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Growing Business Fund Grant Panel Meeting Minutes (Confirmed)
Wednesday, 07 October 2020 | 10.00am - 12.30pm
Held via conference call on Microsoft Teams
Present - Panel:
Mike Burrows (MB)
Martin Ince (MI)
Jackie Potter (JP)
Paul Stewart (PS)
Dominic Keen (DK)
Daryl Griffiths (DG)
Dr Sumathi Sundram (SS)
Kathy Atkinson (KA)
In attendance:
Julie West (JW)
Rose Joy (RJ)
Barry Henson (BH)
Amanda Castell (AC)
Stuart Ager (SA)
Neil Sargent (NS)
(Chair)
Martin Ince Communications
Micropress Ltd
Center Parcs
Britbots
Burnett Barker Solicitors
S&V Consultants Ltd
Kettle Foods Ltd
New Anglia LEP
New Anglia LEP
Suffolk County Council
Finance East
Finance East
Finance East
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Welcome and Introductions
MB welcomed members and new GBF Panel member, Kathy Atkinson, to her first GBF Panel Meeting.
Introductions made. Meeting quorate.
2
Not present on telecon call
Apologies received: Chris Dashper, New Anglia LEP; Jason Middleton, New Anglia LEP and Roberta
Willner, Norfolk County Council and Vimmi Hayes, Suffolk County Council
3
Declarations of Interest and GDPR
Declarations of Interest - No Declarations of Interest declared.
Reminder: Please delete/destroy all email/paper copy on the third project circulated with the Agenda as
this project is not being submitted to the Panel today. Project is withdrawn.
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Meeting Minutes: Panel Meeting held on Wednesday, 02 September 2020
Minutes confirmed.
Project updates:
Polar Systems Limited - BH confirmed the business has been informed that they have now reached
their €200,000 State Aid limit.
CTR Secure Services Limited - NS confirmed PEP check had been satisfactorily completed, prior to
confirmation of grant award.
5
New Applications for Approval (2)
(1) AKS Skip Hire Services Limited - Agreed to support
Approved grant - £66,000
Three full-time positions and one part-time position to be created.
Note taken of a previous GBF grant application awarded to sister company, Green Planet
Environmental Recycling Limited. BH provided background and status of the grant.
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General discussion took place, as concern expressed on previous performance, with
failure to create permanent jobs, although had employed Agency labour.
Recommendation - as part of Monitoring process diligence, SCC to cross-check payroll
lists to ensure there is no overlap between the two Companies, and emphasis to be made
to the business that should jobs not be created at AKS Skip Hire Services Limited, then we
may look to proportionately claw back the grant approved.
(2) Armultra Limited - Agreed to support
Approved grant - £73,000 - an Assisted Area award
Thirteen full-time positions, plus opportunity for an apprentice
General discussion took place on the Project as concern expressed over the lack of a
formal lease/rental agreement between Armultra Limited and the parent Company
Trimpact Limited.
Recommendation: Spend to be recorded in the name of Armultra Limited, and expected
to appear on their Balance Sheet as fixed assets / improvements to leasehold premises.
Noted that their Accountant has verbally confirmed this will be the case. SCC to reinforce
these points in the Offer Letter.
Noted that this is an established local Company in the Great Yarmouth area, offering a
significant contribution to the local economy.
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Small Grant Scheme (SGS) | Growth Through Innovation Fund (GTIF) Updates
Small Grant Scheme - JW provided update.
• The Panel noted the award of nine Small Grant Scheme grants in the month of September 2020,
totalling £60,766 (Grants Awarded) - see Annexe 1.
Growth Through Innovation Fund (GTIF) - JW provided update.
• The Panel noted the award of one GTIF grant in the month of September 2020 at £14,999 (Grant
Awarded) - see Annexe 2
JW also provided update on two further New Anglia Business Growth Programme grant schemes.
Visitor Economy Grant Scheme (VEGS) and Wider Economy Grant Scheme (WEGS)
• VEGS/WEGS to potentially offer 216 grants, of between £1k - £3k.
• Since the launch of the schemes, the Growth Hub has been inundated with applications.
• To date, 42 applications have been approved, with majority of the grants averaging at just under
£3k.
Business Resilience & Recovery (BR&R) Consultancy
• Have a preferred supplier list of 15 different Consultants for the Consultancy Programme (groups
and individuals) covering a wide range of subjects.
• Able to offer 1, 2- or 3-days support to help businesses affected by Covid-19 based on number of
employees: up to 10 = 1 day; 10 - 50 = 2 days and over 50 employees = 3 days and can have one
or more Consultants to look at different business aspects.
• New Anglia LEP funding this from a pot of money set aside.
• Not much interest yet and will possibly be a ‘slow-burn’ programme.
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Funding, Updates and Jobs Creation
Growing Business Fund - BH provided update.
• Since the last GBF Panel meeting, have paid out two grants, MENTA and Musks, so total GBF
now paid out this year so far is £839k. In terms of ongoing commitments not yet claimed, and
allowing for today’s two approvals, commitments now stand at £1.09m.
• Subject to confirmation from the LEP Board, the LEP is proposing to increase the GBF pot by a
further £1m from the Government’s Getting Building Fund; this additional allocation based on what
appears to be a substantial pipeline. It is understood that this £1m can be rolled forward into the
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next financial year, so it is not necessary to commit and spend by 31 March 2021. Allowing for
the additional £1m, we have still got £1.86m available.
GBF Panel – JW provided update.
• With the additional £1m in the GBF pot, the GBF Panel will need to be retained after Christmas
into the New Year. JW asked Panel members to consider their position and let JW know if they
are happy to continue on the GBF Panel.
Small Grant Scheme - BH provided update.
• There have been three more grants paid since the last Panel meeting, so overall Programme total
is now 305 grants paid, total paid out is £2.85m, with another 43 committed but not yet claimed
totalling £380k, leaving £232k in the pot.
• Recent approvals have been relatively small, just under £5k, so could do with some larger £25k
grants coming through.
• Reasonable pipeline of applications with the Growth Hub for the SGS scheme.
Growth Through Innovation Fund - BH provided update.
• Fairly quiet, 20 approvals to date, totalling £325k but to bear in mind that GTIF has not really had
much of a marketing promotion yet.
Business Resilience & Recovery Grant Scheme - BH provided update.
• There have been 80 grants awarded, totalling £3.06m, since the first award on 07 May 2020, so a
substantial commitment, both in terms of money and workflow from SCC point of view.
• Of the 80 grants, 57 have had an up-front first stage payment, and have finally completed on ten
grants thus far.
• Claims now starting to come in regularly on this scheme.
• There is another £2.6m out of Government’s Getting Building Fund to be spent on this and
scheme will probably run forward into January/February/March in terms of allocation of this
money. New Anglia LEP is proposing to make some slight changes to the criteria to emphasise
more the main criteria which is diversification, so we may see some slightly lower grants on
average being approved going forward, but this means more Companies can be supported.
Job Creation - BH provided update.
• have seen 14 jobs confirmed since the last Panel meeting, 11 of which are for Condimentum so
starting to see confirmations of new jobs created there.
• Total for GBF and ‘old’ SGS is now 2369 and 141 for SGS which takes us over the 2,500 mark. A
figure well worth noting.
• Panel noted that it was good to see the job numbers continuing to increase under the current
climate.
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GBF Applications ‘Pipeline’
• There are five potential applications being prepared for submission to the GBF Panel on
Wednesday, 04 November 2020.
• JW reported a buoyant pipeline at the Growth Hub, currently totalling £900k, with a further
potential for £1m in the pipeline.
• Noted that currently it is more medium sized businesses going forward with their growth plans.
• Comment made by SA that Finance East were experiencing capacity issues now that they have
taken on the BR&RGS due diligence. GBF will continue to be their main priority.
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PR and Marketing
JW provided update.
• RESTART business recovery online festival - took place last week, 29/30 September, which
was a very successful event. Grants were promoted during the sessions, so no doubt we will see
an uplift in grant uptake following this.
• Videos - new videos being added to the LEP and Growth Hub newsletters. Noted that currently
there is a lot going on with all the new grant schemes, so it is difficult to capture it all.
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10
Any Other Business
None.
The meeting closed at 11.20am.
Next Meeting via conference call on Microsoft Teams
Wednesday, 04 November 2020 |10.00am - 12.30pm
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Annexe 1
New Anglia Small Grant Scheme projects approved in September 2020
September 2020 Projects
Approved
Grant
Awarded
(£)
1
Global Chair Components Ltd (2)
25,000
2
Robert Fuller t/a RFA Media
1,585
3
Titchmarsh & Goodwin Fine Furniture Ltd
7,018
4
Marketplace Amp Ltd
3,162
5
Anglia Business Growth Consultants Ltd
2,990
6
Norwich Glass Co Ltd
4,393
7
Fish Fabrications Ltd
2,794
8
One Traveller Ltd
11,087
9
DJB Investments (UK) Ltd
2,737
TOTAL
60,766
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Annexe 2
New Anglia Growth Through Innovation projects approved in September 2020
September 2020 projects
Approved
Grant
Awarded
(£)
1
Ansible Motion
14,999
TOTAL
14,999
