Business Board

Perfect um good afternoon everybody Welcome to today’s Business board meeting can I ask everybody to mute their microphones for me just so that we don’t get any feedback when you’re not talking thank you so much um I’d like to welcome you all to this meeting of the

Business board and I’m very pleased to welcome members of the press and public who are able to join this virtual meeting online and as always a reminder if any members experience any technical difficulties during the meeting please refresh your connection in the first instance if it becomes apparent we’ve

Lost members and are no longer quet it may be necessary to adjourn the meeting hopefully that won’t be the case today we’ve got a great turnout and thank you to everyone who’s attended um as we always start with apologies for absence and Declarations of Interest I’d like to

Start by calling out the names of members of The Business board in alphabetical order to establish their presence for the record so can I start with Sam are you here I can see that you are there if you could just confirm Sam yeah just unmuting and off video du to L band with

No problem uh ktie hi ktie Mike herd yeah hi Mike Charlotte hi good afternoon here man Dr Nick thank you sir bar yes I’m here thank you councelor Anna Smith I’m sure I’ve seen thank you Anna uh Rebecca afternoon Al everyone Andy Williams seeing you as

Well Andy I’m here yeah welcome um and myself Al Kingsley um could the Democratic Services officer please support any apologies for absence they’ve received I believe there’s one thank you chair we do have apologies from nit Patel this afternoon thank you very much um and as always this is an

Opportunity to declare pecuniary interests or any other conflicts of interest do members have any conflicts they’d like to declare at this point okay thank you obiously if something crops up during the conversation and you feel that you may have a conflict please do raise it um

We’ll jump to item 1.2 minutes um and action log from the meeting on the 15th of January 2024 uh we are asked to approve the minutes of the meeting can I ask whether any member disagrees with the accuracy of those minutes no I see no objections so we

Will take that um as carried thank you very much um item 1.3 appointment of the new private sector members on the business board um on the appointment I’m going to ask Domino um to present the report on this one over to you sir thank you mayor thank you chair um and good afternoon

Members um this first item is to um sort out a couple of governance um matters um for the business board the first is to um to note the appointments of three new business board members uh private sector members so uh following this meeting we’ll be U wel welcoming them on board

And the second item that would like to resolve as part of this agenda item is to um confirm a vice chair for the business board and we’ll get that we’ll get to that in due course um but first I’ll just uh quickly run through What U

We done as officers to to recruit for the free members so the recruitment opened in early February following the um the recruitment of four previous members just before just before Christmas um that remained opened and we we we got a a decent response we got um I think it

Was nine applications all together um we shortlisted um four applicants for interview and we’re pleased that we would like to um we’re pleased that we recommending the appointments of three of those that were interviewed um those three members are araminta Ledger now arment has been with the Cambridge University Hospital

Partners for a number of years now she’s a well-connected member of the local life science ecosystem and sectors so it’s great to have her on board um we’re joined by Emma Garfield who’s currently doing some work with the University of Cambridge uh around the agritech sectors

So that’s really good to have her on board and really plug that Gap that we had uh having lost two previous members that were specializing in those in that area and then finally uh we welcome Tim Jones who’s a chief execu officer of um Alia limited and he obviously brings a

Lot of um experience around business sport provision um the advanced manufacturing sectors and also social Enterprises which is good to have on the board so just to confirm so once app pointed they will obviously be um inducted and the new members will take post um at the meeting in May uh the

Annual general meeting that we scheduled in May so that’s the introduction uh of the of the three new members um chair I don’t know if you just want to take a take a vote on the vice chair we have had um in his absence I know niton is

Not on on online but he has put himself forward he has put himself forward as a as a nomination for the vice chair thank you Dominico um firstly can I just Express a thanks um to Business board members who helped and supported with the interview process um Sam um

Andy Williams um were very helpful alongside nittin and um Anna Smith councelor Smith um and I think it’s really really important that we were able to gather some some different different perspectives um and I would like to say um that I’m think we’ve got some really strong people potentially

Coming to join the board um and probably long overdue because it feels like the gap between our most recent appointments and this wave has had us a little bit in a holding pattern so I’m I’m really really um pleased with the the candidates and quality of people that

Came forward for that and and I hope obviously everyone The Business board will be happy with those additions um in terms of the appointment of a vice chair um I’m really really key that we can sort a vice chair role as well as now with a full compliment make

Sure that we have strong representation from across the business board on our thematic committees but also externally spread the a little bit and make sure that we’ve got much broader Church of voices coming back in um so I think my first thing as far as the appointment is

To actually ask if there are any other um nominations or um representations in terms of um for the for the vice chair um role if anybody else would like to put themselves forward no okay um I’m looking at my notes to make sure I follow the correct

Protocol on this one um I believe if there is not a any other nominations for that role I can take um a vote at this point for members whether we support that nomination for knitting to be the vice chair yes that is correct okay can I ask for a

I’m going to say a physical rather than a digital because it always creates complexity could I ask for a physical show of hands for all those in support any against any extensions no excellent okay well I generally I appreciate your support and I’m very grateful to nittin for stepping

Up and and I will come on to a little bit more about roles and responsibility and making sure we can maximize um the the value of the skills we’ve got across our business board um a subsequent item on this agenda um but I think on that

Basis we can move on thank you um domino in terms of our new additions that responsibility was delegated to the interview process so we’re just noting that for the purposes of today’s meeting is that correct obiously subject to due diligence and um induction absolutely and again thank you to all those that

Supported in that process it’s a great addition okay um item 1.4 I’m sure it’s one that you’re all looking forward to I know jod is looking forward to with baited breath um it’s a topic we’ve discussed on a number of occasions and rightly so an important one as part of

Our journey um which is the business board terms of reference and governance so I’m going to hand over to jod towns and and governance Improvement lead to present his report thank you chair good afternoon everyone um so um without worrying about you getting fed up of seeing me about this

Particular topic I’ll go straight into the report so the the key purpose of the report today is to agree new terms of reference for the business board that aligns with the role and functions agreed for the business board by the combined Authority board back in March 23 as part of the new government

Arrangements the report does also seek um some business board agreement on a number of governance matters intended to improve the ility of the business board to deliver on those core roles and responsibilities so attached at appendix a you’ll find the latest iteration of the uh terms of reference um this has

Been developed through um attendance at Several of these meetings and a couple of workshops working with you all um the latest changes following the February Workshop are highlighted in the terms of reference and as a uh read um so hopefully you can see those the majority of them Cent around adding to some

Additional wording that was raised during that Workshop which um um I’ve picked up now obviously it um it it seeks to align the new role of the business board transitioning from being an executive program board to one providing strategic business advice to the ca board to the mayor to The Wider

Committees within the governance framework and officers across all policy areas um seeks to sort of cement that position as the business voice for Cambridge here and Peter um to the combined of Authority um and that position of providing advice on the development and shaping of economic strategy and related strategy and policy

To the combined Authority um I should um just put out a few things in regards to the report um in the terms of reference your notice under frequency it says a minimum of six meetings um I think this was supposed to State a minimum of four so I just wanted

To highlight that um please um comment if you would rather commit to a minimum of six um also in regards to the wider recommendations in the paper so um recommendation B is um in reference to um uh officers bringing to you some role profiles to the next meeting um and for

Those Ro role profiles to be in line with the role set out in 2.6 um as well as obviously supporting you um from a business perspective on this and we will need those role profiles to feed into our independent remuneration panel review of whyde rols across the governance framework um

Recommendation C is to ask officers to undertake the actions identified between 2.9 and 2.13 into sorting out the Cadence and meetings for the business board um in particular in regards to your informal meeting and your formal one um maximizing those opportunities for you to then feed into the wider governance framework conversations at

The combined Authority um they also set out a formal response in 2.14 and 2.15 to a request from the ca board to two points um and then the final recommendation and I apologize there is an error in that recommendation um the recommendation is around the good practice actually in 2.18 not 2.17 as

Tabled um in the paper um and this is about making sure um uh what you’ve raised us several times make sure you’ve got a good purpose statement in in a covering paper um that also sets out next intended steps um links to the ca um forward plan strategic plan and of

Course the business board annual plan and the desired impact for the region um also a notice on governments for us to take business papers produced um for CA board sorry briefing papers um for the ca board and each thematic committee so you are better informed about what is happening at those meetings moving

Forward and better assisted in your roles um I I will leave it there chair um and happy to answer any queries or questions but hopefully now that terms of reference reflects those final amendments you asked for at the last Workshop J um thank you for that I think

It’s um it’s a topic as you know that we’ve discussed on a number of occasions um for during this process but I think it’s incredibly positive particularly the amount of the items you’ve just referenced that have been um amended and revised based on feedback and collaboration and that co-production I

Think is something that’s really evident in this um I think you will have heard at previous Business board meetings that one of the things that we are most keen on is being very clear in terms of spreading that business that Independent Business voice across all the different thematic committees and Beyond so I

Think the clarity on identifying specific roles um is really really important as well as if we are having a voice across those different committies and are able to comment then that Consolidated feedback into business board meetings and make making sure topics we discuss um in parallel to other committee discussions or broader

Discussions that that come as briefing notes um I think is is hugely helpful and I think a common one at this point just to Loop in and I know is feedback from Business board members particularly now we have a a full cohort and I should probably do a little dance at this point

But I’m really really pleased we have um is to actually make sure that with these structures we actually utilize the experience of the business board and the officers have a clear conduit to access the right people and actually bring them into conversations during discussions

Not at the end of a process um but I think there’s huge steps forward in terms of that overall structure so thank you for that um I’m going to pause now um and see if there’s any feedback or comments from Business board members around the changes you

Proposed Andy over to you sir thanks chair and thanks Jody as you said we’ve discussed this quite a few times s and each time we discuss it I ask where the greater Cambridge partnership is on this diagram section 2.11 it’s still not on there um and keep

Told it’s a mistake or it’s a it’s a change that needs to be made maybe it is or it isn’t but it’s not there I also note that we don’t we haven’t managed to appoint a gcp assembly rep from The Business board and I would say um the

Role of the business board the gcp is part of the contractual obligation that we have with central government releasing £500 million so that’s disappointing not to see that um so maybe it’s a mistake again or maybe we don’t have a role on the gcp but that

Would be worth clarifying and on a more practical level it just reminded me that I think Charlotte sent an email around recently um a good email saying she was think on the business advisory panel and she had a role in that it just highlights to me not whether the Char

Doing that absolutely fine I don’t know who’s on any of those panels apart from the one time on it’s on a practical level could we know who’s on those panels because that would help us frame our discussions in in a more effective way so one question and one question like let me just

Respond on one part of that andium and I’ll I’ll hand over to Jodie which is um there have been a number of conversations recently that I’ve had with officers and including the comm’s team about the work that we previously did to identify um members of The Business board skills sector experience

And who has responsibility on different committees and that’s something that I have asked for and authors are working on particularly as we have our new incumbents because I agree with you in addition to us knowing and being clear that all of the business boards members experiences are best allocated and used

Across these committees um there’s also definitely an advantage if we have a connection where officers actually know who the right people are to reach out to um so I think that point is entirely taken on board and I can only assure you it is something that I’ve had

Conversations with on a number of occasions recently in terms of gcp I I will let um jod come back in terms of on the documentation um I will add now we have our full cohort yes you are absolutely right we did seek a me representative from The Business board

To to be on the gcp um there were no volunteers at the time so I volunteered but as I am your substitute Andy and I’m most hopefully will always remain your substitute based on your experience um I was not in a position to be able to do

That I hope now we have a cohort we can remedy that along with some of the other roles very quickly Jody can I hand back to you in terms of um Andy’s initial comments yeah so in regard to Great cambri partnership I mean in the the

Diagram in 2.11 is just reference to the formal Cadence of meetings for the business within the governance framework of Cambridge and Peterburg combined Authority so you wouldn’t expect to see um the gcp listed on that however Andy you are right that you would expect it to see that appointment on the uh terms

Of reference so that is an error we apologize for we will obviously add to that um as a result of um of this meeting um C I couldn’t quite pick up your second Point um one if you could just repeat that for me it was more it

Was more about um representation of the G assembly so I wouldn’t worry about that thing else right we we need to pick up on that and get that done I guess my my more theme for those who haven’t been here for very as long it’s taken a long time to get the gcp

Aligned to the cpca some good work done by amongst others Dr Nick turning up gcp meetings and it is good that we’re demonstrating better alignment between those two bodies there is Talk Amongst our political colleagues about putting the gcp under the combined Authority and various new governance Arrangements

Which are not for this meeting to particularly speculate on but demonstrating that the cpca and gcp are working closely with each other one it’s happening but two we need to make sure it’s representation represented within our documentation otherwise it may create the misconception that we’re not working closely with each

Other don’t think we can disagree with that thank you Andy I appreciate your um advice and input on that one are there any other questions or feedback in terms of the governance documents that have been shared everybody happy with the revisions okay um so in terms of those um I see

That we’ve got the a consensus of support um if we see no objections then we will take this as being supported and carried forward unanimously does anybody everybody do we need to do a formal show of hands for this one we may as well it’s good so if you’re happy with the

Proposal could everyone just do a show of hands for me perfect thank you then we will take them as as can carried unanimously and can I extend on behalf of the business board whilst I appreciate there um there will always be amendments and updates just a thank you for your contribution

And support through the process jie no and a thank you to the Bible for the patience and its willingness to engage on this it’s been very much appreciated and well received thank you thank you thank you um okay I’m G to move on to item 2.1 which is the forward plan um

Which hopefully you have seen in your document um am I assuming Domenico this is one that you’re covering or is this just an action point for feedback second let me check as a general rle with the four plan There’s an opportunity if anybody um would like to include anything

Additional or recommend for the future plan um but I don’t have anything specific to raise on this one nothing received from us officers okay thank you I in with a brief one you could of course I see on the forward plan for today that we were going to get a UK

Reef update but I don’t see that on today’s agenda in the minutes last time it said UK reer was one of the most important things we could be doing so I thought it would be I’m sure it we referred to in your director update but I’m surprised it’s not a an agenda item

As described on the forward plan um comment noted I I will come back with with with on a personal level an update but I will gladly if officers want to provide additional context around that I know we’ve got Jim here as well before I do that just um mayor Nick

You wanted to come in yeah it’s something it’s a historical thing for some people on the call Will recall and I’m sure Domino does as well there was a meeting where we were at Peterboro where we discussed at a business board meeting the uh the potential for the tour of

Britain uh being sponsored and using uh receipts from the Enterprise zones uh as you may recall at the time we decided that wasn’t an appropriate use of the monies at the time but we did talk about um the tour of Britain and how bit not just the tour of Britain cycling event

But how these big events could be used as a sort of um a bit like UK Reef as an opportunity to showcase our area and although I’m I’m I’m not expecting a paper to be done on it I just was hoping that there was some sort of potential

Update or an updates to what we’re doing with it this year or indeed has it been passed over to another officers okay that may be one for an action point to to take away and bring back to the next meeting if there’s any updates on that unless any officers yeah I’ve got

An update on that you okay we far away then please thank you so um mayor we did we did respond following the decision made by The Business board last year and it was agreed that we would re revisit that for this year stage or this year’s

Planning of of of the stage which I think is still a little bit early but I will chase up the contact that I made through that initial um contact that we had last year and I will I will circulate an update on that one um and

Just to just just to respond on the UK Reef Point um chair I think that’s on the agenda for the activity update meeting which is why it’s not on the actual formal business board agenda um but Jim is on if you wanted to just confirm that thanks Dominico um well the the

Next item on the agenda which Segways into that and and I will come to that point Andy is just uh is my update and I may as well start on the the UK Reef obviously there there is a significant amount of work going on with that

Planning and at the end of last week um I had a meeting with um a number of stakeholders including the mayor and chief exec um and and Jim and Richard uh to talk about UK Reef planning much around how we’re bringing together lots of the different activities I think

There is a timeline point on this where we’re at a point for something to come as an update to the formal business board which I believe was intended for the next meeting um but progress is being made and there they did share with me a fairly detailed timeline as well as

An opportunity to express some views and we also talked about some of the speaking engagements and activities are there I’m aware the mayor is speaking um I believe Ander you’re speaking and and I’ve been invited to two sessions to speak there as well um but but for the

Purpose of closing the loop given I know the timelines when we were originally going to have conversations about Reef have moved um I’m not sure whether Richard or Jim you wants to provide a quick update for Andy and for the other members I can see Richard’s got his hand up yeah Richard

Please yeah can you hear me we can thank you yeah no thank thanks Al yeah I mean I mean we just Ian we don’t really want to get into the the the detail of UK Reef uh in public particularly uh getting into all of the the detail of

Our you know um investment propositions and and also in terms of the program of events um but but more broadly um very happy to give an update and I was going to mention it anyway under my director’s update uh as you as you’ll mention it uh now but but essentially um there’s a

Number of elements that we’re working on uh one is the investment prospectus and making sure that that properly showcases Cambridge and Peterborough working together and we’ve brought in external support to help us with that so we’ve brought in some support from some Consultants infrastructure matters who have done this previously for other

Clients at UK Reef so um and we’ve had we’ve obviously had discussions with Chief Executives and leaders about that we are at the moment working through um a long list of uh potential uh Investments and projects to to work through uh how that prospectus takes shape but we’re really keen on getting a

Very high level narrative that tells the story of all parts of our region and I think that will be really important um the second element is a program of events we we we will be hosting a pavilion and we have now shaped what we think uh are the key events that will

Take place on the three days in leads and we’re talking about having two events per day and we will make sure that those topics cover uh issues around greater Cambridge issues around uh the Regeneration of Peterborough and issues around our our other areas as well our Market towns and our rural areas so

There’s a good uh there’s a good coming together there of um the the the the the sort of key events that that will be in our Pavilion and then of course as you’ve already mentioned um there’s a number of opportunities UK reef is is just thousands of events all coming

Together I already am aware there’s about 11 and a half thousand delegates that have registered so it’s all it’s already breaking records in terms of people um coming to UK reef and there’ll be lots of opportunities lots of panel discussions lots of dinners lots of events with investors occupiers Developers

With government uh with with Shadow ministers with MPS uh and it’s a general election year so it’s it’s even of more interest um from from that perspective as well so there’ll be a series of uh opportunities events that that people can get involved with so I’m really

Mindful that it’s an important thing for the combined Authority uh all of the combined authorities or alternatively their growth companies will be fully represented at uh at UK reef and have been in the past and I think it would be a real really remiss of us not to not to

Be present um we were talking previously I think about hosting a local event um to to drum up support locally for us going to uh UK Reef we’ve slightly altered the plans around that and we we’ve decided to do a social media Campaign which some of you we we will be

Seeking your involvement in some of that as we as we promote what we’re planning to do and why we going to UK reef and why it’s so important so I hope that’s helpful good thank you for that um without preempting I just wonder whether the summary slides that um Jim shared at

Our meeting on Friday last week whether you’d be comfortable for those to be shared to all business board members at this stage I appreciate their uh work in progress but I I’m also mindful about making sure that everyone feels that they’re in the loop that we’re moving forward

Yeah I I’m I’m I’m I’m sure that’s possible um so I’m sure we can do that if that’s okay Jim yeah well I’ll happily do that and I’ll do that in advance of the the discussion at the meeting of the the informal Business board in the next in the next week or so

Thank you that’s that’s appreciated um Andy I hope that helps but I’m going to just give you the option if you wanted to come back on anything on that well I might have been tily pedantic and it was on the Ford plan for the meeting today

Today and I was I guess I was just concerned nothing was being done because we didn’t we weren’t going to get an update and I’m quite reassured by that update I guess as uh Jim and Richard both know there’s an awful lot going on and our availability for certain

Sessions will be determined by what’s going on at the same time so how it all fits together is as important well important not as important as our own opportunities but it is important yeah Richard please feel free to respond thank you yeah I mean Andy we’ve been

We’ve been searching for a date for a for a face-to-face workshop and I think we did have earmarked the 18th of March for that Workshop but I think that’s probably going to be put back now unfortunately but that was an opportunity I thought for bringing together um a number of things really

One is the work that the combined Authority is doing around its shared Ambitions the work that it’s been doing in relation to Future Devolution and what’s going on nationally in relation to that and what might happen post election and also UK reef and the intention was to try and do that face

Tace with board members together so that we could have a really good proper you know informed discussion because all of these things do interr relate with each other unfortunately my understanding is that that date has slipped and we’re slipping into mid April but we will do

Everything we can to make sure that that takes place as soon as we can so that we can capture as many of you as we possibly can to uh to to to make that happen but it’s really important that we start you know getting together around some of these these big strategic things

As a business board thanks for man um I was trying to find uh a way to post a link to the UK Reef uh website because I’m I’m not entirely sure that everybody on the call knows what UK reef is uh I mean I have the benefit of

Having gone twice before and probably from that I I you know I have a huge benefit but uh it’s definitely something that I need to be there at and I’m sure I’ll needs to be there at but it’s a fascinating place in terms of uh business investment and

Opportunities you even if there is an element of it quite a lot of it’s about property and I’m just intrigued to know u in the absence of you know I’m making the Assumption maybe that more people know about it is who else is going to be there and is it something that Business

Board members have considered going because we would make them very welcome in the Pavilion that’s I’m sure particular it’s in leads I’m I’m going to preempt here because I know there’s a huge amount of work going on but I also know like all things we we can always do things

Slightly better and it probably ties into a theme on some of these events best intention we we’re not going to have them anymore or we’ve cancelled items um and I know it’s been shared that sometimes the the feedback is we don’t necessarily get advis why something’s been canceled or when when

When the replacement date is so there could be a bit more of perhaps of of reflection on making sure in terms of plans for UK Reef all business board members particularly as we’ve got a number of new members who will be receiving documentation from this meeting uh the sooner we can get those

Dates in the diary and people are aware of their options in terms of attending to support our activities in a very broad sense or whether it’s to come and actually help share some experience around particular aspects uh the sooner we can get those Comm communicated in

The diary and um your your comment is is well made man Nick that actually again given we’ve got new members and some of us often remember and then forget things it’s not a bad idea if perhaps one of the officers could do a brief introduction to UK Reef as a short

Document that we could just share to everybody so that everyone’s on the same page clearly the work being done is to make sure that we’re on the same page in terms of our cpca offer what we’re about what we’re offering what our key priorities are and that’s the work that

The team are doing for us at the moment I’m I’m hoping that can be noted an action plan Dom and then assigned to the right people that’s okay thank you um Mike can you want to jump in sure uh just uh I probably got bit sort of Left

Behind in terms of it who who’s actually now responsible for inward investment for for the region is it I know it was moved to the Local District councils and city councils are we holding a a central role for for things like this we are in in in many regards but

Richard did you want to jump in yeah of course so I mean it’s a very crowded crowded space in many ways um but I mean it you know good good inward investment in my view you know combined authorities play a big role in in in inward investment and promoting their areas and

You know and and work collaboratively as well so so things happen at different scales than and hence the the debate that we’ve seen about you know the the setting up of powerhouses you know we’ve got the the northern Powerhouse and the Midlands engine that play a big role you

Know globally in terms of um you know promoting the area in you know internationally and and in terms of getting getting interest at scale and then obviously you know there’s there’s various different levels ultimately inward investment lands somewhere on a specific site so there’s always local and there’s some local competition

Ultimately um as to where that investment lands and and and so these things need to be done ultimately in collaboration but combined authorities are expected and and you know the reason we are strengthening our sector approach we’re strengthening uh our emphasis on trade and investment is is VE very much

Because it’s so important to the area and so important to the future of the economy thanks Richard Mike are you comfortable with that or did you want to come back I’m just so curious way in the sense that and barab will be aware of as well that

St Johns inovation C gets quite a lot of visits from from companies that sort of thing looking at potential relocation to the area and uh I haven’t checked internally but but who who should they be coordinating with now Mike you have set me up perfectly

For one of the points I wanted to raise as part of my chair’s update so I thank you very much and I will I will send you a coffee voucher in the post um it it is very much linked to the previous Point

Um made by Andy as well which is um I I do feel we we’ve we’ve had a little bit of a a period between appointing one new round of additional members and waiting for the new ones for us to pull together some of what I think is most important

For the business board role of sign posting so I’ve alluded to the fact that we absolutely need to get uh summary list that’s been shared um visible which includes requesting an update to the combined Authority website so we’re really clear from a business board membership our areas of experience

Contacts and that will help not only external stakeholders but also will help officers Target inquiries and requests for support to the right people but at the same time we need something that mirrors that which reflects our officers and their particular responsibilities and experiences particularly given that

We know we’re going through a process of appointing new new individuals to join the cpca team and and so I think marrying those two bits together to really signpost as you alluded to if you have an opportunity who’s the best person to speak to I think would be

Hugely beneficial and is by the nature of new people on both sides of that Dynamic joining the team um an area where there’s this there scope for improvement and and I can’t stress enough how Keen I am to get that that sign posted as quickly as we can and I

Have again spoken with the com’s team about the website and making sure that that reflects our new membership and that additional contact links that everybody shared um from a I think it was from LinkedIn but also just in terms of the sector links as well so so I hope

That will help to the point that where there are inquiries like you just alluded to Mike or barnab or for any of the members here because I know many of you have extensive contact bases that will help sign poost when we’ve got both halves of that um and I will continue to

Raise that until such time as we’re happy we’ve got all of that listed but I know the team are are very keen to get that concluded as soon as they’ve got capacity to do so but it’s definitely on the on the priority list and in many ways that’s kind of the

Main area that I was really keen on to talk about as a very briefly as our chair’s update um one of the things that we’ve tried to craft around um Business board is making sure we’ve got good representation across all key sectors um but not just linking to our sector

Strategies but we’ve also got lots of experience um with particular specialisms across our group and in some cases that probably isn’t visible to each of us in terms of where our experiences lie so I think it’s essential that we can signpost that better and because we’ve been waiting to

Get a full compliment I’m quite happy to say that I feel like we haven’t been utilizing the the full capacity of the business board experience um to date we have had some significant steps forward because we do now have across some of our thematic committees representation and with some of our stakeholder groups

Representation from Business board members which is a good step forward and will be something that we’ll get some brief updates on shortly um but there are also some other um committees internally and externally where we don’t have representation um and Andy has rightly flagged gcp being a really important one

Where now we have full membership it it is incumbent to look across our board and say if you have experience or skills or are willing to support then I’m I’m asking you please to do put your name forward so that we can make sure that we’re not just having two or three

Voices giving feedback across all these committees but we’re really leveraging the skills that we uh recruited you for to for that very purpose um so I’m not going to go through a um here’s here’s here’s on a vacancy who’d like to put their hand up this formal meeting but

Please expect very soon a communication through from Dominico which will cover where we’re at and where we need representation and I would ask you all please to put through your name forward friendly that you’re willing to support um so that we can continue to do as has

Just been agreed by us all from um Jody’s governance overview to make sure that we are providing the broadest Independent Business advice and feedback across all the different activities that we do do um in addition to that work and we’re going to get some update from some members who are already supporting on

The thematic committees um we I certainly am continuing to reach out and meet with stakeholder groups um there has been changes to the LEP Network I’ve now been invited to join the board of the LEP Network many will question what the LEP Network might look like in the

Next month or three um and the question question is it’s important for us to be part of that conversation and to have the right connections so we can continue to to support that and actually from what I’ve seen so far and by no means do

I profess to be um an expert on the subject it is quite clear that in many cases the cpca is well ahead and more advanced in its transition and governance Arrangements than many other leps and actually we’re able to provide some support and advice on our experiences as part of that Journey um

Alongside that we already have some stakeholders who are involved in within it but I’m I’m also joining uh the board on the Oxford Cambridge partnership and again that’s partly to support our existing stakeholder members that are on that activity but also to make sure that we join up and don’t miss any

Opportunities where we can be engaged at an early level uh moving forward um so there’s a there’s a couple there that are linked about work that I’m doing um but also again ties in with the fact that we want to make sure that we don’t have the same voice in every stakeholder

Group um and so yes again I hopefully that reminds where we’re at uh the final point which was touched on in the um governance update from Jodie but I wanted to touch on again because I think if we um continue to evolve it’s important that we continue to be

Self-reflective on our own Improvement um I think there is still work for us to do in terms of briefing on our um agenda packs that we have in terms of any other themes that are being discussed on others as briefing notes for members um that is something that

We’ve already improving on but I think we can do further to continue to develop that and and I’m really conscious that if anybody else has got any experiences of any other um ways to best share briefing notes from other committees or meetings that they want to feed in

Please do feed in and I’m I’m pointing everybody at Dom today but he’s the best conduit to make sure it doesn’t get lost um Dom’s Direction because I think it’s important that we continue to refine that and make sure that the data shared with us is something that is purposeful

And sometimes that might mean less information but the information that’s most relevant to us will allow us to to include that with any of our conversations um so it’s been a busy time as you’d expect continue to meet regularly uh with mayor Nick and I’m very grateful for Richard Rob and others

From a combined Authority point of view to make sure um we continue to be looked in h and there’s been a number of conversations with Jim not only about UK wreath but also in terms of the ongoing Evolution and success at AIU and I’ve continued to try and maintain

Conversations there to make sure that as key stakeholders um as part of that process that we have a a voice and we’re up to date on activities that are happening there um those are the main bits the bits that are I think are really important and something that we

We’ve been introduced as new is looking at Fe back from our thematic committees um I’m going to come to Charlotte first who wears multiple hats fortunately she’s taken them off for this meeting so that she can fit on the camera um but Charlotte I wondered if you could

Provide um feedback because you have a role sitting on the Bap the business advisory panel and you are also now the chair of the employment and skills board feeding in information to us as well thank you chair so from a business advisory panel point of view I think it’s probably worthwhile just kicking

Off with um that business sentiment which I would argue is a really important part of that Gathering um and overall I think both with the quantitive data but also some of the verbal feedback that many of the board uh attendees Gathering it’s kind of cautious optimism we’re of course in a

An interesting runup uh politically so uh many uh businesses looking forward to the spring budget and what that might deliver um but overall sentiment is TI ticking upward W but what we’re not seeing in the business Community is investment sales and cash flow um following through so the spirit is there

But actually the confidence to invest um isn’t necessarily following through and I guess all businesses will be looking for that long-term Vision consistency and ultimately that confidence to make decisions for the future which of course um perhaps we’ve got a role to play in but we’re part of a bigger National and

Possibly International cycle right now we did receive a presentation regarding um a strong social impact economy and how beneficial that could be for the combine Authority area and also the national literacy trust uh gave a very strong presentation in terms of the importance of strong literacy levels

Across the region we also had an update in terms of UK Reef um and then other updates would have been regarding Business board activity Etc which I won’t cover now um so that was the business advisory panel um update happy to take any questions before I move on

To um skills if there are any looks like covered on that one thank you thank you and then from an employment skills uh board perspective three key um items I think uh took the agenda Focus so uh we did have an update in terms of what the local skills

Improvement plan means for the region and how various actors are all coming together to be able to deliver upon the recommendations it was also Al very very good discussion around what a good work Charter could look like for the region and overall the spirit was this is

Something that uh the uh board wanted to see progressed but perhaps with different taxonomy so a good work chart of the language um wasn’t perhaps what people would want to describe it as but the spirit of what it represented um seemed to get really really strong backing and then we also explored uh

What an internship program could look like and again that had strong support I think uh members of the board would be really Keen to underline the fact that it’s paid internships um and also that it’s there to perhaps Target people that really need that support and also employers that really need the support

So that we’re not initiative overloading with the same kind of regular faces that would be playing in this space but actually we use this to make a change both for new employers or employers that have perhaps not engaged in the past but also people that are in circumstances that are more challenging

Charlotte on those two in both the charter and the internships as that evolves how would that was there any conversations about how that would be best communicated and Amplified across the community I think if you look on the combin authority channels at the moment you’ll find that there’s consultations

Uh and working groups being formed for the internship project so both from a provider perspective but also from employeers really Keen to get both of those uh audiences engaging and I do believe that there is a plan to have engagement and workshops to form what a

Good work Charter looks like as well so uh whilst the employment skills board have said uh this is really interesting and it seemed to have been uh that message reiterated at the committee this morning I think the next step for the uh the team is about engaging with wider

Stakeholders to make sure that we get by in and that we shape something that all parties want to um work alongside in the county perfect thank you and maybe there’s an opportunity for you to encapsulate that into something to share with Business board members to tap into

Their networks that might be able to assist yours in that my final question without waiting for any other hands to pop up is um in terms of membership I’ve been talking about business board membership but in terms of the Bap and the employment and skills board is

Membership fairly full or are you still looking to recr to expand those groups are you aware B was certainly well attended and we welcomed a new member who gave an introductory presentation but I’m sure Domino will correct me if uh there are attentions being put to broaden that attendance um from an

Employment and skills board perspective we had I think hoped to cover off the broadening the membership of that group however we did have a couple of individuals unwell for the day and unfortunately unable to attend so that will feature possibly in a a future work stream future meeting perfect thank you

Domino thank you chair just to respond quickly so um I think in terms of membership the bpit is near Enough full compliment we will of course be flexible in terms of inviting new people if we need to fill any gaps that’s represented on the on the membership in terms of the

Employment and skills board um we are supporting officers um if they do want to something that we’ve we’ve whilst we’re doing the recruitment for the new business board members we were we were supporting them to see whe they wanted to to to to attract any new members onto

This deployment and skills board so I just wanted to say that is hand that is in hand I’m not sure what the latest is as Charlotte said but um it is in hand thank you perfect thank you and thank you for the updates Charlotte much appreciated um we also um have two representatives

From The Business board who support the transport and infrastructure committee we had a transport meeting earlier today uh but Rebecca and Andy both represent the business board on transport for I wondered if either or both of you would like to provide an update um yes we had an informal meeting

Earlier on and in fact the next meeting of the transport and infrastructure committee is next week so in terms of um what happened at the last meeting it feels like quite a long time ago uh but I think the theme of buses that has uh dominated for uh much of the last few

Months continued and the um transport and infrastructure committee agreed with the principle of franchising that we have talked about previously and that now goes forward to the combined Authority board to decide whether it goes out for consultation we’re still waiting on the audit by Grant thoron into the business case so I think

Um uh the idea was that there was going to be a an an interim uh meeting before it went to board but I think uh we’ll have to see what what is happening with timings and whether it all gets done in time um and then there was the uh more

Of the bus strategy update uh which has been ongoing for a number of meetings and included discussion on demand response transport and probably the other one to mention would be the Peter BR station quarter that we actually as a business board had a a session on at our last

Meeting and the committee approved the outline business case and the move towards full business case I hope those are the main points but Andy perhaps you’d like to correct me if there was anything else it seems like a long time ago now I guess what we need to do is get the

Cadence of meetings right so the agenda for the next transport meeting goes out I think tomorrow so we’ had that in front of us we could have given you more advanced um discussion on what’s coming thing I noticed and actually Rebecca brought it very sensitively at the last

Meeting was we talked about the the Peto train station project which is fantastic that’s going forward um but how would you put that within the context of The Wider Peter Redevelopment plan than Peter 240 my understanding is Peter 240 will come up at the next transport and instruction committee meeting so joining

Up those two strategies sounds like a very smart move and we’ll feedback on how that’s gone at the next um at the next business board meeting thanks Andy and thanks Rebecca and and as I indicated at the beginning there are additional meetings on transport that the three of us have been

Attending in terms of updates covering broader pieces in early work whether it’s around EV strategy some of the main infrastructure road projects and a broader base um but but lots happening and I think they all come back to that broader conversation of how do we uh we bring those together under one umbrella

As part of that sort of strategic plan but I’m very grateful for your updates on that uh we do not currently have members representing the business board at the environment and sustainable communities committee but I hope that will be resolved shortly and we’ll have some some people who um hopefully have

Got some experience that can come and provide some some oversight some Challenge and support that committee and will be able to feedback to us at subsequent meetings um I don’t want to overlab the points um but I think um and his reference there about Cadence of meetings and timings of meetings

Something that was alluded to in the government summary that jod shared in terms of bringing those aligned um or beit with the inclusion of referencing GLC I think is um something is that’s really important so um I think that’s another just small piece of work to make sure where it’s possible because I

Appreciate there’s lots of stakeholders involved across these meetings if we can get the the Cadence right that will help when it comes to reporting back to this committee but nonetheless thank you everyone for your um contributions and support on those committees and I should just assume not assume and just pause to

Say um are there any other business board members that have been wearing their cpca hat in other roles that they want to feed back into as a highlight for this meeting no okay um just I suppose to complete the circle um just to say as an

Update as we are involved and we one of the sporting for funding it um I am now on the board of linkam which is the funding for looking at new ways to utilize technology for serial output joint venture between Lincoln University and Cambridge University and the first

Board meeting of that setting out some of the Frameworks for for governance and oversight has taken place um but I’m pleased to see that they’re moving forward with their project so I hope in future meetings there’ll be something um more substantive to share with you but just so that it’s on the radar

Mike yeah I did attend the uh clean tech uh and agratech workshop on behalf of CPC so that was a a good session uh one morning and brought together quite a lot of the different players on that side and I think got a lot of uh uh interaction

Going between the various s of players there so a good session thank you Mike Charlotte have you got another hat you’ve been wearing I just thought it’s probably just a good time um it’s declared in my pecuniary interest and but I am a member of the smart manufacturing Alliance um

Board which I I know we’re due to receive a verbal update later on so I just thought it was pertinent to mention that thank you we’ll come on to that one later one but thank you Charlotte for raising that councelor Smith yeah I think this might be the

Most appropriate place to raise this one so I had a fabulous visit to Peter bar College as part of colleges week last week um they made me incredibly welcome got to see the Fantastic progress on the center for Green Technology which is really moving forward at speed they

Expressed interest in a visit from members of The Business board they were Keen to reach out um have offered space potentially for a business board meeting if that would be appropriate but I think we would really benefit from going to see what they’re up to there’s there’s a

Lot of really fantastic work happening there at the moment with combined Authority support of course for the center thank you Anna um that’s definitely one we can take on board um just wrapping up this section from my point of view there there are two other items one was uh

That’s been alluded already that there are within a within the combined Authority the individual councils and authorities there are different pieces of work being undertaken on economic plans and growth and one thing that um I’ve have raised with officers is to perhaps invite a representative from

Each of those on a rotational basis to come and speak at the business board so that over the course of our annual cycle that we have an opportunity to get an update and a bit of a state of the nation from each of the different constituent councils which I think would

Perhaps be helpful in joining us up my final request which may mean a change of date so we will see how the majority feel is that our next business board meeting I believe is the day before UK Reef looking at my diary um I would like to request that our next business this

Board meeting is in person it is something that’s been raised by a number of members for the right reasons there have been occasions where we haven’t had the timings of of reports to to get everybody together but now we have our full cohort I think we need to get into

The routine of of finding that that balance between uh inperson meetings and non- inperson meetings and that’s something that’s been fed back to me by members as well and if I’m not taking that on board and doing something about it then I’m not doing my job so uh I’m

Going to leave that with officers I appreciate it causes the worst timing we don’t want to be saying the day before UK Reef lets meet in person because clearly many of the officers will be very busy very focused and probably not in the region so we may have to look if

It’s appropriate to to move the date of the next business board so that we can actually maximize an opportunity and if not then I should propose with everyone’s support we will arrange a meeting of the business board members with a separate agenda which is just how can we better collaborate and work

Together separate to the business board date so it doesn’t impact on officers I’ll put it out there if anybody has any views please email me um or Dom or give me a call and we’ll talk through um but clearly the one overarching sentiment is we want to

Actually get a chance for all the business board members to get together and actually just Network talk about our priorities and other aspects which isn’t as practical online I will leave it at that we’ve got our agenda to carry on and you certainly don’t need me talking

Any anymore when we have item 2.4 and Richard providing far more interesting update from um from his Department as the director for economy for growth so Richard can I hand over to you yeah thank thanks Al and um I i’ I’d like to yeah I’ll try to be brief as

Well um so I’ll begin with something that Charlotte flagged which is obviously this week it’s the um spring budget and just reference that to uh his paper and the importance of the business voice so we will uh in light of what comes out in the spring budget we may be

Getting in touch for your comments Al on you know what what the government has come up with or or not as the case may be um but your Reflections and everything else is sometimes sought from within the region and we will obviously provide you with with with support with

That but but the spring budget is obviously crucial for um the future of the economy um and just to mention um some of the things that we’re anticipating coming out is uh so we we we believe that it’s likely that something will be said about Cambridge

2040 again as it was in the Autumn statement we don’t quite know what that looks like but we do know that there was a a coming together uh dck officials were briefing uh on on the patch uh which is always a sign that that something is

Coming um we don’t know quite what shape that’s going to take but but but I would anticipate that given everything that Michael Gove has been saying since he made his housing speech back in back in July or whenever it was um so I think I think we can expect something on that I

Think we can expect and I think there’s no secret made of this that a new Trailblazer Devolution deal will be announced and that’s likely to be north of time um and also um I think it’s well referenced in the press that there are now uh three new level four deals being

Moved uh forwards in the Liverpool City region South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire so I think it’s important you know we’ve we’ve done a lot of work on the patch to uh understand what level four means and what deeper Devolution means and so we’re ready to go into conversation and into discussion with

Officials as soon as um we we can secure their engagement and we will continue to seek that engagement as we run into the next uh general election um so that was that was one thing around the spring budget um I also wanted to mention recruitment if people weren’t

Aware but I’m I’m recruiting two assistant directors at the moment one of them is very key to the future of the uh the support that the business board receives and just to say um that that person that that role has been extended to cover um not just business but trade

And investment because I know that was referenced earlier in the conversation uh and we’ve had over 80 applicants uh it’s probably nearly 90 uh applicants for that position so I think that’s a good sign of of of interest in the area and being an employer of choice so I

Think that’s very positive for the combined Authority moving forwards um thirdly I want to mention um work around uh what the combined Authority is doing more generally I think all business board members may have been invited to a workshop in elely on the 6th of March which is all about our

Shared Ambitions as an area and I think that’s us trying to get on the front foot in terms of uh really what do we want to do together on the patch uh in collaboration with each other what are the key priorities and I think that really Works quite well with the work

That we’ve been doing uh in relation to Devolution and that was the other thing to mention that we’re seeking this face-to-face informal workshop on Devolution with the business board and that that work that we have been doing on level four and that workshop with the business board we would want to include

The greater Cambridge partnership uh referencing some of the things that have being said earlier um in fact when we met with officials back in in July uh when we first um started the conversations for a level four Devolution deal um we met with the officials uh greater Cambridge

Partnership met with the officials and we shared with we shared Mutual agendas we shared Mutual presentations with greater Cambridge partnership because we felt that you know as was referenced earlier having a big city deal on CCH is too important for it to not be um aligned and working um collaboratively

With a combined Authority so we we have been doing quite a lot of work to achieve that and I think we’ll pick up the points that we made earlier to make sure that we continue um to do that um and I think that’s probably everything

From me I was going to go into UK Reef uh a bit but I think I’ve covered that earlier uh in the conversation um so I’ll leave it there thanks thanks Richard are there any questions for Richard no okay well we’re going to move on then to item 3.1 budget and

Performance and the latest budget and performance report is going to be presented by the finance manager Bruner who I know is here Bruner a quick wave there thank you very much I’m here I’m here I’m digging up the presentation for you and we’re going um I thought it was

Sorry longer than I spected as us anyway so as you many of you already met me in the past but anyway I’m I’m the finance manager looking after economy and growth as a whole um in the specific today we’re speaking about the performance of um of business or the business part of the

Economy and growth and uh so I will provide you with data on how is that we are performing compared with budget and forecast um on the a here manag by the business um Business board so give me a second I share my screen yeah we are so we can all see the

Number hopefully you can see what I can see yes thank you brilliant so this first table speaks about our revenue and how much income sorry about our income and how much income we were expecting to receive during this financial year so the original budget was set to 8.8

Million we are now expecting to receive 8 million the difference here is simply EF go CED because it started later so then we got L money in I don’t know hopefully you’re not getting my email but just in case close everything you don’t really want to see them anyway

Um this is everything specifically about the income we can also notice that there are some difference here on espf that we are still waiting a lot of money ESF so ESF ESF was um contract with um that was led by by DWP with um for the European Union

And it was and and did end in September but we struggle so there have been some delay in getting the money in the money is correct we were expecting to get it in it just very late in coming but everything is under control uh page two so this is our this is our

Revenue so the expenditure Revenue expenditure as you can see Revenue expenditure was budget to 6.8 M sorry 7 million or of which at the end of the year we expecting to spend 4.4 million the variance is our um the biggest variances are uh gr co services that

Done now the program with ggs finished and for how much even if we actually manage to Clow back a lot of work by the end we still have an Hefty and spent this is a conversation we had many time about uh the perform monetary performance because as many of you know

The kpi were completely met were met positively by the program themselves the kpi were only were based on number of posts created a new job creating and they were meant uh all the kpi were met the other one at the bottom here that is creating yeah the rest of the Varan is

Our UK Shar Prosperity funds as we know they’ve been delayed in starting the project and we had lots of difficulty some difficulty you might say in get the program moving um Alexa will bring apologies oh yes Alexa will bring a proper update on these afterwards so you can have more information about it

But uh the expectation is this um forecast will be spent by The End by the end of next year when the program will be completed um so is a free program we happy behind this is this page show us every every program that I have a capital

Expenditure so as you can see here budget for the years was 14.4 million forecast is 10.6 the majority of the difference is the growth core again growth Works activities this is the capital part of it so it was all related about inwards investment and um in investment in organization that that

Were working and trying to grow in our area um again it was successful because we got to the Target met but not as successful as we wish it could have been likewise as you can see a little bit of the capital of the UK SPF are still and

We struggle as much as we do with the revenue side everything else here this is something that was known and remain there from the previous think because I haven’t there is no movement on it these are an still to approve budget that they were um no sorry approve budgeted and

Some other still to approve budgeted that they are available for us to use on the specific Pro so when we know what we’re doing with it recycle funds these are the leftover the lgf program so and that they have been reinvested and reutilized going forward um we don’t have much anymore here

Especially for what is related to the um the revenue side U we we had depleted the revenue side to support the creation of um the new economy team that is the one that will be specialized in the defense sector that um Steve is recruiting new member of the team for at

The moment the uh budget that instead we have on the cap so the fund that we have on the capital will be then you utilized reinvested cpca in activities that that will be uh considered appropriate by um food investment panel created by the stf last but not least in Enterprise on

Incomeon expenditure as you know Enterprise zone is a way for us to support some area in the region to um you know get more activities for um and uh we get some of their uh local tax local taxation this is the what is is the income for and the expenditure

Likewise is mostly most of it is activity related to um The Business board but also um the supporting in the new economy team so even as you can see even this has been a bit deated deated in the last couple of years um so we were using a a little bit

More in yeah we’re starting using more of it just to support the rest of the team this is all revenue and this is everything I have to share with you please let me know if you have any question and I put back the slides on if the question related to a specific

Slides uh thank you Bruna um I’m just looking if there are any questions um I want I think one bit of feedback um constructively I think as we’re looking at how we refine information sharing at our meetings um whilst it’s it’s important as supporting documents to have that set of summary of our

Financial indicators um I also think there could be some advantage in some just clear kpis as a starter which is any variations from when we last discussed anything that’s of note to Business board members that is an unexpected change or a change in our assumptions and then perhaps have the

The more detailed numbers as the reference point for for members to look at in advance the meeting um I think that would just perhaps be helpful for some of us unlike your good self that knows the numbers inside out we’re trying to recognize what looks different from last time and identify when we

Reviewing in advance so um if if that’s something that could be taken on board and have a think about how that could best be represented I think that would be advantageous to this conversation yes of course it will be done thank you very much thank you for that Bruna and I’m

Just looking and I don’t see any hands up um but um as I this is just a recommendation to to note um I’m hope we can all agree that we have noted the updated financial position for the board good okay in which case we’ll move to item 3.2 which is the business growth

And social impact investment fund and I believe Grace is going to um present this the business program support officer will present the report thank you chair can you all hear me okay loud and clear thank you okay lovely thanks thanks and good afternoon to you all so

I’m Grace and I’m the officer within the economy and growth team that’s been coordinating the procurement of this new funding program I’m going to try and share a slide which will give you a visual overview on what this program is this works does that work can you see it

All we can now thank you okay lovely so basically the update report is just to summarize where we’re at within the procurement and delivery of the program and you’ll see that within the report that we have actually we have two fund managers that were successful in their bids and at the moment we’re

Currently working through the mechanics of how the fund will be managed by each of the funding funding um managers and hopefully this process we will be able to conclude that this month and then we’re hoping to launch the program in full next month so this slide just shows

You um what the actual program looks like and how it’s split how it split into two different funds so there’s 9 million capital investment in total fund one and fund two it split into two so fund one it shows the value there which is 7.1 million and fund two is 1.8

Million with an option to increase that later on in the in the year and how they will be distribut Ed between equity and loans and grants and Loans so there’s a mixture there um it’s also important to just share that this program does align with our corporate strategy our economic

Strategy as well as the male priorities and you’ll see there the outcomes and impacts that will be achieved once the once the program is up and running so if there’s any questions my myself and Steve should be able to answer it but I hope you agree that this

Is going to be an exciting project for the region um with some exciting outcomes and impacts for the community and businesses so I’ll leave it there for now great um thank you I see uh Mike her has his hand up Mike please dive in thanks yeah I I noticed in the uh the

Paper that the that there was a real in the sort of fund one that was real focused on the uh Green Tech and then for the rest of tech it was to get to Net Zero which sound like the entire fund was focused on Net Zero projects is is that have I misread

That um Steve do you want to Jim jump in there I don’t think it’s for the entire no good good afternoon no it what the business case on the um project was uh a mixture of um growing businesses and green businesses but there was a very ambitious carbon reduction Target built

Into the business case so there has to be an underlying um push in many ways um to get carbon reduction in most of the outputs and in most of the Investments that are made um but it doesn’t preclude um considering just you know growing businesses uh up for investment but um

As I say the the primary uh criteria will be based on trying to reduce carbon or introduce new products or help develop new products to the market and I just wondered if there’ had been any uh further sort of input in terms of current funding gaps um you you mean related to this

Fund um yes yeah um so this fund obviously will go into the market and it’s quite a mixture as you’ll as you can see of of um products it’s investment Equity loans grants so um I mean it’s primarily um aimed at trying to plug gaps where um businesses

Potentially can’t um access but that’s not the only driver um I mean what we want to do is obviously make sure we do add additionality to businesses so you know it’s it’s there’s a with the fund manager we’re developing a set an investment policy and a set of criteria

That obviously looks to for this to fill certain gaps um in the market okay I it just be good to to see those um those criteria and the sort of funding areas that we’re looking at as those conversations go forward Mike there might be an opportunity there I’m

Conscious in your notes that you’re looking for Steering group members including representatives from The Business board who may be able to provide some insights um I’m going to take that as a very Mike’s hand is still up we can all witness it right now which means that’s him volunteering to provide

His experience and oversight yeah so please minute that quick before he takes his hand down thank you my only slight issue is obviously I do work for innovate UK which puts a lot of companies forward for for this investment so there might be quite a few periods where I might

Have to recluse myself myself understood Mike and and obviously I’m I’m sure there are others that may want to want may be available but clearly anyone with experience like your goodself might would be useful for the for the for the uh the Steering group to

Either have on board or to be able to pick your brains were appropriate so um um again as part of that communication for Dom’s overg growing list of action points um when we’re looking for Representatives on our thematic committees we’ll try and make sure that this is looped in as well if that’s

Possible Steve I guess on that one yeah excellent I it’s a great great thing we and absolutely get the input um so yeah happy to have um as many people um chip in when we share the um the draft investment policy round but but yeah um others more directly on the steering

Group and one either you Steve or Grace are you looking at two separate steering groups um for the two funds or one that overarches across both yeah there will be two separate ones thank you Grace So twice the opportunities for Business board members to to get involved should you

Wish perfect I don’t see other questions so um thank you for that update uh Grace much appreciated I’m going to move on to item 3.3 UK shared Prosperity fund rural England and that’s going to be shared with Alex Hamilton program manager will present the report Alexa thanks chair hi board so my name

Is Alexa this will be my first business board I am working in the economy and growth team leading on the UK shared Prosperity fund and overseeing uh rural England Prosperity fund so ukpf for short repa for short so for those of you that are not sure of

This program the UKF is replacing the European funding and is Essen part of the leveling up uh initiative um it’s made up of four parts which is community and place of which we have 22 projects local business 12 projects and uh people and skills which we have four projects

Uh so this totals 38 projects across six districts um and the fourth is rural rural England Prosperity fund which is an addendum onto the UK SPF and is for capital projects and Grant Program s and we have four of our local districts um rolling that out um the UK SPF duration

Is three years and uh rural England is two years um but unfortunately due to the late announcement of the the government or from the government uh we lost pretty much most of the first year um but we were allowed to carry forward um any underspend for years one and two

So all the parties involved all six districts have done a tremendous job in getting through grant funding agreements procurement subsidy due diligence and governance just to get these projects up and running um and most of them are up and running we should actually see four of them complete between April and June

Of this year um the same pattern pretty much emerged with rural uh we lost the first year um but we are moving at PACE and we’re currently finalizing grant funding agreements and the deliverables and we should actually well we did actually today get our first claim um submitted for that

Program um there was a a large surge um in dece well between December and now so we got we had 16% uh claims come forward on current expenditure and we’ve actually just gone to over 30% um as of Friday um so we should start to see a lot more movement uh for

Expenditure and delivery abl over in the coming uh weeks and months um which I think yeah will be really really helpful I did um attach as an appendix kind of a an appendix uh image of our dashboard which we commissioned um so essentially because of the multi-wave view on reporting and

The different layers of reporting we just needed kind of one place to see um outputs and outcomes against projects uh against expenditure against deliver so it it’s well hopefully we’ll be able to what you mentioned earlier chair is to see the difference between this meeting and the next one in the percentage and

Change um so hopefully we’ll be able to show quite a big change uh we live in Hope um we are cautiously optimistic at the moment we understand like we’ve only got 13 essentially 13 months left of the program so we are pushing um as much as we possible and as quickly as possible

Actually to get all 308 of the these projects completed and and the funds spent um we are looking monthly we’re pretty much using all monthly uh meetings now with the districts of Gateway reviews just to make sure that we have got enough time if need be to step in

And change the project and maybe relocate the funds onto a more successful um project that’s up and running so we don’t lose the funds completely as we obviously need to give back to De like anything that we don’t spend um so yeah hopefully I’ll have more of an update um at the next

Business board but yeah so far so good Steve did you want to add anything um no I think you’ve covered it really well there actually um I think that’s really good um and I think the the point you made is right because I’ve seen the update today on the Run rate so

You know literally since you wrote this paper another 450,000 in claim has landed in the system our end so you know if that run rate can continue then you know we’ll we’ll be will be good I think it’s just been a little bit tough we had unexpected um challenges along the way

And everything has taken a little bit longer we’ve liken this or Steve has to a hockey stick um so it’s our hockey stick program but we are starting to see kind of a bit of a rush now which I mean it’s normally expected kind of in the

Final year so we’re hoping to to see big change on the next reporting cycle thank you obviously we’re disappointed your reports out by 450,000 already elexa that’s terrible yeah I know I know I’m so sorry before I just hand to rec just one obvious question are we

Comfortable now in terms of capacity in terms of timelines on this now that we have the capacity to respond as we need to um uh well sorry go on Alexa if you want to yeah no I I think we are comfortable um it it is challenging uh the the the

Goalpost if you like has changed a couple of times with dck and also in the sense of reporting um metrics um values had to be changed uh this final year so there’s been little bits in Bobs but I mean it’s the first time they’re rolling

Out of this program so it is expected to have these teething errors and they they’ve taken quite a a light approach um to this program to give uh the combined Authority and the local Authority more control as to what happens and in terms of deliverables and

Expenditure and I think a lot of people are quite nervous as to why is there such a light approach what is the catch um but I think now that we’re settled in we’re comfortable everybody’s kind of got their Rhythm um yeah I I think we’re we are gonna we’re gonna meet I I’m

Hopeful that we’re going to meet the the objectives that we need to thank you Alexa uh Rebecca and then manic thank you chair yeah I was quite concerned when I read the report and you’ve got gone some way to uh alleviating that in terms of saying how

Much has come in in the in the um last couple of weeks and even days therefore my question is a bit around if my understanding is that we then apply for it in retrospect the funding for the third year so what happens if we miss applying for it and

The project has been done who carries that um responsibility to pay for the project I I’ll answer that if you like um so it so it’s the combined Authority is the lead Authority but we have passported those conditions down through our grant funding agreements to the districts and the project delivery

Organizations so there is a there is a degree of risk to to those organizations as well but um you know we are going to have a you know almost a uh as Alexa said monthly portfolio um management consideration as we go to the end here and if we have to move money

From one project which is still underperforming as we go towards the end to we’ll move it to another project that’s overperforming and could do better um the the mobilizing of brand new projects is our kind of ultimate fallback but actually looking at the time it’s taken to get this 38 up and

Running um um I’m we’re less inclined on that because um unless it’s the combined Authority Le programs we do have that option to just bolster or increase our own programs um but it takes time but I’d rather balance the program we’ve got um and just make sure that succeeds you happy with that

Rebecca um yes I mean I think this is one that we’re gonna have to keep an eye on uh just because you know you look at the the expenditure to date versus the time and it just doesn’t look very positive it it doesn’t look like we could do it and I’m

Sure we can but the the the result is we just lose out on on all the money and and that’s not something that we must uh Endeavor to avoid at all costs thanks Rebecca over to you Nick um yeah I I’d agree makes me nervous and I’ve partly because I sit

And when money doesn’t get spent it tends to be me that gets blamed uh despite the fact that often we have passported in in some some extent the responsibility over to constituent authorities so I’m very keen you know to you know public meeting and all that is there any particular areas that are

Struggling more than others in terms of regional distribution and is it clear I mean you have sort of how can I say it Steve you know You’ made it clear that if we’re not getting the money through the system and it’s not being spent and we’re getting worried we

Can divert to those that are over um well that are doing well but does that include the idea that the money may move to another area uh we’ve done this before the example would be the market towns program where we had because we had more

Control over it as in we had the money and we held on to it bit by bit there was different regions different constituent authorities spent the money at different rates and ultimately we because we held control of it we could maybe frustratingly not seeing it being

Spent but we could still hold on to it we don’t have that luxury here and you know I’m I’m with Anna I’m meant to be speaking on behalf of all constituent authorities Anna as a deputy but as lead for growth lead member for growth but maybe has an oversight over Cambridge

City I’m really concerned that the actual how could I say elected leaders uh in different areas maybe don’t understand the responsibility that they have here uh and I can speak to them but I also need to know what programs aren’t working you know we’re we’re very much

Handing it over for the oversight of diff constituent authorities so it’s bit of an observation there but it’s you know when when does the threat of losing money that’s been gifted to different areas and working with whatever projects uh when does it really become real to the actual District authorities or city

Councils and um who is can you reassure me that the fact that this money could be lost is being made clear to the leaders at all respective areas um I’ll I’ll I’ll jump in there just to respond this update report is actually going to the combined Authority

Board it’s one of the papers in the business board section that’s going to the board so that’s a an opportunity to really Ram home this point um as Alexa is saying we’ve met um I would say you know tens of times with each of the economic development teams at all of the

Local authorities um the chief exact through the cpsb but actually the leaders are the next Port of Co we have have these Milestone meetings coming up Gateway meetings that uh if you want to call them that as Alexa said um where the point is being very well spelled out

You know um we’re willing to be flexible within their area between projects that are successful doing well or not doing well and move the money um but our ultimate um reserved right is to spend the money on something else and it could be something that’s cpca it could be

Something out of their area as to not lose it come the end of the program so um sorry go on Alexa so we are using the first quarter of the new fiscal year as essentially the the M or break period in which we all need to say whether or not

The program is going to move forward or not it’s just allowing us enough time to be able to fit within another ukpf program to support the deliverables as well as the interventions that deok have set out so luckily for us they want an overview of things so it would just be an overview

Of the intervention against expenditure and not by District or by project so it does allow us a little bit of leeway in terms of shuffling around what projects we can work with and what for example worst case scenario we can support Peterburg University uh I’m not saying

That’s you know dumb but it’s just an idea that if we do need to to get money out the door and still obviously have the community benefit from this fund then there are oven ready projects that we can throw the money into um so no one

Sees the loss in the funds from the uksf program sorry mayor can I just add you did ask another question in there which I’m going to slightly try and not get get ourselves into too much bother with about which areas are of concern and at the moment the areas that have the the

The the one District or shall I say City region that has the largest share of this is Peterborough um and we have concerns there they have the largest Capital project in this program and it’s it’s we so we have a little bit of concern there the other area of concern

Is fenland um where um they don’t have the largest allocations but we we’ve not seen um too much by way of claims and activity yet so well can I come back chair yeah one of the reasons I want always wanted these meetings to be in public was because exactly that needs to be

Understood uh and I don’t want to be sitting in meetings in a in a because you know as well as I do that the business board stuff often gets presented at the end of the board meeting and do always maybe get the same coverage that everything else should do

But I can I just make a request first of all that you very eloquently yourself and Alexa um offered some reassurance that there are oven ready projects that we can go to if they’re not being spent but I need a real promise from ourselves that the leaders at all the separate

Groups are made this this sense of Jeopardy is made clear not just at the board meeting which is obviously C coming on the march of the 20th but also at the meetings that you’re having with these e Economic Development officers and could I suggest that they also

Should also be made clear to the leaders at um once you’ve had those conversations if they’re not them present them M eles that they also are informed about this uh the potential here just I I think it has to be made really clear because I’m not it’s not

Fair on the combined authority to get blamed for a lack of you know we we we we work we’re trying to work together but I do not want to be seen as sort of uh sort of it’s something that’s happening at a combined Authority level when actually the delivery is in the

Hands of the constituent authorities be it with that we’re working collaboratively thank you Nick I think the point is um is well made there Alexa I see your hand up did you want to wrap up with anything there yeah just kind of a a bit of a summary really we’ll be

Sending and closely monitoring the reporting through to the execs going forward for the relevant um constituents so we’re hoping that by seeing kind of the percentages on paper will have that impact um obviously we see it as 16% 30% and you can scream and shout as much as

You want but we we need to make sure that everyone is on board and understands the severity of the issue and the time scale that’s left um so I agree with you I’m happy to send any reports that you require so you can see the different um multi-way views um

And to involve you and anything that you you might need to be involved in thank you Alexa yeah thank you for that um she really really well presented summaries there from Alexa and Grace so thank you both for those um and obviously I think the most important one in the spirit of

Earlier conversations is where there’s anything that Business board members can assist with or where you feel that something needs to be on the radar then there’s there’s never a need to wait till the next business board meeting please do reach out and if we can support then we absolutely will but but

I think the point’s well well made here that there’s a there’s a there’s some layers of accountability that sit here in terms of actually making sure this these um meet deadlines and so on um again this is only a recommendation to note so can we all agree that this is

Noted I see nobody waving their hands frantically to the contrary so we will accept that um so thank you for that we’re now moving on to part four of the agenda and we’ll need to consider whether to exclude the press and public from this part of the meeting um I move

That we resolve that the press and public are excluded from the meeting on the grounds that the next report contains exempt information under part one of scheduled 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended and that it would not be in the public interest for this information to be disclosed the

Public interest in maintaining exemption would be deemed to outweigh the public interest in its publication uh can I have a seconder for that proposal please thank you Rebecca um and we’ll therefore need to move to a boat whether we agree to move this to um a private session so

Can I have all those in favor please with a hand Mrs board members thank you very much um I think we are unanimous without me proposing any further but just for record was there any votes against no um at this point then the meeting will adjourn and the live stream

Will end members and officers who are taking part in the exempt session can stay in the call everyone else present is asked to leave um thank you and thank you