Agenda item

A report was submitted to outline a proposed forward work programme for the Business Recovery and Growth Board, identifying regular items of business as well as those items that will require decision and/or direction from the Board in the coming year.

The Board was asked to consider the proposed work programme as set out at Annex 1 to the report. 

The Board noted that the proposed programme had taken into consideration the requirements of the Board’s Terms of Reference as well as existing programme reporting arrangements.

The proposed programme also identified additional key workstream areas that were expected to come before the Board during 2021/22 and that will require either a decision or strategic direction from the Board.

Members requested that they be provided with the pertinent points arising from Government Policy Briefings.  H Kemp acknowledged the request and said that presentations could be made to the Board to allow Members to discuss the pertinent points. 

The Board requested that they be provided with feedback on bids which had entered the Business Investment Pipeline, where delegated authority had been requested from Members prior to a scheduled Board meeting.  

H Kemp replied that officers were currently examining the delegated authority process of agreeing bids entering the Business Investment Pipeline.  If appropriate, special meetings of the Board could be arranged to obtain the Board’s approval of bids. 

The Board highlighted that they had received several enquiries to ascertain how projects had entered the Business Investment Pipeline and how they had been assessed. 

In response, R Clark proposed to submit a paper outlining the formalised process to the next Board meeting, for discussion and agreement. 

The Board considered that it would not be appropriate to leave questions un-answered around the Business Investment Pipeline until the next Board meeting in June.  In the interim, the Board requested that a statement be prepared and circulated to the Board Members.  ACTION: R Clark & H Kemp. 

The Board requested that the International Update on India be presented at every third meeting, to align with the update on the India Advisory Forum.  ACTION: H Kemp.   

At this point in the meeting, the Board received a verbal update on the delivery of the Renewal Action Plan (RAP).  In summary, the following key points were noted:-

·        Alexa Greaves had been chairing weekly meetings to progress delivery of the RAP. 

·        In relation to the Digital Strategy, discussions were taking place with local authorities to ensure the soft-landing was in place.  A paper would be presented at a future Board meeting to obtain sign-off in relation to how the Strategy is promoted. 

·        The Supply Chain Group would be examining all the key Supply Chain elements of the RAP. 

·        Adverts for the secondment of Supply Chain Advisors into each of the local authorities would be published on Friday 26^th March 2021.  Barnsley MBC were leading on the recruitment campaign. 

·        The Supply Chain Group was also responsible for developing kick-start events to support businesses.  A programme of events had been developed to commence from 1^st April 2021. 

·        In relation to Specialist Business Support, all the Advisors were now in place and had commenced work with the local authorities. 

·        The Specialist Framework was also being reviewed at each meeting.  The meetings had now moved to a fortnightly schedule.

N MacDonald said that it would be beneficial for A Greaves to attend every alternate Board meeting.  It was agreed that the Board would provide any feedback to H Kemp when A Greaves was not present at the Board meeting. 

The Board noted that D Grimes would shortly be leaving the MCA.  On behalf of the Board, N MacDonald thanked D Grimes for all his hard work in developing the RAP and wished him all the very best for the future. 

D Grimes thanked N MacDonald and the Board for its support and wished Members all the very best for the future. 

RESOLVED – That the Business Recovery and Growth Board discussed the contents and approach to the forward work programme for the Board.