Minutes of the Board meeting held on Friday, 11 March 2005 at Renaissance House, Warrington

Present:
Bryan Gray (Chairman)
Joseph Dwek
Martin Harris
Peter Hensman
Pauleen Lane
Dave McCall
John Moverley
Anil Ruia
Brenda Smith
Maureen Williams 

Also Present:  
Steven Broomhead
Bernice Law (Secretary)
Patrick White
Ian Haythornthwaite(66/04 and 66/07)
Ian Wray (66/05)
Fran Hulbert (66/08)
 
66/00 Presentation: The Manufacturing Institute
The Board received a presentation from Julie Madigan, the Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Institute.  The Board noted that the Institute’s aim was to act as an accelerator for growth within the manufacturing sector and to ensure a more competitive position for the sector.  Julie Madigan provided the following information:
· Growth in manufacturing output had rose by 6.1% between 1998 and 2004.
· In 2004, in the North West, the sector employed 431,000 people (14% of the NW population), in 16,500 companies.
· The sector provides 12.9% of UK manufacturing GVA, representing 22% of the NW Economy.
· GVA per employee was £39,100, which positioned the NW second only to London and the North East.

66/01 Introduction and apologies for absence
Apologies for absence were received from David Brockbank, Robert Johnston, John Merry, Marie Rimmer, Mike Storey

66/02  Minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2005
The Minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2005 were approved as a correct record.
 
66/03 Action points from previous meeting and matters arising
RES Review
The Chief Executive advised the Board that the RES review process was progressing well. Letters had been sent to all Agency contacts informing them of the review and the timetable and that many positive responses have been received from across the Region. The economic issues paper, produced by Regeneris consultants, would be circulated across the region from Monday 14 March and would also be available on the Agency’s website at www.nwda.co.uk/strategy.

The document was issued to Board Members at the meeting. The Board noted that partners were being asked whether the right economic issues have been identified and this feedback would be used to help draft the RES. The Board would discuss the final Issues Paper at its meeting on 8 April.

Items which require a decision
 
66/04 NWDA Efficiency Plan
The Board approved the revised Efficiency Plan, which had been re-drafted at DTIs request to provide more detail on where and how the Agency would actually achieve savings.  The Board noted that DTI require all RDAs to have an efficiency plan in line with the Government’s requirement for efficiency savings within Government Departments.  DTI and the Office for Government and Commerce will monitor the Agency’s delivery of the efficiencies contained within the Efficiency Plan.  The Board noted that the Agency’s Strategic Investment Plan had incorporated the efficiencies identified within the revised Efficiency Plan.

66/05 Lake District Economic Futures – policy statement
Peter Hensman declared an interest in this item.

The Board noted the recommendations from the Infrastructure and Rural Sub Committees and agreed to the Sub-Committees recommendation not to support the draft response to the consultant’s Recommendation 18.1 regarding the potential transfer of social housing powers and that  Recommendation 6.1 (regarding potential public funding for improving accommodation provision) should not be accepted.  The Board approved the Lake District Economic Futures Policy Statement, subject to the above amendments, as a statement of Agency policy, which would be issued, as an evidence base, to inform regional, sub regional and local policy development (particularly the RSS); and to inform discussions with key partners.
 
Action
The Board would take an opportunity to debate Regional Governance, once the General Election had taken place.

66/06 Chief Executive’s report 
The report from the Chief Executive covered the following issues: 

(i) Faith in England’s Northwest
The Board noted that the Agency had commissioned DTZ Pieda to conduct an independent assessment of the economic value attributed to faith communities in the region. The resulting report “Faith in England’s Northwest” revealed that overall the region’s faith communities generate over £90m per annum to civil society and the North West.  Specifically, the Board noted that the reports findings would be integral to the review of the RES.
 
(ii) Freedom of information Act
The Chief Executive reported that eight official requests under the Freedom of Information Act had been received since 1 January 2005 and that responses either had been or would be made within the 20 working day deadline.  The Board noted that:· A “Mystery Shopper” exercise, was currently in operation; and · A review of records management would take place as part of the work on Systems and Process Improvement Programme (SAPIP) and that a definitive uniform policy on the retention of documents would be established.ActionA report on the outcome of the mystery shopper exercise would be presented to the May Board.

(iii) Performance improvement Plan
The Board noted the progress the Agency had made against the Performance Improvement Plan, which had been compiled in response to issues raised by GONW as part of their assessment of the Agency’s 2003/04 performance and NAOs Management Letter.  The status report would now be sent to GONW.

(iv) Air Services Development Fund
The Chief Executive reported on the progress made since the launch, in November 2004, of the Air Services Development Fund (ASDF). The Board noted that an application process was being established and that that the first meeting of the ASDF Board had taken place on 14 February.The NWDA Board noted that the Agency is working with the Department for Transport to understand the implications of the recently issued EC guidelines in respect of airport categorisation and distortion of competition. ActionThe Chairman would raise the issue of the EC guidelines at the next Northern Way Steering Group meeting.

(v) Strategic Regional Sites Evidence Base and Emerging Issues
The Board noted that the Infrastructure Sub Committee had approved a report that set out the evidence base for Strategic Regional Sites and that they had agreed the report should be a key document in the preparation of the RSS and the RES.  The document will now be distributed to key partners.
 
(vi) Northern Way Growth Strategy
The Chief Executive provided an update on developments:
·The Government, and in particular the Treasury were taking a close interest in the development of the Action Plan.
·The Agency was seeking to ensure a coherent relationship between the 10 investment priorities and the development of the City Region Development Programmes.
·NWDA is leading on the development of the Knowledge, Employment and Skills workstreams and the development of the Northern Leadership Academy.
·A major private sector conference would take place on 17 March 2005, to identify opportunities for private sector engagement.
·An initial meeting of the Northern Transport Compact took place on 1 March 2005 and on 14 April 2005 the NWDA Chairman and the Leader of the Regional Assembly will meet key regional partners to discuss the potential of a Regional Transport Board in the North West.
·The Deputy Prime Minister was attending the Northern Way event at MPIM in March 2005.
·Detailed discussions on the criteria for allocation of the Growth Fund are taking place and will be subject to agreement by the Northern Way Steering Group.
·The Agency has committed around £400k preliminary costs for the Northern Way in the current financial year.

66/07 Finance Report
The Board noted the Agency’s financial position for the period ending 31 January 2005.  A revised budget had been introduced for income and overheads, based on the mid year review which took place in October 2004. Actual activity had therefore been compared against the revised budgets and projected forecasts had similarly been compared with the revised budgets. The Board also noted the delegations approved by the Chief Executive and Executive Directors for the period 19 January 2005 to 17 February 2005.
 
66/08 Strategic review of skills
Fran Hulbert, Director of Skills Policy provided a detailed presentation on the current and future skills and productivity issues. The presentation included a review of the Skills agenda since the inception of RDAs in 1999 and looked at progress made to date.  Key points within the presentation were as follows:· Skills is now recognised as a major cross Governmental issue, over and beyond the three Government Departments (DfES, DTI and DWP) that are involved in the formal Skills Alliance.
· There is increasing recognition that skills is "derived demand" stemming from the needs of Business· The original "joint pilot" - NWDA/Business Link/LSC has now been overtaken by major policy shift which sets up Regional Skills Partnerships, led by RDAs
· The second Skills White Paper to be published on 22 March will have a strengthened focus on employer demand influencing the planning of skills supply on brokerage, the role of HE, and 14-19 developments
· The RSP model is seen as key for the co-ordination of plans and to influence the major budgets of partners, rather than direct RDA expenditure.
· NWDA is working at four distinct related levels:o National Policy - extensive and complex agendao Pan regional - Northern Way o Regional - managing and negotiating RSP ando Internal - with a particular need for lateral working across the whole of NWDA and specific linkages to sub regional partnerships

The Board expressed concerns on how the intractable deficit in adult basic skills can be addressed, particularly the intermediate level 3/4 skills gap, which is significant in respect of the developments between FE and HE. They also recognised the need for investment in higher level skills to support the growth of the Knowledge Economy.

66/09 Quarterly performance monitoring report
The Board noted the content of the report, which outlined the Agency’s key achievements and activities in the quarter, 1 October 2004 to 31 December 2004.
 
66/10 Minutes of the infrastructure sub committee held on 9 February 2005
The Board approved the minutes of the Infrastructure Sub Committee held on 9 February.
 
66/11 Minutes of the Rural Sub Committee held on 10 February 2005
The Board approved the minutes of the Rural Sub Committee held on 10 February 2005.
 
66/12 Minutes of the Marketing and Communications Sub Committee held on 10 February 2005
The Board approved the minutes of the Marketing and Communications Sub Committee held on 10 February 2005.
 
66/13 Chairman’s report
The Board noted the Chairman’s report.
 
66/14 Report of the NWDA Sub Committees
The Board noted the report.
 
Date and time of the next Board meeting
The next meeting will take place on 8 April 2005 at Renaissance House, Warrington.
The meeting finished at 15.25