New Anglia Board Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)

21^st October 2020

Present:

Kathy Atkinson (KA)

Kettle Foods

Sam Chapman-Allen (SC)

Breckland Council

Claire Cullens (CC)

Norfolk Community Foundation

David Ellesmere (DE)

Ipswich Borough Council

C-J Green (CJG)

Brave Goose

John Griffiths (JG)

West Suffolk Council

Matthew Hicks (MH)

Suffolk County Council

Pete Joyner (PJ)

Shorthose Russell

Dominic Keen (DK)

Britbots

Helen Langton (HL)

University of Suffolk

Steve Oliver (SO)

MLM Group

Corrienne Peasgood (CP)

Norwich City College

Andrew Proctor (AP)

Norfolk County Council

Johnathan Reynolds (JR)

Opergy

Sandy Ruddock (SR)

Scarlett & Mustard

Alan Waters (AW)

Norwich City Council

Jeanette Wheeler (JW)

Birketts

Tim Whitley (TW)

Attendees

Paul Forecast (PF)

National Trust - For Item 2

Mark Goodall (MG)

All Energy Industry Council - For Item 7

Bethan Hacche (BH)

BEIS

Mark Ash (MA)

Suffolk County Council

Vince Muspratt (VM)

Norfolk County Council

Julian Munson (JM)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 7

Chris Dashper (CD)

New Anglia LEP - For Item 8

Chris Starkie (CS)

New Anglia LEP

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW)

New Anglia LEP

Helen Wilton (HW)

New Anglia LEP

Actions from the meeting: (21.10.20)

Actions from last meeting

Details of the candidate for the NAC Board to be circulated to Board members for approval

Business Resilience & Recovery Scheme

Details of unsuccessful BRR applicants and recipients of the Visitor Economy and Wider

Economy Grants to be circulated when available.

Welcome from the Chair

CJ Green (CJG) thanked everyone for attending the meeting and welcomed Kathy Atkinson (KA) as

the new private sector board member.

Presentation from Paul Forecast, Regional Director, National Trust

CJG welcomed Paul Forecast (PF), Regional Director of the National Trust, who provided the meeting

with an overview of the work of the National Trust and its economic impact on the region.

PF advised that the National Trust employs 269 members of staff and has over 220k members locally

and that the 1m paying visitors to sites in Norfolk and Suffolk bring £16m into the local economy.

PF provided an overview of the main sources of income and the areas of spend noting that all areas of

the National Trust’s work and investments have been impacted by the pandemic. He confirmed that

the overall financial position was secure however individual areas requiring further support and some

smaller loss-making retail outlets are being closed however the holiday cottages are busy with

demand exceeding supply and investments will continue to be made in this area.

PF thanked the Board for the LEP’s funding towards the development of the Sutton Hoo site and

expressed a hope that the organisations could work together on other projects in the future.

Jeanette Wheeler (JW) asked whether the online offer such as virtual tours and online shopping was

being expanded. PF agreed that footfall was down which impacted retail outlets and that although

member rates had been sustained to date there was a need to provide something in return if physical

visits were not available.

CJG thanked PF for attending the meeting for updating the Board on the work of the National Trust in

the region.

PF left the meeting.

Apologies

Apologies were received from Steve Oliver.

Declarations of Interest

None

Actions/Minutes from the last Meeting

The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting held on 23^rd September 2020.

Chris Starkie (CS) reviewed the actions from the last board meeting.

He noted that no nominations had been received for an additional New Anglia Capital (NAC)

board members and advised that JW had proposed that one of her colleagues at Birketts could

join which would also provide legal expertise as desired by the NAC board.

ACTION: Details of the candidate for the NAC Board to be circulated to Board members with

the request for approval.

Skills Advisory Panel Progress Update

Claire Cullens (CC) provided the meeting with an overview of the Skills Advisory Panel (SAP)

advising that the membership covered all business sectors, the Department of Work and

Pensions, Chambers of Commerce, Education and Skills Funding Agency and councillors &

officers from Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils making around 40 members in total.

CC reviewed the four key aims of the SAP:

• Driving skills progression for the workforce

• Providing agile and responsive training provision for key sectors

• Equipping young people for success

• Tackling barriers to employment

Two projects have been identified for each objective where the most impact can be made

which can also be delivered by the end of 2020. CC advised that details of all projects were

included in the slide pack and a progress report will be produced at the end of the year.

CC also noted that the outputs in the Economy Restart Plan were linked to the SAP

objectives to ensure alignment.

CC highlighted the work of the local authorities including Judith Mobbs and Natasha Waller

from the LEP.

The meeting discussed the importance of skills in the sector deals in particular in STEM

subjects. It was agreed that filling the skills gap was a particular challenge and it was

important to get people to upskill into these specific areas. Education partners and employers

need to work together to identify these gaps, supply the training and education to meet them

and also to encourage people to retrain into these areas.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To endorse the vision of the Skills Advisory Panel and its current direction of travel and

champion the ‘key messages’ of the Skills Advisory Panel

• To support the wider work in response to Covid-19

All Energy Industry Council Progress Update

Julian Munson (JM) introduced Mark Goodall (MG), Chair of the All Energy Industry Council

(AEI), and provided an overview of the importance of the sector to the region noting its unique

position in covering all green types of energy.

JM reviewed the objectives of the AEIC:

• Profile and Promotion - branding and marketing to national and global audiences.

Proactively promoting the offer to attract global investment and boost exports across the

energy sector

• Lobbying and Regulation - strengthening links with Government and other

organisations as identified by the Council to attract support and investment and improve

regulations

• Supply chain development - strengthening the cluster, helping businesses work with

each other, including tier one corporates, and maximising export and investment

opportunities

• Innovation support - helping businesses improve their performance and enabling them

to enter new markets, develop new products, enhance processes and improve

productivity

• Skills development - overseeing the skills sector plan, connecting employers with

providers and responding to industry demands in developing the skilled workforce of

tomorrow

• Infrastructure attracting investment to enhance and build the infrastructure required to

support the growth of the industry and improve connectivity and business productivity

The Board received details of the priority projects which had been identified for delivery during

2021 and JM highlighted the work being carried out on the promotion and branding of the

region.

(MG) addressed the board agreeing that historically the various energy sectors had operated

in silos and work was ongoing to bring these together.

MG reviewed the size of the local industry, its unique position and strength of the local energy

sector in offering and developing all areas of green energy.

MG noted some of the current challenges such as developing the Bacton site and the

development of the onshore infrastructure.

CJG asked what support the LEP could provide. MG felt that the AEIC could be improved by

membership of someone from the energy distribution sector and also noted that the current

regulatory regime hinders development.

JW advised that some board members were participating in a BEIS roundtable tomorrow

focussing on green recovery and requested suggestions for an ask for the Minister.

MG proposed they should highlight the importance of developing key infrastructure projects

and also request support with planning.

Johnathan Reynolds (JR) noted that there had been considerable success achieved in

offshore projects but the biggest challenge was in connecting to the onshore infrastructure. It

was agreed that there was a lack of joined up thinking by Government with 30% of energy

coming ashore in one small area in Suffolk.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To note and support the approach to producing and delivery a recovery plan for the sector

Business Resilience & Recovery Scheme Progress Update

CS provided an overview of the Business Resilience and Recovery Fund advising that 79 grants

have been awarded to date totalling over £3m. The second tranche of funding for the scheme,

secured from the Getting Building Fund call, has now been accessed and a number of revisions

to the scheme are being introduced to ensure maximum impact is achieved through the

available funds.

Sam Chapman-Allen (SCA) queried whether reducing the intervention rate to 40% would

reduce applications. CS confirmed that this has actually the rate already used on many

applications already processed where the impact of Covid-19 on the business was not clear

or the business had sufficient cash reserves in place to fund the project itself.

John Griffiths (JG) asked if details of unsuccessful applicants could be provided as well as the

details of Visitor Economy and Wider Economy Grants.

ACTION: Details of unsuccessful BRR applicants and recipients of the Visitor Economy and

Wider Economy Grants to be circulated when available.

CC asked if evidence of projects supporting skills progression could be included in the

application process.

Chris Dashper (CD) confirmed that this was routinely asked during the assessment process

for the Growing Business Fund when the project is revisited and would be included in

Resilience and Recovery applications in the future.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report and agree the revisions to the scheme

Chief Executive’s Report

CS highlighted key items in the Chief Executive’s report noting the success of the Restart

Festival.

CS advised that the Mid Year Review had been carried out and that New Anglia continued to

be rated Good in all areas. CS advised that, in order to be rated exceptional, the LEP needed

to establish a youth engagement panel and also set up its own scrutiny panel. He advised

that the spend on projects is being closely monitored and all efforts are being made to reduce

underspend and that funding would be reallocated if needed.

The Board leant that the Growth Hub will receive additional funding to support the end of the

transition period and plans are being drawn up to use the funding.

The Board discussed the role of Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) and CS advised that he was

involved in a discussion with the LEP Network on this matter. There are a large number of

LRFs and these were being reviewed to ensure the LEP was presented at the key forums.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

October Performance Reports

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW) presented the reports to the Board and highlighted key items.

Business Growth Programme - RW noted that there has been a drop off in applications to the

Small Grants Scheme as expected.

Agri-Tech - The pipeline now exceeds the funds available therefor the pipeline is being

reviewed

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the reports

Quarterly Management Accounts

RW presented to the latest management accounts to the Board.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the plan

Board Forward Plan

CS reviewed the forward plan and advised that the 2021 plan would be presented following

agreement with the Chair.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the plan

Any Other Business

The meeting discussed the issues around promoting the region during the pandemic.

PJ noted that many businesses in the visitor economy sector would be closing anyway at this

time of year and it was important to be ready in the spring when they reopened.