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Agenda item

Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee Update

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting. 

Minutes:

44.1          Members received an update from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee on matters discussed at the last meeting held on 4 September 2019.

44.2           The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee advised that the main aims of the meeting were to gain experience of the Gloucester Growth Hub; to gain an understanding of the Gloucestershire First Local Enterprise Partnership (GFirst LEP); to consider a report on the Local Industrial Strategy (LIS); to receive a report from the Strategic Adviser (Communities and Infrastructure); and to review the Committee’s work plan.  He indicated that the meeting had commenced with a visit to the Growth Hub situated in the Business School of the University of Gloucestershire’s Oxstalls Campus in Gloucester – this was his first visit and he had been very impressed.  A presentation was then given by the Chief Executive of GFirst LEP.  There were 38 LEPs around the country; the GFirst LEP had started in 2011 and was responsible for driving and arranging funding for many projects.  The presentation had provided an overview of several large projects that had been completed in 2018 including a state of the art education and training facility at Gloucester College in the Forest of Dean; opening up a site for development of a hangar at Gloucestershire Airport which had attracted £5M private investment and created 30 jobs which had acted as a catalyst for attracting a further £3.8M funding and 80 additional jobs; a new transport hub for Gloucester; and the Gloucester Growth Hub.  The LEPs five key strategic areas were housing; employment land; mis-match skills i.e. helping ensure training establishments provided the skills businesses needed; growing the whole county; and demographics e.g. attracting more young people to the county.  The LEP had 10 business groupings: economy and tourism; retail and the High Street; energy; cyber-tech; construction and infrastructure; business and professional services; banking and finance; business membership group; agricultural, food and rural; and advanced manufacturing and engineering.  It had an education team that aimed to create sustainable links between schools and businesses; their programmes reached thousands of young people each year and prepared children across Gloucestershire for a future in business.  The LEP delivered mentorships, practice interviews, workplace visits, work simulations, business breakfasts, skills days and careers workshops.  At the end of the presentation a GFirst LEP Assurance Framework flowchart had been introduced which provided an overview of the capital projects selection and funding process.  An action arising from the presentation was to put in place a framework which complemented the existing Assurance Framework in order to assist with scrutiny.

44.3          A further presentation had been given around the Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) which had five priorities: cyber/digital; agri-tech; climate change; opportunity i.e. the City/Region concept; and flexible work time.  A report had also been received from the Strategic Adviser (Communities and Infrastructure) on the links that existed between the environment and economic growth which had included updates on highways, strategic infrastructure, community infrastructure and libraries.  It was agreed that the reports would be more structured and populated in future to allow for effective scrutiny.  The final item of business was agreement of the Committee’s work plan.

44.4           A Member questioned what input Tewkesbury Borough Council had into the work plan and how it could tap into funding and investment such as the £90M grant for agri-tech.  The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee indicated that he also Chaired the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee and he clarified that this was the role of the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee which was a statutory Committee made up of representatives from each of the local authorities in the county to co-ordinate their efforts in support of the Strategic Economic Plan and the growth deal.  The Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee was responsible for reviewing decisions made by the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee.  The Committee had noted on a number of occasions that the GFirst LEP was not being scrutinised and the presentation in September was the first stage of trying to improve that scrutiny; similarly, the report from the Strategic Adviser (Communities and Infrastructure) was an attempt to bring the link between the environment and economy to the fore and to ensure that work was also being properly scrutinised.  Should Members wish to feedback on either of these issues, this should be done via the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.  He suggested that it might be helpful for the GFirst LEP to give a presentation at a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  A Member queried whether it would be more appropriate to hold a presentation for all Councillors and the Deputy Chief Executive explained that a Member briefing had already taken place recently so his view was that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee may have more directly relevant questions, particularly in relation to the Local Industrial Strategy and how that worked.

44.5           A Member questioned whether the Gloucester Growth Hub could be used by anyone or whether it was focused on assisting university students, given that it was based on the Oxstalls Campus.  In response, the Deputy Chief Executive explained that the Growth Hub within the Public Services Centre was due to a £400,000 contribution from the GFirst LEP and it provided business support for anyone who wanted it, for instance, assistance with tapping into available funding opportunities.  The Gloucester Growth Hub operated on the same basis.  He felt it might be useful to incorporate a section on the Growth Hub into the presentation from GFirst LEP and it was agreed this should be included in the Committee’s Work Programme. 

44.6           The Chair  thanked the Council’s representative for his update, which had been circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting, and it was subsequently

RESOLVED          1. That the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee Update be NOTED.

2. That a joint presentation on the Growth Hub and the GFirst LEP be brought to a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.