New Anglia Board Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)

19^th September 2018

Present:

David Ellesmere (DE)

Ipswich Borough Council

Doug Field (DF)

East of England Coop

John Griffiths (JG)

St Edmundsbury Borough Council

Matthew Hicks (MH)

Suffolk County Council

Dominic Keen (DK)

High Growth Robotics

William Nunn (WN)

Breckland District Council

Steve Oliver (SO)

MLM Group

Andrew Proctor (AP)

Norfolk County Council

Johnathan Reynolds (JR)

Nautilus

Lindsey Rix (LR)

Aviva

Sandy Ruddock (SR)

Scarlett & Mustard

Alan Waters (AW)

Norwich City Council

Jeanette Wheeler (JW)

Birketts

Tim Whitley (TW)

In Attendance:

John Last (JL)

NUA (For David Richardson)

Corrienne Peasgood (CP)

Norwich City College (For Nikos Savvas)

Vince Muspratt (VM)

Norfolk County Council

Sue Roper (SuR)

Suffolk County Council

Shan Lloyd (SL)

BEIS

Abigail Cunnliffe-Hall (AC)

BEIS

Fiona Wright (FW)

CMS (For Item 5)

Neil Prentice (NP)

Jacob Bailey (For Item 5)

Chris Dashper (CD)

New Anglia LEP (For Item 12)

Julian Munson (JM)

New Anglia LEP (For Item 5)

Lisa Roberts (LiR)

New Anglia LEP (For Items 6 and 7)

Chris Starkie (CS)

New Anglia LEP

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW)

New Anglia LEP

Helen Wilton (HW)

New Anglia LEP

Actions from the meeting: (19.09.18)

Brexit Analysis: Brexit to be added to the Board Forward Plan in November

Eastern Agri-Tech: CS to present a paper at the October Board on the options available

To provide an update on the delivery timescales of major infrastructure projects including East

West Rail

Performance Reports: Investigate whether the addition of a percentage of financial slippage

would be relevant

Welcome from the Chair

Doug Field (DF) welcomed everyone to the meeting including Corrienne Peasgood deputising for Nikos

Savvas, John Last deputising for David Richardson and Abigail Cunnliffe-Hall from BEIS. DF also

welcomed Fiona Wright from CMS and Neil Prentice from Jacob Bailey.

Apologies

Apologies were received from: Nikos Savvas and David Richardson

DF proposed bringing forward Item 5 on the agenda.

Place Brand Development for Norfolk and Suffolk

Steve Oliver (SO) introduced the place branding presentation and thanked Julian Munson &

Hayley Mace for their work carried out to date.

He advised the Board that a steering group had been established to progress the next steps

and requested feedback from the board on the proposals.

Fiona Wright (FW) and Neil Prentice (NP) provided the meeting with a presentation on the

place branding experience of both agencies and gave an introduction to their proposals

and the timeline for reporting back to the Board.

The Board was advised that work would begin immediately with stakeholder sessions already

planned for October with completion by the end of January 2019. The final project findings will

be presented to the Board in February 2019.

The Board agreed:

 To note the content of the presentation

Declarations of Interest

Full declarations of interest can be found at 30TUhttp://www.newanglia.co.uk/about-us/the-board/ . U30T

DF declared an interest in the investments in Novafarina and Supapass as detailed in the New Anglia

Capital report.

He also noted that the Co-Op do work with Jacob Bailey although he was not part of the branding tender

process.

Minutes of the last meeting 20^th June 2018

The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting held on 20^th June 2018.

Actions from previous meetings updated as follows:

Brexit Analysis: Lindsey Rix (LR) requested an update on the LEP’s response to the

uncertainties facing businesses regarding Brexit. The Board agreed that this was a major issue

and the LEP needed to be proactive in proving support. Chris Starkie (CS) proposed adding

an item to the Board forward plan. It was agreed that this would be included in November.

Andrew Proctor (AP) requested the item be expanded to include the impact on Local

Authorities as well as businesses.

Lisa Roberts (LiR) updated the meeting on the LEP’s ongoing work and Brexit analysis carried

out to date.

Agri-Tech: CS advised the Board that the Combined Authority Business Board was due to hold

its initial meeting on 24^th September and a paper on funding of the Agri-tech initiative would go

to its November Board. Given the delay in receiving a response from the Combined Authority

DF asked CS to produce a paper on the options available to the New Anglia LEP. This will be

presented at the October Board.

ACTION:

Brexit Analysis: Brexit to be added to the Board Forward Plan in November

Eastern Agri-Tech: CS to present a paper at the October Board on the options available.

Economic Strategy Delivery Plan

LiR updated the Board on the work carried out to date to progress the Economic Strategy

delivery plan since the publication of the strategy in the Autumn of 2017.

The Board was advised that the Economic Strategy Delivery Coordinating Board (ESDCB) had

been established and met for the first time on 4^th September. It would continue to meet every

6-8 weeks to oversee the delivery of the plan.

LiR advised that the concept of game changer opportunities had emerged through the

engagement sessions which are those with the potential to deliver significant progress towards

targets.

LiR requested that the Board approve the Game Changers Approach to the delivery of the

strategy. On approval the LEP team will progress work to identify those opportunities and build

plans for their delivery.

AP supported the approach and asked how the game changers had been identified to date and

what others has been considered.

LiR advised that the specific game changers had not yet been identified and this would form

part of the next stage of the work.

The meeting discussed the importance of infrastructure to the delivery of the plans and LiR

noted that the smart infrastructure ran through all the opportunities presented.

David Ellesmere (DE) asked how the make up of the Board had been agreed and whether the

priority growth areas would be included.

Alan Waters (AW) expressed concern that the urban areas did not have a specific place on the

Board.

CS advised that Local Authorities had been asked to put forward place representatives. He

advised that, when requested, the Norfolk Chief Executives had provided details of their

representatives and the Suffolk Growth Board agreed those from Suffolk.

LiR advised that there was a rotating vacant seat on the Board whereby the Suffolk Chief

Executives could attend depending on the agenda of the meeting.

Vince Muspratt (VM) confirmed that for Norfolk there was a rotating representative who

represented Greater Norwich.

The Board agreed:

 To note the progress the development of the Economic Strategy delivery plan for the

Economic Strategy

 To adopt the concept of developing Game Changers.

 That the ESDCB should also coordinate development of the Local Industrial Strategy

Local Industrial Strategy

LiR presented the paper to the Board detailing the context for Local Industrial Strategies, its

link with the Economic Strategy and the proposed approach to developing a Local

Industrial Strategy for Norfolk and Suffolk.

LiR noted that Government have advised all LEPs to produce a Local Industrial Strategy and

Shan Lloyd (SL) confirmed that while the sign off strategy had yet to be agreed it would include

analysis of the evidence used in the production of the strategy.

The LEP aims to produce its strategy by Autumn 2019 however guidance is constantly being

taken from Government.

Corrienne Peasgood (CP) noted that a local strategy needed to include developments at a

national level to assess how they can be incorporated locally.

CS stated that the strategy needed to identify specific areas where the New Anglia area held a

distinct position and the work would continue to drill down in the sectors identified to date to

focus on the areas of distinctness.

Tim Whitley (TW) agreed that it was vital to identify those areas that Norfolk and Suffolk lead

on a national level.

LR made the observation that there seemed be a conflict between productivity and innovation

between the Local Industrial strategy and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

LiR confirmed that work would continue to expand the evidence base and leaders would have

the opportunity to review the work at 3 different stages.

The meeting discussed the complexity of the funding available.

SO thanked the LEP team for their work and expressed his support for the approach and noted

it was vital to identify those opportunities which would provide a compelling argument to

Government for funding.

John Last (JL) noted the importance of highlighting those sectors which, although not

necessarily the largest, would affect the position of the region at a national level.

The Board agreed:

 To note the content of the report

 To agree the approach to developing the Local Industrial Strategy.

LEP Review

CS presented the paper included in the meeting pack detailing the key requirements for the

LEP Review and the impact on New Anglia LEP.

A key issue to resolve is the removal of overlaps. New Anglia LEP is proposing to retain its

existing geography.

The Board was informed that those areas of Norfolk and Suffolk currently covered by both New

Anglia and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CA) have advised that

they intend to remain with the New Anglia LEP and the process to ratify this decision is

ongoing.

At the same time the CA is likely to make its LEP boundaries coterminous with its own thus

removing the overlap.

SO asked what strengthening links with the CA would mean in practice.

CS advised that this had yet to be decided but could take the form of an overriding formal

agreement or agreements on specific issues where combined working was beneficial to all

parties.

The Board agreed:

 To note the content of the report and the recommendations of the LEP review

 To agree the LEP submission on geography

Chief Executive’s Report

CS presented his report to the Board and highlighted key items.

Johnathan Reynolds (JR) updated the Board on a meeting held with the UEA on CO2

reduction targets and their inclusion in the Economic Strategy with the aim of targeting specific

areas producing the greatest results.

JL asked for an update on East West Rail. CS confirmed that the LEP was now a full member

of the consortium but that the last meeting had focussed on the central area. Further details

will be provided in the future. The Board requested further details of the delivery timescales.

ACTION: LEP Infrastructure Manager Ellen Goodwin (EG) will be asked to provide an update

on the delivery timescales for this and other major infrastructure projects.

CS reviewed progress on sector deals noting the difficulty in becoming involved in some areas

such as life sciences.

AP queried the slippage on Growth Deal spend as it had been described as significant at the

Audit and Risk Committee meeting. CS confirmed that the slippage was significant but that

work was ongoing to manage it.

Matthew Hicks (MH) queried the timing of the visit to Holland in January given that Brexit would

take place shortly after. CS advised that there was already an event planned at this time

therefore the visit coincided with existing plans.

MH asked how previous attendance at MIPIM had been benchmarked. CS advised that

feedback was provided to the Board and metrics on leads were collected.

JW asked if longer term outputs could be tracked and reported back to the Board.

JR also asked whether any learning from MIPIM could be transferred to other similar events.

The Board agreed:

 To note the content of the report

 To receive up update on delivery timescales for the East West Rail project and other

major infrastructure projects

Programme Performance Reporting

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW) presented her report as included in the meeting pack which addresses

the recommendations made by PWC.

LR queried the reporting cycle and format for the New Anglia Capital (NAC) report and

requested a more formal process. The current bi-annual report was agreed to be appropriate

and RW agreed to include this in the reporting cycle.

The Board agreed:

 To note the content of the report

 To approve the reporting cycle with the inclusion of NAC

 To approve the reporting template

September Programme Performance Reports

RW presented the reports included in the meeting pack.

RW reviewed the Growth Deal Performance Report in detail.

Sandy Ruddock (SR) requested clarification of the level of slippage and asked if a percentage

of the slippage would be relevant.

CD reviewed the NAC report as included in the meeting papers.

The Board agreed:

 To note the content of the reports

 To approve the Growth Deal Quarterly Dashboard

 For RW to investigate whether the addition of a percentage of slippage would be relevant

Finance Report

RW reviewed the finance report and asked for questions from the Board.

RW advised the Board that the AGM would be asked to confirm that the authority to agree

remuneration of the auditors and the responsibility to appoint new auditors be delegated to the

Board.

RW confirmed that the Audit and Risk Committee had gone out for tender and had held a panel

with Price Bailey recommended as the new auditors.

The Board agreed:

 To note the content of the report

Board Forward Plan

CS reviewed the items to be covered at the October Board meeting