South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

HELD ON TUESDAY 18 JULY 2000 AT
SEEDA HEADQUARTERS

Members Present

Allan Willett CMG (Chairman), Professor Clive Booth, Cllr. Ken Bodfish OBE, Bryan Davies, Sarah Ward OBE, Cllr. David Rogers, Cllr. Kevin Wilson, Russ Nathan CBE, Jim Baker, Cllr. Kit Oliver, Caroline Williams, Janis Kong

Apologies for absence

Barry Camfield

Others in Attendance (for all or part of meeting)

David Shakespeare , (Chair, Regional Assembly), David Saunders (Regional Director, Government Office for the South East), Paul Bevan (Director, Regional Assembly), Anthony Dunnett (Chief Executive, SEEDA), Jeff Alexander (Agency Secretary, SEEDA), Phil Bailey (SEEDA), Barrie Giles (SEEDA, Director Enterprise), Peter Waller (SEEDA, Project Manager, Wired Region), Paul Hudson (SEEDA, Director Infrastructure and Regeneration), Geoff Edge (Chief Executive, WM Enterprise) Terry Swainbank (Consultant to WM Enterprise), Jim Hedges (SEEDA, Project Manager, Venture Funds)

Summary of Meeting

1. The Board :-

• Congratulated David Shakespeare on his appointment as the Chair of the Regional Assembly;
• Welcomed the appointment of John Harwood, Chief Executive of Oxfordshire County Council, as the first Chief Executive of the National Learning and Skills Council;
• Received presentations on the "Wired Region" and Regional Venture Funds" projects;
• Noted progress on taking forward the preparation of action plans - SEEDA Accountability Plan - for implementing the key objectives of the Regional Economic Strategy;
• Noted the recommendations made to Ministers on the Single Regeneration Budget Round 6 bid;
• Reviewed the draft European Strategy;
• Reviewed and noted SEEDA regeneration investment.

Chairman's Review

Opening of Denton Island Training Centre

2. The Chairman noted that the Denton Island Training Centre, which he opened, had received a funding contributions from SEEDA, was a significant success on the South Coast.

Hampshire County Council/Isle of Wight Visit

3. The Chairman had visited the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as part of his annual visit to all the County and Unitary authorities. He was confident that Hampshire offered significant opportunities to business and individuals and was impressed by the efforts of the Wight Partnership and Wight Council to make the Island a success.

Birmingham Summit - RDA Chairs/Ministers Meeting

4. The Chairman's view was that the Summit demonstrated that RDAs were exerting significant influence within Government.

UK/US Conference

5. The Chairman attended the first day of the Conference which he found useful and creative. The Chief Executive hosted the regional tour to Oxford on the second day.

Regional Assembly AGM - 12 July

6. The Chairman had given a presentation to the Regional Assembly's AGM and commented that it was important to continue to work together constructively with the Regional Assembly.

7. The Chairman concluded his review of his activities by noting that he had met a number of Members of Parliament and senior Government officials during the past month. These meetings continued to be important because they gave SEEDA an opportunity to inform key individuals of the progress that SEEDA was making and listen to any concerns.

Wired Region

8. Members received a presentation from SEEDA officers with responsibility for the "Wired Region".

9. This project, one of SEEDA's most visible activities, aimed to contribute to SEEDA's objective of creating a knowledge-based economy. A key issue for the project was to help businesses and individuals use on-line services more effectively and productively.

10. SEEDA's next step was to undertake market research and a requirements capture exercise to understand the needs and capabilities of partners, business and individuals.

11. The main elements of the plan were:-

• Web Portal
• E-commerce awareness and training for SMEs
• ICT Training
• Co-ordination of initiatives and infrastructure development for learning, skills and research
• Net access for all - community surfer concept and community information
• Facilitating e-government
• Broadband infrastructure
• Enterprise Hub infrastructure (intranet)

12. Members welcomed the presentation and the progress that was now being made on this project. They noted that content was as important as the infrastructure. Members were reassured that there was there was a regional need to pull together the very many sites that currently existed in the South East and that the private sector, whilst interested in the project, would not undertake to do it without involvement and leadership from SEEDA. The vision for the portal was to provide "80% of the information people need rather than 90% of what they don't need"

Regional Venture Funds

13. Geoff Edge and Terry Swainbank gave a presentation on the proposed "South East Growth Fund". Members were grateful for the presentation and welcomed the progress that had been made, acknowledging that there was significant interest being shown in SEEDA's plans. They agreed that there was a real need for the "South East Growth Fund" and that funding from DTI's Enterprise Fund was required to underpin SEEDA's Fund.

14. It was hoped that approval from DTI would be forthcoming soon after due diligence was completed and the necessary European Commission approvals obtained.

Regional Economic Strategy - Action Plan Priorities

15. Jeff Alexander introduced this item by updating Members on the Action Plans (now known collectively as the "SEEDA Accountability Plans (SAPs)"). There had been a second meeting with the Economic Partnerships and subsequently worked up Plans have been passed to the Economic Partnerships for comment by the end of July. Bilateral meetings with individual Partnerships were being arranged and the work of the SEEDA Board Committees was being fed into the process.

Single Regeneration Budget

16. Members noted the recommendations made to Ministers following consideration by the Board sub-committee established to consider the bids. The recommendations had been discussed with Ministers and decisions would be announced in early August.

GO-SE/Regional Assembly Liaison

17. The Chairman introduced David Shakespeare to the Members and congratulated him on his very recent election to Chair of the Regional Assembly. David Shakespeare thanked the Chairman

18. A wide range of issues were discussed covering the work of SEEDA and the Regional Assembly. David Shakespeare stated that he was confident that the Assembly would produce the Regional Transport Strategy within the set timescale. Members noted that there were early plans for a Transport Event involving GO-SE, the Assembly and SEEDA.

19. More generally Members and the Assembly agreed that it was important to avoid duplication between SEEDA and the Assembly and that the issue of who leads should be clarified at the start of any project. It was clear, for instance, that the Assembly will lead on the Regional Transport Strategy and on regional land-use planning.

20. David Saunders was able to provide the headline figures in the Comprehensive Spending Review outcome that was being announced later in the day. David Saunders also updated Members on the latest position in the recruitment of Members for the Boards of the Local Learning and Skills Councils (LLSCs) and their Executive Directors. It was likely that the latter appointments would be announced by the end of the month.

Draft European Strategy (Paper 18/7/00-11)

21. Members commented that the draft European Strategy was a very useful document and thanked those responsible for producing the draft strategy. The European Strategy would be launched on 12 September at the opening of South East House followed by a twelve week period of consultation.

Date of Next Meeting

22. Thursday 14 September 2000 at SEEDA Headquarters, Guildford