Local Economy Board 21.05.08 Minutes

 

Present: David Grey (Chair), Dave Campbell, John Bramah, Jay Bhayani, Martin Seymour, Chris Heaton, Ian Drayton, Ron Barrowclough, John Mothersole, David Woodcock, Nigel Tomlinson.

 

Apologies: Andy Bowie, Laura Moynahan, Fergus Beesley, Duncan Swainsbury, Joanne Ash, Wendy Dodson.

 

In attendance: Kevin Bennett, John Rigby, Dave Jackson.

 

 

 

The Chair welcomed Board members, and welcomed John Mothersole to the Board as Interim Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council.  

 

The Chair noted that the Liberal Democrat cabinet would be announced today. John Mothersole confirmed that Sylvia Anginotti had been appointed as Cabinet Member for Employment and Enterprise. This meant that she was likely to replace Tim Rippon on the board. This would be confirmed shortly. The Board thanked Cllr Tim Rippon for his contribution to the BiG programme.

 

The Chair presented the new agenda format, in terms of Items for Decision and Items for Information.

 

The Minutes of 20 March were agreed.

 

Kevin Bennett highlighted the section requesting Board members to complete the Declaration of Interest, and reminded them to do so if they have not already.

 

Action:
Andy Bowie, David Campbell, David Grey, Nigel Tomlinson, David Woodcock, Fergus Beesley, John Bramah and Duncan Swainsbury to submit declarations before next LEB

No declarations were made and no AOB was signalled.

 

Board members who had not submitted a report were asked to provide a brief update.

 

Nigel Tomlinson informed the Board that he had been working with School Enterprise Champions David Kay and Clive Lightburn on the economic summit, sponsored by BiG, to be held on 19 June 2008.

He will also be attending a Creative Sheffield dinner to celebrate Sheffield and recruit 150 city ambassadors, of which some will be entrepreneurs. Nigel also announced his election to the National Council for the British Chamber of Commerce.

 

David Grey has undertaken school visits and chaired a review panel as part of the Generate project. He has also sat on the Entrepreneur Club assessment panel. David was heavily involved in the BiG Challenge competition, and compered the awards event on 7 May 2008.

 

Jay Bhayani asked for a steer on what activity Board members might undertake on behalf of BiG.  David Grey noted that Board members were chosen for their expertise. Kevin highlighted the current re-structuring of the Assessment Panels and advised that there would likely be a potential role for her as a project assessor.

 

Action:
Kevin and Jay to meet to discuss Jay’s contribution.

 

Kevin presented the report.

 

There was a discussion on the Liberal Democrat’s impact on strategy and the retraction of the term “Closing the Gap”.  John Mothersole advised that the Liberal Democrat’s focus is on the individual, rather than geographical boundaries, and the programme would have to adapt to this approach.

 

The issue of the city-wide roll out was discussed, along with the potential implications of stretching LEGI resource.  John M suggested that BiG might look to complement other funds that were currently available to help the individual. It was agreed that working closely with the new Business Link would be a vital in maximising BiG resource. 

 

The Chair also stressed the importance of critically evaluating BiG projects to assess value for money and impact, and emphasised the Board’s role in making tough decisions where an initiative is not working.

 

Executive Delivery Team Project Update papers to be distributed to Board members.

Team BiG to manage queries with project leads.

 

Ian Drayton queried the relationship of the LEB to the other city economic boards, and the possibility of them merging.  John M confirmed that each board provided expertise in their area, and that Sheffield First Partnership were responsible for co-ordinating the separate activity.

 

Ian also felt that the document focused on delivering programme activity rather than incorporating aspirational components.  Ian felt that we could develop different interventions, for example some activity we would deliver, and some activity we would champion.

Ron Barrowclough asked when the decision on ERDF would be known. Kevin confirmed that bids of over £10m would have to go to a treasury CPRG committee, and for this reason we were unlikely to hear officially until September, although we should receive positive feedback as the bid progresses.

 

On the awayday Martin Seymour recommended considering our strategy for 2010-15, and what impact the new government and implementation of Business Support Simplification might have on our activity.  This was accepted.

 

David Woodcock informed the board of the recent recruitment of a Regional Franchise Manager to HSBC and asked that the details were passed on to the Franchising project.

 

On para 5 Ian Drayton questioned the relevance of the interventions to the wider economy.   Kevin confirmed that these labels were previously outlined as features of a successful local economy, and were initial thoughts at this stage.

 

Ian also queried how the programme was measuring impact on neighbourhoods, and suggested developing a ‘gross neighbourhood product’ system to chart progress. John Rigby confirmed that access to neighbourhood level information was currently poor.

 

Action:
John Rigby to discuss success measures with Ian and to explore how this might be worked into the Evaluation strategy.

 

Kevin presented the report.

 

Jay Bhayani expressed confusion at the role of the EDT.  Kevin explained that the Board provided strategic direction, whereas the EDT was concerned with operational issues.

 

It was agreed that Kevin would Chair the EDT, and brief John Mothersole on issues arising.

 

The Terms of Ref were adopted as presented.

 

Kevin presented the paper to the Board.  The paper was noted.

 

Dave Campbell questioned the remit of the NECs, and commented that Fir Vale had recruited an entrepreneur from Manor, having apparently been unable to find one in the locality.

 

It was explained that this would fall within the Entrepreneur Exchange project, and clarified that the NECs’ role is to identify aspiring entrepreneurs. There was some debate over the visibility of Burngreave entrepreneurs, and it was suggested that a visit to the school would be useful.

 

 

There was some concern over the cost per output of projects, and the Board urged vigilance in revisiting original outputs to assess impact, bearing in mind quantity vs quality – projects should not just be hitting numbers.

 

John Mothersole questioned how Board discussions and subsequent steer were communicated back to projects, and it was confirmed that each Assessment Panel constituted at least one Board member.   

 

On year 2 financial management, Kevin highlighted the table at para 3 of the report and asked for Board members’ comments or questions.

 

Action:
Board members to pass comments to Kevin Bennett by 20 June.

 

Kevin Bennett briefed the Board on his report.

 

On Digital HomeWorking, the Chair questioned the project’s progress and

 

Ian Drayton expressed concern that the pilot, at a cost of £600k, worked out to be £12k per output. Kevin advised that much of this would be up-front investment, which would not be necessary for the full roll-out. 

 

There was some debate on whether DHW was creating ‘entrepreneurs’ or merely an employment opportunity. It was agreed that the model was not that of a growth business.  Kevin assured the Board that if the pilot proved unsuccessful or exceptionally difficult then the project would be pulled.  The Board was advised that the pilot would start in September/October on current timescales, and that procurement was currently underway to find a suitable intermediary.

 

Ian Drayton informed the Board that Yorkshire Forward were currently doing a feasibility study on a similar project and suggested liaising with them.

 

Kevin Bennett to make contact with YF’s consultants.

 

On the evaluation framework, John Rigby highlighted that projects would be evaluated in ‘clusters’ along the lines of the customer journey.  The awayday will feature a brief presentation on this subject.

 

Kevin updated the Board on his conversations with Business Link and it was agreed that Jules O’Dor would be invited to join the Board as Julie Readman’s replacement.

 

Kevin Bennett to write to Business Link

 

On the BiG Idea, there was consensus that it had been a good idea with inadequate follow-up.  Possible formats were discussed in the event that the competition was to run again, and it was felt that a ‘next steps’ approach would be more suitable.  This would involve people pitching their ideas with business mentors providing advice and guidance.

 

On the BiG Challenge, Kevin informed the Board of the evaluation day to take place on 22 May.  Board members will receive feedback from this.

 

On the awayday, Kevin presented the ‘voting handsets’ concept and asked for comments. The Board confirmed they were happy proceed on this basis.

 

On Marketing, Kevin briefly updated the Board on the progress of the procurement activity, and confirmed that MK Communications had not been shortlisted.