Agenda and decisions

East Midlands Combined County Authority - Board - Monday, 4 November 2024 11.00 am

Venue: Civic Meeting Rooms 1 and 2, Ground Floor, Castle House, Great North Road, Newark, NG24 1BY

Contact: Jodie Townsend, Governance Lead  Email: Jodie.Townsend@eastmidsdevo.org.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

2.

Declarations of Interest

3.

Public Participation pdf icon PDF 101 KB

Members of the public may ask questions if they have given notice and provided the text of the question to Governance Services (governance@eastmidsdevo.org.uk) no later than 5pm on Monday 28 October 2024 and include the name and address of the questioner and the name of the Member to whom the questioner would like the question put.

 

The total time set aside for such questions and answers will be limited to 30 minutes with no extension of time, and questions not dealt with in this time will be dealt with by written responses. 

4.

Minutes of the Combined County Authority held on 16 September 2024 pdf icon PDF 126 KB

5.

Mayoral Update

To receive a verbal Mayoral update on key activity since the September EMCCA Board meeting.

6.

Investment Fund Spending Proposals pdf icon PDF 149 KB

Consider and approve projects proposed for funding as part of the East Midlands Investment Zone “Sprint” process. 

Decision:

  EMCCA Board:

 

  1.       Agreed to the allocation of up to £9.5m capital from the Investment Fund in 2024-25 to support projects for economic growth as set out in para 2.2 to 2.7 below. Working closely with constituent councils, Local Authorities, and regional partners, we will aim to identify projects to be funded for EMCCA Board.

 

  1.       Agreed to the allocation of £1million revenue funding to support delivery of the above projects and to fund the development of a pipeline for investment in future years.

7.

Shared Prosperity Fund pdf icon PDF 136 KB

Consider and approve the proposed approach to supporting programmes currently funded in whole or in part from UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

Decision:

  EMCCA Board:

 

  1.       Considered a verbal update on UKSPF funding (or successor) as announced at the fiscal event on 30 October 2024 (para 2.1 of the report).

 

  1.       Noted and endorsed the ambition to evolve the activities and capabilities funded by UKSPF (or successor) over time. Specifically, to grasp opportunities for a regional approach that will bring scale benefits through greater strategic coherence and to ground that approach in the outcomes sought by the EMCCA Board as set out in the Strategic & Investment Framework – or successor once developed (para 2.2 of the report).

 

  1.       Noted the partnership working underway to understand the implications of funding regime changes on projects currently funded by UKSPF (para 2.3 of the report).

 

  1.       Considered how the ‘mixed model’ approach may be structured through three delivery channels: single regional commissioning, coherent co-commissioning, and local re-commissioning – and comment on the application of that guiding framework for the 2025/26 transition year (para 2.4 of the report).

 

  1.       Noted the concerns to ongoing operational delivery of key institutions in the regional architecture, including Local Visitor Economy Partnerships and Investment Promotion Agencies (para 2.5 of the report).

 

  1.         Noted funding for the Growth Hub in 2025/26 had been underwritten by the D2N2 LEP Board to the value of £380k (para 2.6 of the report)

8.

Visitor Economy pdf icon PDF 151 KB

Update the Board on work in progress to develop a regional approach including alignment of Destination Management Plans with the two accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnerships.

Additional documents:

Decision:

EMCCA Board:

 

Noted the update provided and endorsed the alignment of work to develop Destination Management Plans for the EMCCA area. 

9.

Budget Outcomes and Implications pdf icon PDF 139 KB

Overview of Government budget announcements and implications for EMCCA. 

Decision:

EMCCA Board:

 

Noted the context for the upcoming Budget and Spending Review on 30 October and took receipt of the verbal briefing to be provided in the meeting.

 

10.

Brownfield Housing Fund Allocations pdf icon PDF 133 KB

To provide an update, details of the next steps and approvals process for Brownfield Housing Fund business cases. 

Decision:

EMCCA Board:
 

  1.       Noted the changes to the previously approved selection of schemes.

 

  1.       Delegated authority to approve any future amendments to the preferred selection of schemes for the Combined County Authority to meet its Brownfield Housing Fund timetable obligations to DLUHC to the Mayor, in consultation with the four constituent council Lead Members.

11.

Procurement Procedure Rules pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Consider and approve interim procurement procedure rules. 

Additional documents:

Decision:

  EMCCA Board:

 

  1.       Considered a verbal update on UKSPF funding (or successor) as announced at the fiscal event on 30 October 2024 (para 2.1 of the report).

 

  1.       Noted and endorsed the ambition to evolve the activities and capabilities funded by UKSPF (or successor) over time. Specifically, to grasp opportunities for a regional approach that will bring scale benefits through greater strategic coherence and to ground that approach in the outcomes sought by the EMCCA Board as set out in the Strategic & Investment Framework – or successor once developed (para 2.2 of the report).

 

  1.       Noted the partnership working underway to understand the implications of funding regime changes on projects currently funded by UKSPF (para 2.3 of the report).

 

  1.       Considered how the ‘mixed model’ approach may be structured through three delivery channels: single regional commissioning, coherent co-commissioning, and local re-commissioning – and comment on the application of that guiding framework for the 2025/26 transition year (para 2.4 of the report).

 

  1.       Noted the concerns to ongoing operational delivery of key institutions in the regional architecture, including Local Visitor Economy Partnerships and Investment Promotion Agencies (para 2.5 of the report).

 

  1.         Noted funding for the Growth Hub in 2025/26 had been underwritten by the D2N2 LEP Board to the value of £380k (para 2.6 of the report)

12.

Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Closure pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To note progress being made towards closure of D2N2 LEP and the transfer of programmes and assets to EMCCA. 

Decision:

EMCCA Board:

 

Noted progress on the transfer of D2N2 assets and the proposed closure of the organisation.

13.

EMCCA Committees pdf icon PDF 155 KB

To receive recommendations from Committees of the Combined County Authority. 

Additional documents:

Decision:

 EMCCA Board

 

  1.       Considered and approved the recommendation from the Audit & Governance Committee to approve the Whistleblowing Policy at Appendix A of the report.

 

  1.       Considered and approved the recommendation from the Skills & Employment Committee to approve the top slice of 2% of the Adult Skills Fund budget be taken to provide management and administration costs as set out in the report to the Skills & Employment Committee

14.

Transparent Decision Making

This item is for information and does not include a report.

 

There has been no decisions taken via Mayoral Decision Notice, Officer Decision Notice (that requires publication) or under urgency provisions since the last meeting of Board. 

CONTROLLED 

15.

Forward Plan

This item is to note and does not include a report.

To note the Combined County Authority Forward Plan for October & November 2024. The latest Forward Plan can be viewed via this link: Forward Plan - East Midlands Combined County Authority 

 

Please note that the November Forward Plan is due to be published on 1 November 2024. 

CONTROLLED 

16.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the remaining agenda items as it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the press and public are present there will be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 and 2, Part (1) Schedule (12A) Local Government Act 1972, namely:

 

  Paragraph 1: Information relating to any individual

  Paragraph 2: Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

 

and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

17.

Recruitment Update pdf icon PDF 133 KB

Update the Board on progress to appointing to roles in the EMCCA structure. 

Decision:

EMCCA Board

 

Confirmed the appointment of Amy Harhoff as the Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service of the East Midlands Combined County Authority, subject to the satisfactory completion of the usual pre-employment checks in line with Human Resources and regulatory procedures and processes.