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Growing Business Fund Grant Panel Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)
Wednesday, 05 December 2018 | 10.00am - 12.30pm
Conference Room 1, IP-City Centre, Bath Street, Ipswich, OP2 8SD
Present - Panel:
Mike Burrows (MB)
Dominic Keen (DK)
Dr Sumathi Sundram
Paul Stewart (PS)
Daryl Griffiths (DG)
Jackie Potter (JP)
Jeanette Wheeler (JWh)
In Attendance:
Jason Middleton
Julie West (JW)
Rose Joy (RJ)
Neil Sargent (NS)
Stuart Ager (SA)
Amanda Castell
Barry Henson (BH)
Vimmi Hayes (VH)
ECC (Chair)
Britbots
S&V Consultants Ltd
Center Parcs
Burnett Barker Solicitors
Gough Hotels
Birketts
New Anglia LEP
New Anglia LEP
New Anglia LEP
Finance East
Finance East
Finance East
Suffolk County Council
Suffolk County Council
Norfolk County Council
Actions outstanding from the meeting: Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Under Item 5: New Applications for Approval
Condimentum Limited - JW to seek assurance and clarity on employment transfer and email update to
Panel members.
Under Item 10: PR & Marketing - JW provided percentage split of businesses across Norfolk and
Suffolk as follows:
Suffolk Norfolk
By number of grants 36% 64%
By value of grants 33% 67%
General discussion took place again on the demographic split between the two counties. It was noted
that Suffolk need to be more pro-activein encouraging businesses to apply for grants to increase their
percentage uptake.
1
Welcome
MB welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2
Apologies
David Dukes, Norfolk County Council; Martin Ince, Martin Ince Communications; Chris Dashper, New
Anglia LEP; Max Applin, Max Applin Consulting and Sandy Ruddock, Scarlet and Mustard.
3
Declarations of Interest and GDPR
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Declarations of Interest - No Declarations of Interest declared.
GBF guidelines for the Panel circulated for review. Change requested to section headed ‘Property’
Action: JW to revise the section property purchase to include wording “and attract a 10%
grant only
4
Meeting Minutes: Panel Meeting held on Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Confirmed with no amendments.
5
New Applications for Approval (2)
(a) Spectra Packaging Limited - Agreed to support
Approved Grant: £74,486 under De Minimis
Four full-time jobs to be created.
Recommendation applied: GH Skills Adviser to follow-up with the business to obtain their
marketing strategy and evidence of recycling.
(b) Stephen Walters & Sons Limited - Agreed to support
Approved Grant: £118,049 under De Minimis
Two full-time jobs to be created.
Recommendation applied: GH Adviser to follow-up with the business to discuss
apprenticeships.
General discussion took place on whether the grant could be awarded under De Minimus.
NS to contact applicant for clarification on the grant programme (Textiles Growth Fund).
Action: NS to obtain from Stephen Walters & Sons Limited:
(a) a copy of their Offer Letter for the Textiles Growth Fund grant
(b) the date they formally accepted the offer
(c) request a report showing productivity output measures
Discussion took place on how to measure productivity gain.
It was noted that the Panel was disappointed not to see the inclusion of apprenticeships in the
application, bearing in mind the nature of the business.
Growth Hub attendance - With the involvement of the Growth Hub in preparing and submitting GBF
applications and identified Growth Hub Adviser follow-up action, Panel members felt it would be
beneficial to have a Growth Hub Adviser present at GBF Panel meetings.
Action: JW to speak with Nigel Best, Growth Hub Manager to ensure a Growth Hub Adviser
attends GBF meetings. This could be done on a rotational basis.
Going forward the Panel felt it would be useful to have EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes,
Depreciation and Amortization) included in the Summary Financial Analysis table.
Action: NS to include line for EBITDA in the Summary Financial Analysis table
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Small Grant Scheme Update
JM provided update.
The Panel noted the award of Small Grant Scheme grants in the month of October 2018, totalling
£87,048 (Grants Awarded) - See Appendix 1.
JM reported the Small Grant Scheme is performing well and all the original funding for the three-year
programme has now been spent and were now into the extension monies.
Target for the next quarter (December 2018/January 2019/February 2019) is £130k.
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JM to submit a Programme Change Request (PCR) to turn the three-year extension programme into a
four-year programme.
New Anglia Innovation, Research & Development Grant Scheme
JM provided update. Since the last GBF Panel meeting, an outline application for an Innovation,
Research & Development grant scheme has been submitted under Investment Priority 1b. The project
will mirror the Small Grant Scheme grant offer and will be administered in the same way as the Small
Grant Scheme. Applications will go through the New Anglia Growth Hub and the New Anglia Growth Hub
website will provide a portal for the scheme. The grant offer is £1k - £25k, with an intervention rate of up
to 50%. The project, if approved, will go live on 01 September 2019.
It was noted that there may be some potential displacement from the Small Grant Scheme due to the
higher intervention rate.
Currently working with a range of partners to gather additional evidence of demand to potentially increase
the £2 million fund request to £3 million before the final application is submitted in February 2019.
It was noted that this grant scheme would be an incredibly important addition to get into the market place
for businesses to access.
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Funding and Jobs Creation
BH provided update.
Growing Business Fund - further GBF spend in November of £414k brings the total overall spend for
the year to £2.95 million, which makes us £160k overspent. There are further commitments at present of
£1.24 million, plus todays approved grant totals (£74,486 and £118,049). This gives an overall total of
£4.4 million, which is £1.45 million over original budget allocation. Taking into account most likely Claim
dates, BH has asked CD to allocate a further £1 million in this financial year.
Small Grant Scheme overall total paid out is £1.6 million, to 179 businesses, with a further £584k grant
committed. Just over £1 million left to end of August 2021 however this will, in all probability, go
before that date.
It was noted the overall total for all grant funding paid out to date is £24.3 million , so we are now edging
towards the milestone £25 million figure.
Cumulative confirmed job creation has now passed the 2,000 mark, now stands at 2,023 (up thirty-four
since the November meeting). With an additional fifty-four confirmed jobs for the Small Grant Scheme
(jobs not a requirement) which is a bonus
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Updates on approved Grants
BH provided update on the following grants:
TML Precision Engineering Limited - confirmation received that the re-financing of the project has now
gone through and an Offer Letter has been issued for the £95,000 grant approved.
Renvale Limited - moving forward and progressing well, with the property purchase proving to be a very
advantageous one.
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GBF Applications ‘Pipeline
AC and NS provided brief details of applications in progress. At present there are five applications.
Two Expressions of Interest.
Discussion took place on GBF applications.
Action: JW to provide statistics on:
Number of grants reduced in value
Number of grants rejected by the GBF Panel
Number of grants that do not reach the GBF Panel
Number of grants found ineligible at the Due Diligence stage
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PR and Marketing
JW provided update. It’s been a busy period with a lot happening at present.
Marketing and Communications Strategy - been out to tender to employ a freelance consultant /
consultancy business on a short-term contract to map out the Marketing and Communications Strategy
that will be over-arching the whole of the New Anglia Business Growth Programme. Contract awarded to
TMS Media based in Great Yarmouth who started work on the project on Monday, 03 December 2018.
Better Business for All (BBfA) - currently building a new micro website (4 pages) which will signpost to
the Growth Hub and will be linked to Local Council websites.
Scale-Up - currently building a micro website (4 pages)
Place Branding - looking a place branding and a large piece of work being undertaken by New Anglia
Local Enterprise Partnership, led by Lesley Van Dijk, Head of Communications.
Growth Hub workshops - Growth Hub are aiming to deliver 2-3 workshops per week
High Growth Programme - gaining momentum with two events being planned (Invitation only) one in
February 2019 aimed at the Digital/Technical sector and one in March 2019 aimed at the manufacturing
sector.
Panel members expressed interest in receiving details of relevant workshops/events.
Action: JW to share information with GBF Panel members of forthcoming events of interest.
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None.
The meeting closed at 11.45am.
Next Meeting: Centrum, Norwich | Meeting Room GO1 & G02
Wednesday, 09 January 2019 |10.00am - 12.30pm
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Appendix 1
New Anglia Small Grant Scheme projects approved in October 2018
Approved
Grant
1
Merxin Ltd.
14,901
2
Plandescil Ltd
4,295
3
Diamond Garage Equipment
24,300
4
Smart Refinish Ltd
9,000
5
Libra Scale Co
25000
6
Crafted Media
4,652
7
Import Export Support Ltd
4,900
87,048