Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting.

There were no declarations of interests received.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 April 2024, were approved as an accurate record.

Members received an update on the implementation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) in South West Wales, which was noted to be a key pillar of delivery for the Regional Economic Delivery Plan.

Officers explained that in previous updates the Committee had been informed of the timescales from UK Government and the creation of the Regional Investment Plan, detail of which was outlined in section one of the circulated report; and the steps that had been taken to proceed with implementation, which could be found in section two of the circulated report.

It was noted that the key difference with the programme in South West Wales, compared to some of the other regions, was that a series of anchor projects had been created in line with the overarching project. Officers highlighted that some of the anchor projects were deployed across all four Local Authorities, such as the business development theme, to ensure that there was regional consistency whilst also allowing each Local Authority area to adapt implementation of that programme to its own particular requirements. It was mentioned that this also applied to other themes such as rural, place making activity and supporting communities.

The Committee was informed that under 4% of the programme was being used for administration, which compared to previous programmes, was considerably cheaper; Officers confirmed that this was one of the positive elements of this programme.

Officers stated that during the early stages of this programme, they took a view there needed to be as much delegation and flexibility as possible, whilst maintaining a consistent approach; in some instances where Local Authorities had open call for standalone projects, they were also required to discuss what they were proposing with anchor leads, particularly around the business and employability themes. It was noted that this had resulted in very strong local networks operating at local level, which was equally as important as those partnerships at national level.

It was mentioned that there were good quantities of monitoring information now coming through, which Elected Members will be receiving at local level through extensive quarterly monitoring reports; these reports will summarise the information that every project was producing, including the spend data and good news stories highlighting businesses and communities that had received support.

Officers highlighted that they met with Welsh Government colleagues to ensure that officials were fully briefed on proposals in order to check that they didn't conflict with what Welsh Government were proposing from their level. For example, with business grants, any referral must go through Business Wales as a requirement of receiving grant support in order to ensure that businesses received the full support available and that it linked in with Welsh Government priorities.

Members were informed that outcomes of projects were starting to come in; there was more than £1million being committed to just under 500 businesses across the region. In addition, Officers were seeing developments with job creation; including startup companies, some of which were taking space in the high streets which complemented  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Forward Work Programme was noted.

Any urgent items at the discretion of the Chairperson pursuant to Section 100BA(6)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

There were no urgent items received.