Cunningham, Associate Director for Planning – Wiltshire Council, and Richard Bell, Head of Planning - Swindon Borough Council, presented a report which provided an update on progress with the Joint Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) and Functional Economic Market Assessment (FEMA) for Wiltshire and Swindon; and on arrangements for the Joint Working Group.

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that officers were using the LEP footprint to understand the housing market needs to 2030 and then looking at infrastructure (transport, sewerage, water, energy) for 2050; that consultants employed to work on these plans; that a joint working group had been established to drive this work forward; that the work should inform further development of the SEP; the Swindon’s Cabinet Member for Transport would be invited to participate as required; and that the project could start to take in to account the economic areas of neighbouring authorities.

Resolved

1.    To endorse the content of the report and progress being made on the Strategic Housing Market Assessment and Functional Economic Market Assessment;

2.    That a further report be made to the next meeting of the JSEC.

To receive a verbal update on the progress on recruitment of a new SWLEP Secretariat Director.

It was noted that following a recruitment process, that Paddy Bradley had been appointed as to the position of SWLEP Director.

The Committee joined the Chairman in congratulating Mr Bradley on his new position.

The Committee is asked, in addition to regular updates, for any other items they wish to be considered at future meetings.

The Committee is also asked to note that the meeting dates for the rest of 2016 have been altered from the previous meeting, as part of a reorganisation of SWLEP Board and JSEC meeting dates. The dates are now as follows:

28 April

24 June

12 October

8 December

Meeting of the SWLEP Board are as follows:

16 March

11 May

The Committee was asked, in addition to regular updates, for any other items they wished to be considered at future meetings. There were no additional items requested.

The Committee also noted that the meeting dates for the rest of 2016 had been altered from the previous meeting, as part of a reorganisation of SWLEP Board and JSEC meeting dates, as follows:

·         28 April, 24 June, 12 October and 8 December

Meeting of the SWLEP Board, as follows:

·         16 March and 11 May

To consider passing the following resolution:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Numbers 15-16 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in  paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Reason for taking item in private:

Paragraph 3 - information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Resolved

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Numbers 15 and 16 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Reason for taking item in private:

Paragraph 3 - information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

The Committee received the report which provided information about the selection process to date, provided a summary of the project assessments carried out, and outlined the next steps.

Resolved

1.    That UA Officers (Programme Managers) carry out a due diligence review of the data resulting from the ITA assessment presented in this paper to ensure that any further strategic factors have been accounted for

2.    That officers advise on LGF Round 3 timescales and requirements when known.

3.   That given the Governments position regarding the Ultrafast Broadband project, that JSEC to ask the LEP to develop the proposals further.

To receive a confidential update on the progress of the European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 Programme.

The Committee received a report which provided an update on the progress of the European Structural and Investment funds 2014-2020 programme.

Resolved

1.    That JSEC notes given all factors, progress to date has been reasonable and that spend and performance profiles are on target to meet the 2018 Performance Review; and

2.    That asks that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the JSEC, along with the Chairman of the LEP, to write to the Secretary of State to raised their concerns about the administration of the European Structural and Investment funds.