New Anglia Board Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)

20^th May 2020

Present:

Sam Chapman-Allen (SC)

Breckland Council

Claire Cullens (CC)

Norfolk Community Foundation

David Ellesmere (DE)

Ipswich Borough Council

Doug Field (DF)

East of England Coop

C-J Green (CG)

Brave Goose

John Griffiths (JG)

West Suffolk Council

Matthew Hicks (MH)

Suffolk County Council

Pete Joyner (PJ)

Shorthose Russell

Helen Langton (HL)

University of Suffolk

Dominic Keen (DK)

Britbots

Corrienne Peasgood (CP)

Norwich City College

Andrew Proctor (AP)

Norfolk County Council

Johnathan Reynolds (JR)

Opergy

Alan Waters (AW)

Norwich City Council

Jeanette Wheeler (JW)

Birketts

Attendees

Kathy Atkinson (KA)

Kettle Foods

Mark Ash (MA)

Suffolk County Council

Sue Roper (SR)

Suffolk County Council

Vince Muspratt (VM)

Norfolk County Council

Shan Lloyd (SL)

BEIS

Chris Dashper (CD)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 6

Chris Starkie (CS)

New Anglia LEP

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW)

New Anglia LEP

Helen Wilton (HW)

New Anglia LEP

Actions from the meeting: (20.05.20)

Restart and Rebuild - Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan

To receive a paper on the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on employment in the region

N Waller

Investment Appraisal Committee Nominations

Private sector board members to forward nominations for the vacant position on the IAC to

Private

Sector

Welcome from the Chair

Doug Field (DF) welcomed everyone to the meeting and welcomed C-J Green, Kathy Atkinson and

Mark Ash.

Apologies

Apologies were received from Tim Whitley, Sandy Ruddock and Steve Oliver.

Declarations of Interest

Jeanette Wheeler, (JW), Corrienne Peasgood (CP) and Andrew Proctor (AP) declared an interest in

Item 7 - Growing Places Fund Food Innovation Centre Investment.

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

Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting held on 21^st April.

LEP Response to COVID-19

Chris Starkie (CS) presented the paper to the board and highlighted key areas.

CS confirmed that the first applications to the Resilience and Recovery Scheme had been

received with the first application processed and funds paid out within 10 days. Enquiries

continue to be received and the fund has a healthy pipeline.

The vacancies page on the LEP website has proved successful with 2000 views in the first

week in May. Work is ongoing to improve the functionality of the pages.

The PPE database has 300 suppliers registered of which 50% are local companies offering

850 different types of PPE. 198 users from the care sector have registered as users. The

next phase is to open it up to businesses and provide access to products assisting them in

getting employees back into the workplace.

The meeting discussed promotion of the scheme and the successful applicants and CS

confirmed that all would be promoted as soon as all commercial details had been finalised.

Matthew Hicks (MH) noted that Suffolk County Council were setting up a similar database

and CS confirmed that the LEP were in regular conversation with SCC on activities.

Communications teams from the LEP also hold regular meetings with counterparts from

local authorities to ensure that all messages are consistent.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

Restart and Rebuild - Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan

CS reviewed the paper noting that the proposed approach was also being presented to the

Norfolk and Suffolk Leaders for approval.

The plan aims to work with local partners to build a phased approach to economic recovery

beginning with a 12 month tactical restart phase providing practical support to businesses

which will be followed by a 3-5 year strategic plan.

Claire Cullens (CC) highlighted the importance of the Voluntary Sector (VS) as a key

partner which would provide opportunities for skills development and employment in the

future.

CS agreed and confirmed that each sector would have its own workplan and that sectors

would be broader than those detailed in the Local Industrial Strategy (LIS). It was agreed

that those key sectors identified in the LIS would not be lost but would be widened with

other sectors included.

The board agreed that it was important for the tactical plans to be in place as soon as

possible.

CS confirmed that the restart phase would focus on activity and the rebuild phase would

incorporate details from the LIS and the Economic Strategy (ES) to provide a new strategy

to be published next summer.

Johnathan Reynolds (JR) stressed the support for rebuilding using clean growth and noted

the potential jobs losses in the oil and gas industry could impact heavily in the region

CS confirmed that clean and inclusive growth would be part of the plan and, although the

establishment of the Clean Growth Taskforce has been delayed, it could form part of the

next phase.

Helen Langton (HL) asked whether the Norfolk & Suffolk Unlimited branding would be used

in the plan and suggested that the use of the word “unlimited” be incorporated to stress the

continued belief in the local economy.

HL also noted the significant impact the crisis was having on unemployment and skills and

felt that this area needed to be given more emphasis with reference to upskilling and

redeployment.

CS confirmed that the NSU brand would be included and that references to key Brexit

dates and impacts would be added as per MH’s request.

The Board noted the concerns that that significant numbers of redundancies were possible

when the furlough scheme ended.

It was agreed that the Board would receive a paper on redundancies and economic

impacts at the next meeting.

CS noted that the plan was organic and had an aggressive timeline in order for it to be

signed off in June.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To endorse the development of a Norfolk and Suffolk economic recovery plan in two

phases Restart and Rebuild as outlined in the paper

N Waller

• To receive a paper on the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on employment in the region

Growing Places Fund - Food Innovation Centre Investment - Confidential

JW, CP & AP left the meeting

JW, CP & AP returned to the meeting

LEP Capital Budget 20/21- Confidential

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW) presented the budget and highlighted key items.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

Continuing Business

RW presented the paper to the Board and highlighted key items noting that the process for

identifying the next phase of Institutes of Technology was on hold but that discussions

were continuing with partners.

RW advised that the payments of Local Growth Funding had been split this year with 2/3

paid on in May with the remaining 1/3 in September subject to a review on the progress of

projects.

Growth Through Innovation Fund - JR asked for the programme to be linked to the

Innovation Board to ensure priorities are aligned. RW confirmed that she will contact JR to

make sure communication with the Innovation Board is maintained.

New Anglia Capital (NAC) - Dominic Keen (DK) updated the meeting on the discussions at

the latest NAC board meeting. DK asked for the Board’s approval for NAC to reduce its

conditions on employment and match funding requirements to allow companies to get

funding in place. CS confirmed the support of the LEP Executive team for the change and

JW offered to provide support on the parameters.

The amendments were agreed by the Board

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To approve the amendments to the operating parameters of NAC as detailed

Management Accounts - Q1 2020

RW presented the quarterly management accounts to the board noting there was a rollover

of £16m in grants due to slower than anticipated spend.

JR asked if there were any themes to the delays across the projects.

RW advised that some were due to issues within the projects such as delays in obtaining

planning permission but more recent delays are as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. Projects

have been asked to review and restructure spend.

RW also noted that the audit is underway and is being carried out by uploading documents

to an online portal.

• To note the content of the report

May Performance Reports and Programme Dashboard

RW presented the reports for May and asked for approval of the Growth Deal Dashboard.

The Board agreed:

• To note the contents of the reports

• To approve the Growth Deal Quarterly Dashboard

Investment Appraisal Committee Chair, Vice Chair and Membership

RW advised the meeting that, following the departure of Lindsey Rix, there is a vacancy for

the role of Chair of the IAC.

RW confirmed that David Ellesmere (DE) and DK had been nominated for the roles of

Chair and Vice Chair respectively and asked for approval from the Board for both

appointments.

The appointments were approved unanimously by the Board.

RW asked for nominations from the private sector board members for the current vacancy

on the IAC.

The Board agreed:

• To endorse the appointments of David Ellesmere and Dominic Keen as Chair and Vice

Chair of the IAC

• For private sector board members to forward nominations for the vacant position on the

Private

IAC to RW

Sector

Board Forward Plan

CS advised that the agenda for the June meeting is being finalised and agreed that the

Economic Recovery Plan and an update paper on Brexit will be added.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the plan

Any Other Business

CS briefed the Board on the roundtable held with the Minister for Business and Industry

Nadhim Zahawi MP and the Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government Simon Clarke

MP in which New Anglia LEP participated along with the Oxford-Cambridge Arc LEPs. 5

current and one past LEP private sector board members participated and were able to pose

questions to the ministers.