Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. M.I. Seedat (Tel: 0116 265 6037)
Email: mseedat@leics.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
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By Invitation
Mr D R Parsons CC – Leader of the Council.
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74. |
Minutes. PDF 63 KB
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Commission held on
3rd March 2004, were taken as read, confirmed and signed as a correct
record.
|
75. |
Question Time.
Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been asked
under Standing Order 35.
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76. |
Questions asked by the members under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).
Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been asked
under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).
|
77. |
Any other items the Chairman has decided to take as urgent.
Minutes:
There were no other items of urgent business.
|
78. |
Declarations of interest.
Minutes:
Mr D R Parsons CC declared a non prejudicial personal interest
in the item concerning the Leicester Shire Economic Partnership (LSEP) as he is
a member of the board of the LSEP.
There were no other declarations of interest.
|
79. |
Declarations of the Party Whip in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16.
Minutes:
There were no declarations made under Overview and Scrutiny Procedure
Rule 16.
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80. |
Presentation of Petitions under Standing Order 36.
Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received
under Standing Order 36.
|
81. |
The Leicester Shire Economic Partnership. PDF 75 KB
The Chief Executive of the Leicester Shire Economic
Partnership has been invited to the meeting to outline its role and
achievements.
A report of the Chief Executive setting out some background
information to support the presentation is attached.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
At the invitation
of the Commission, Mr Kishor Tailor, Chief Executive of the Leicester Shire
Economic Partnership, gave a presentation on the role of the LSEP, the progress
made by it and its achievements to date.
A copy of the power point presentation slides used by Mr Tailor is
attached to these minutes.
A number of points
emerged from questions asked by Members and replies by Mr Tailor, as follows:
- Concern was expressed about apparent duplication
between the work of the LSEP and the East Midlands Development Agency
(Emda). Mr Tailor thought that the
strength of the LSEP was in its partnership work. It was not just delivering Emda’s
agenda but was helping to bring about change of benefit to the
Leicestershire area. As the role
of the LSEP and the other sub-regional partnerships developed, Emda would
have to re-consider its own role.
- There was also concern about the
relationship between the LSEP and the Welland Partnership. It was acknowledged that whilst this
did cause some difficulties at a strategic level, the Partnerships did try
to work together on a practical basis to resolve these difficulties. On
some issues, such as Tourism, Emda had decided that partnerships would
work to county boundaries which meant that the LSEP was working with
Melton and Harborough as well as with the rest of Leicestershire on
tourism issues.
- It was suggested that there should be
greater representation of private sector organisations on the LSEP Board
as these were wealth-creating organisations. Mr Tailor said that it was important that the membership of
the Board was not so big that it became unwieldly. There should be a place on it for
public sector bodies because they were significant employers and exercised
considerable economic influence.
Arrangements were made to engage with key local companies that were
not directly represented on the Board.
- The issues of graduate retention and
the low skills level of the local workforce were raised. The LSEP had concluded that there was
not enough suitable employment in the County to attract and retain
graduates and that there had also been issues relating to the quality of
life offered in the area, though this situation was improving. Most graduates who stayed in the County
worked in the public sector. The
local universities needed to strengthen their links with local employers
and the LSEP was working to facilitate this. The deficiency in the local skills base was
acknowledged. To some extent this
was influenced by the decline of the County’s former staple industries and
the nature of the forms of employment that had replaced them. The LSEP was seeking to influence the
Learning and Skills Council’s policies to address the skills
shortage. It was also felt that
companies could do more to provide training to raise the skills of their
workforce, although it was noted that the development of Training Boards
did not always encourage companies to provide training themselves.
- Members were keen to know how the LSEP’s
performance could be measured. The
LSEP had discussed this issue and had concluded that some form of annual
forum should be arranged so that interested organisations could question
the LSEP’s performance against the targets set out in its annual business
plan. The first such forum had now
been held. The LSEP was
accountable to Emda for expenditure of its funding.
- It was suggested that the LSEP needed
to do more to address local issues of concern, such as a perceived lack of
leadership in economic regeneration, and that its action plan was more
aimed at obtaining Emda’s approval than at tackling issues of concern in
Leicestershire. Mr Tailor ... view the full minutes text for item 81.
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82. |
Date of next meeting.
The date of the Commission’s next scheduled meeting will be
Wednesday 28 April 2004 at 2.00pm.
Minutes:
It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be
held at 2.00pm on Wednesday 28 April 2004.
10am – 11.42am CHAIRMAN
5 April 2004.
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