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SUMMARY BOARD MINUTES OF THE TWENTY FOURTH
MEETING
HELD
ON TUESDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2001 AT SEEDA HEADQUARTERS
Members Present
Allan Willett CMG (Chairman), Professor Clive
Booth, Cllr. Kit Oliver (OBE), Caroline Williams, Janis Kong,
Barry Camfield, Sarah Ward OBE, Russ Nathan CBE, Jim Baker, Dr
Peter Read CBE
Apologies for absence
Cllr. David Rogers, Cllr. Kevin Wilson, Mary
McAnally, Bryan Davies, Cllr. Ken Bodfish OBE
Others in Attendance (for all or part of
meeting)
John Monks (General Secretary, Trades Union
Congress), Anthony Dunnett (Chief Executive), Jeff Alexander (Agency
Secretary), Phil Bailey (SEEDA, Head of Secretariat), David Shakespeare
(Chair, Regional Assembly), Paul Bevan (Chief Executive, Regional
Assembly), David Saunders (Regional Director, Government Office
for the South East), Charles Wood (Active Communities Unit, Home
Office),
Marianne Neville-Rolfe (SEEDA, Director, Business and International)
Summary of Meeting
1. The Board :-
- Welcomed John Monk Monks, General Secretary
of the Trades Union Conference;
- Agreed that some future Board meetings should
be held elsewhere in the region at sites where SEEDA was involved;
- Discussed the Draft Corporate Plan 2001/02.
- Noted that the report of the Hastings Multi
Modal Study had been presented at the Assembly Plenary meeting
on 14 February and that the Assembly had supported the recommendations;
- Received a presentation on the Government's
Social Inclusion programme;
- Received a report on the Chairman's recent
activities;
- Approved the SEEDA Accountability Plans on
"Environment" and "Business" and to give East
Malling Enterprise Hub approval in principle, subject to the preparation
of an approved business plan;
- Discussed issues with David Saunders (GO-SE),
David Shakespeare (Chair, Regional Assembly) and Paul Bevan (Chief
Executive, Regional Assembly);
- Reviewed and noted the Finance Report and
various SEEDA programme investments.
John Monks - General Secretary, Trades Union
Congress
2. The Chairman, on behalf of the Board, welcomed
John Monks and Mick Connolly to SEEDA and invited John Monks to
make some introductory remarks.
3. John Monks said that he was grateful for
the opportunity to visit SEEDA. He noted that the situation in
the South East was different from elsewhere in a number of ways,
for instance:-
- Unemployment was generally lower, although
there were pockets of higher unemployment;
- A sense of regional identity was less pronounced;
4. John Monks continued by noting that the South
East was characterised by a generally prosperous economy which,
although dominated by the service industry did have a relatively
healthy manufacturing industry. He believed that key issues were
upskilling the workforce, skill shortages (ranging from management
skills to numeracy) and raising productivity through the involvement
of the workforce.
5. The Chairman welcomed this positive contribution.
He noted that Learning and Skills was the top priority for SEEDA
and that a Learning and Workforce Committee had been one of the
first to be established by the Board. A Skills Insight team had
been set up with SEEDA's active support and a Basic Skills programme
put in place.
6. It was agreed that SEEDA and the TUC should
continue to work together. The major initiative will be setting
up the Workforce Development Group
Corporate Plan 2001/02
7. Members noted that SEEDA's total indicative
budget for 2001/02 was £104m but that there was restrictions
on headroom because of forward rolling commitments and because
of various capital/revenue splits between the budgets. In addition
Members noted that the initiatives under the proposed Strategic
Fund had to consist of projects that could not easily be funded
from mainstream programmes. The Corporate Plan would be published
in due course.
Access To Hastings Multi-Modal Study
8. Members noted that the report of the Hastings
Multi Modal Study had been presented at the Assembly Plenary meeting
on 14 February and that the Assembly had supported the recommendations
of their Planning Committee and Executive. It was noted that SEEDA
had sent the Assembly their recommendation that the full package
of measures should be supported together with a comprehensive
regeneration package for Hastings. The Board recognised that the
next step was for the views of the Assembly to be considered by
the Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment,
Transport and the Regions.
9. The Board also noted that the Assembly also
received reports on the A3 Hindhead Study and the M27 South Hampshire
Integrated Study.
Social Inclusion - Presentation
10. Charles Woodd (Home Office - Active Communities
Unit) gave a presentation to the Board that set the Social Inclusion
agenda and programmes from the perspective of the Active Communities
Unit. The Board, during discussion, acknowledged that the voluntary
sector was a major player in terms of employment and funding and
that the Government's agenda was now matched by business, as evidenced
by the involvement of companies such as BT, KPMG and Barclays
Bank as well as organisations such as the Royal Society of Arts
and Business in the Community.
11. The Board noted that SEEDA's Social Inclusion
agenda was taken forward in some of the SEEDA programmes such
as the Wired Region, Enterprise Hubs and Basic Skills as well
as the Single Regeneration Budget. SEEDA had also contributed
to he Social Inclusion work taken forward by the Regional Assembly
and the Government Office for the South East.
Chairman's Report
12. The Chairman reported that the RDA Chairs
held a meeting with DTI and that he had held a meeting with Deputy
Prime Minister. Both meetings were constructive, particularly
the meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister
13. Other important activities included a meeting
with Milton Keynes Council, during which he noted the extremely
good progress made in that area. He had also taken the opportunity
to visit Bletchley Park, site of a proposed Enterprise Hub. The
Chairman noted that he had launched a new campaign called "Shipbuilding
on the South Coast" on 30 January, and hosted a visit by
Mark Gibson and Jonathan Spencer (Director-Generals, DTI) to Oxford
during which the opportunity was taken to raise the profile of
Oxford and show Oxford as an exemplar at creating businesses.
14. The Chairman reminded Members that he would
become RDA Chair of Chairs on 1 April.
Government Office for the South East and
the Regional Assembly
15. David Saunders reported that GO-SE will
be setting up a team that will help Local Authorities to establish
Local Strategic Partnerships. Discussions will be held with SEEDA
on how best they should be involved. He noted that Kent had signed
their PSA with Government. He drew SEEDA's attention to two new
Directors who had joined GO-SE; Stephen Burt, who would be the
Director for Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire and hold
the DTI/DfEE functional lead and Alison Parker, heading up Surrey/Sussex
and hold the MAFF lead.
16. David Shakespeare reported that he had met
Hilary Armstrong in her capacity as Chair of the English Regions.
She remained positive about directly elected assemblies.
17. It was agreed that SEEDA, the Assembly and
GO-SE were working well together, particularly on a pan-regional
basis, to deliver benefits to the region. This could be demonstrated
through joint work on issues such as Social inclusion, work on
the Sustainable Development Framework and producing the Regional
European Strategy;
Date of Next Meeting
18. Thursday 22 March 2001 at SEEDA Offices,
Chatham Maritime.
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