Public

New Anglia Board Meeting Minutes (Unconfirmed)

30th March 2022

Present:

Kathy Atkinson (KA)

Valeo Snack Foods

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

Helen Langton (HL)

University of Suffolk

Corrienne Peasgood (CP)

Norwich City College

Johnathan Reynolds (JR)

Opergy

Alan Waters (AW)

Norwich City Council

Jeanette Wheeler (JW)

Birketts

Attendees

Katy Davies (KD)

Camden Boss Ltd – For Item 2

Jo Middleton (JM)

Norfolk County Council

Shan Lloyd (SL)

BEIS

Jai Raithatha (JRa)

Suffolk County Council

Rob Hancock (RH)

Suffolk County Council

James Allen (JA)

New Anglia LEP – For Item 6

David Dukes (DD)

New Anglia LEP

Chris Starkie (CS)

New Anglia LEP

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW)

New Anglia LEP

Helen Wilton (HW)

New Anglia LEP

Actions from the meeting: (30.3.22)

New Anglia LEP Finance - Operating Budget 2022/23 Update – Confidential

Details of Government core funding to be provided to board member when received.

Chief Executive’s report

Contact Helen Wilson to request a presentation from the Cultural board at the May board meeting

Welcome from the Chair

CJ Green (CJG) welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Presentation from Katy Davies, MD Camden Boss, Enterprise Advisor

CJG introduced Katy Davies (KD), MD of Camden Boss who is an Enterprise Advisor.

KD provided the board with an overview of the activities she has undertaken and the challenges of the

role since she began as an advisor for the academy in Mildenhall last year.

KD noted the strong support for careers at the school and spoke about her role and how she looks to

use her network of contacts to provide opportunities for students and to help the careers lead.

She spoke about challenges currently being faced by schools including staff shortages due to Covid

and the importance of building connections with businesses and encouraging them to offer specific

solutions to the schools rather than generic offers of support.

Staff shortages within companies mean that businesses are keener to listen to schools to understand

their requirements and to assist in the development of their future workforce therefore businesses

have a vested interest in becoming involved supporting students.

KD provided examples of projects being set up such as after school technical clubs and apprentices

joining maths clubs to provide practical examples of use of the subjects.

Corrienne Peasgood (CP) commented on the importance of the Enterprise Advisor Network and noted

that the role of the Enterprise Advisor can be benefit both students and advisors in helping their career

development. CP stressed that the requirements for careers support vary for pre and post 16

students and that practical work experience is vital for students after 16 who are not taking A-Levels.

CJG asked what barriers were seen by other companies to participating. KD felt that companies view

this as lost time and a loss of productivity. Some companies are now becoming involved due to the

staff shortages as they are being forced to look elsewhere for employees by investing time and effort

earlier.

CJG thanks KD for her presentation and KD left the meeting.

Apologies

Apologies were received from Claire Cullens, Dominic Keen, Andrew Proctor and Stuart Dark

Declarations of Interest

None

Actions/Minutes from the last Meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 23rd February were agreed as accurate.

CS reviewed the action log and confirmed all items have been completed.

Agri-Food Industry Council Report

CP presented the Agri-food Council report to the board and thanked James Allen (JA) and

Stuart Catchpole from the LEP for their support.

CP noted the ongoing challenges to the sector such as labour shortages and the war in

Ukraine the full impact of which is still to be seen.

CP confirmed that the Council’s objectives have been amended to include cross sector work

such as with the developing space sector. Council members are working with JA on each

objective on the production of the delivery plan.

CP noted that, in spite of ongoing issues the latest Council meeting was very positive and that

a discussion had taken place on ethics in terms of Russian companies trying to circumvent

sanctions and the dilemma of providing short term support which impacts longer terms net

carbon aims.

CP highlighted the completion of the Regional Agri-Food narrative which will be used to

showcase the strengths of the region.

The local skills report was published in January and examined the skills shortages and how

these might be met. The agri-food skills group will monitor the situation and progress made

against these aims.

JA noted the progress of projects within the region such as the Food Enterprise Park which is

nearing completion, the Growing Places loan for One Farm and also the success of the Skills

and Careers Festival.

He confirmed that intelligence continues to be provided to Government and is well received

by DEFRA who are keen to be involved further when details of the Shared Prosperity Fund

are announced.

The meeting discussed the inclusion of the agri-food narrative on the Norfolk & Suffolk

Unlimited web site.

David Dukes (DD) provided an update on the High Potential Opportunity established at the

Norwich Research Park and advised that the slide deck to promote this has been agreed and

will be used globally by the Department of international Trade. The HPO complements one

secured for Adastral Park.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

New Anglia LEP Business Plan 2022/23

Rosanne Wijnberg (RW) presented the business plan for 2022/23 which builds on the

strategic priorities approved by the board in January.

RW noted that final amendments will be made to include end of year figures and requested

approval to delegate authority to the CEO and COO to make any final changes.

John Griffiths (JG) noted there were some typing errors and requested inclusion of details of

the sector groups.

Johnathan Reynolds (JR) felt that the outputs were lacking in context. RW confirmed that

these would be updated and context provided in the final amendments. JR suggested

increasing the impact of the LEP’s delivery activity especially around business support and

the success of the Growth Hub.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To approve the Business Plan subject the amendments stated above

• To delegate authority for final sign-off to the LEP CEO and COO. Final amendments will

include the update of the numbers post year end, and small changes to the text to

incorporate any Management Committee and Board feedback.

New Anglia LEP Governance

RW presented the LEP’s Assurance Framework, Scheme of Delegation and Accountable

Body Agreement with Suffolk County Council which have all been updated, to ensure they are

in line with Government guidance and that all the information contained in them is accurate

and up to date.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To approve and adopt the:

- 2022 Local Assurance Framework

- Scheme of Delegation

- Accountable Body Agreement

New Anglia LEP Finance - Operating Budget 2022/23 Update - Confidential

Board and Committee Membership

RW presented the board with a summary of the committee’s requirements

Remuneration Committee – RW advised that Mark Jeffries’ 5-year term as chair expires in

April 2022 and, given the current circumstances, he has been asked by the committee and

has agreed to extend his term to end in April 2023. This extension and the membership of

the committee require ratification from the board.

Audit and Risk Committee – RW confirmed that the LEP would like to invite an additional

member of the LEP Board to join this committee. Board members should contact RW if

interested.

New Anglia Capital Board – RW advised that the NAC Board currently comprises of 5

members of which two, Dominic Keen and Kathy Atkinson are LEP Board members.

Historically there have been three members from the LEP Board therefore RW asked that

anyone interested should contact her.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

• To agree to the extension of term of the Remuneration Committee Chair

• To ratify the Committee membership

• To contact Rosanne Wijnberg to indicate interest in supporting Audit and Risk Committee /

New Anglia Capital Board

Chief Executive’s Report

CS presented his report and highlighted the progress of the Community Renewal Fund

project and advised that the end date of the project had been extended.

CS noted the success of the LEP’s Cultural board and proposed that the chair, Helen Wilson,

attend the May board to provide an update.

CS advised that more material has been released to support the NSU campaign and will be

available for use by partners.

LEP Review – CS confirmed that that no further information has been received and work is

continuing with partners on County Deals. Further information on the functions of LEPs and

their role in devolution are still awaited from Government.

HL expressed support for the LEP team in the current challenging circumstances given the

lack of clarity and information from Government.

ACTION: CS to contact Helen Wilson to request a presentation from the Cultural board at the

May board meeting

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

March Performance Reports

RW advised that a revised reporting schedule will be presented for approval at a future

meeting as some programmes come to an end.

Enterprise Advisor Network – RW noted that is a shortfall against some benchmarks. This is

partly due to delayed reporting which will catch up later and partly due to the impact of the

pandemic.

The programme is still rated as green given the trajectory of the progress as it was felt that

targets would be achieved by August.

HL noted the need to consider the long term role of the EAN given the current level of

uncertainty.

CP noted that it is a requirement for schools to report on careers and the Gatsby Benchmarks

but that it does not appear in Ofsted report. CP noted that the OA is also due to end soon.

CS advised that all programmes would be fully evaluated and that the LEP is working with the

Careers Enterprise Company to show the long term impact of the programme. The meeting

discussed the challenges around recording these programme and possible options for

demonstrating their success.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the report

Board Forward Plan

CJG reviewed the items on the agenda for the May meeting.

The Board agreed:

• To note the content of the plan

Any Other Business

JR advised that an Energy Strategy is expected shortly and will provide major opportunities for

the region.

Chief Executive’s Pay Award – Confidential