The East Midlands Combined County Authority Business Advisory Board meeting on Thursday 5 December 2024 was scheduled to discuss a range of issues relating to the Combined County Authority's plans for supporting business and encouraging economic growth in the region. This included the role of the Business Advisory Board, the authority's emerging investment strategy, and the Inclusive Growth Commission, which has been set up to help them understand how to encourage inclusive economic growth across the region.

Introduction to EMCCA, the Business Advisory Board and the Governance Framework

The meeting was scheduled to begin with a presentation for the benefit of the Business Advisory Board and members of the public. The presentation, a copy of which was included in the meeting pack as part of Agenda Item 4, included:

• An introduction to the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA).
• An overview of the EMCCA Governance Framework.
• An overview of the role and remit of the Business Advisory Board.

The meeting was also scheduled to consider the Business Advisory Board's terms of reference, which had been agreed at an earlier meeting of the Combined County Authority (Board) on 16 September 2024.

The terms of reference state that:

This is an advisory committee to the Combined County Authority and the Mayor; it seeks to provide strategy advice and guidance through representation of the ‘business voice’ in support of the exercise of Combined County Authority and Mayoral functions.

Investment Pipeline

Agenda Item 6 on the agenda for the meeting was a presentation about the Combined County Authority's emerging investment strategy. The report accompanying the presentation notes that the Combined County Authority has about £4 billion to invest, with a further potential to borrow money or attract private sector investment, and that the presentation will explain how they plan to decide where the money is spent.

The report notes that £38 million of public money is due to be invested by the Combined County Authority each year, with a further £140 million scheduled to be invested during the 2025/26 financial year.

Of current note, the EMCCA directs £38m of investment each year through a long-term devolved investment fund on projects and activities that are purposeful for the achievement of its strategic objectives.

The report also notes that £9.5 million is due to be allocated to projects during a meeting of the Combined County Authority Board scheduled for 16 December 2024, and that a further £1 million has been allocated to developing an 'investment pipeline'.

In parallel, the EMCCA team is with partners commencing work to develop a comprehensive, long- term pipeline of investment projects to underpin further commissioning of investable propositions. This work was commissioned by the Investment Committee in September 2024. Once established, this pipeline development work will be used to inform future rounds of investment fund allocations – and to take advantage of new funding opportunities as they arise.

The Inclusive Growth Commission

Agenda item 5 on the agenda for the meeting was a presentation and discussion about the Inclusive Growth Commission. The presentation was scheduled to explain what the Inclusive Growth Commission is, and to allow members of the Business Advisory Board to ask questions about it.

The Inclusive Growth Commission was set up by the Combined County Authority's Board during its meeting on 16 September 2024, and will be run by the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA). It will produce two reports. The first, an interim report, is scheduled to be published in Spring 2025, with a final report to follow in Autumn 2025. These reports will be used to inform the development of an Inclusive Growth Strategy for the region, which will be published in Summer 2025.

The report submitted to the meeting states that:

The Inclusive Growth Commission will see regional and national experts working together to provide knowledge and fresh perspectives to identify and put into action drivers to deliver economic growth across the East Midlands.

Membership and Representation

The meeting was scheduled to include a discussion of the membership of the Business Advisory Board, as set out in Agenda Item 7. In particular, the meeting was to consider whether the current membership is an accurate reflection of the needs of businesses in the region, and whether any new members are needed.

The meeting was also scheduled to choose representatives from the Board to sit on the Combined County Authority's Skills and Employment, Transport & Connectivity, and Investment committees.

The report accompanying the agenda item lists the members of the Business Advisory Board as:

• David Williams (Geldards)
• Ian Cuddington (Rolls Royce)
• Andy Byrne (Devonshire Group)
• Becky Rix (Roadgas Ltd)
• Nora Senior (EM Freeport)
• Paul Harris (Cheesecake Energy)
• Shaun Lunn (Atkins Realis)
• Helen Bailey (Driven Company Associates ltd)
• Jo Dilley (Visit Peak District & Derbyshire)
• Natasha Johnson (Global Entrepreneurs UK)
• Scott Knowles DL (East Midlands Chamber)

Finally, the meeting was also scheduled to discuss the process for appointing people to fill the following non-voting positions:

• Employee and wider trade union representative
• Chair of the Innovation Advisory Board
• Department for Business and Trade representative.

Work Programme

The final item on the agenda for the meeting, Agenda Item 8, was the Business Advisory Board's draft Work Programme for 2024/25.

The work programme included a series of meetings focussing on:

• A review of the Combined County Authority's emerging Local Growth Plan.
• A review of plans for how to spend money allocated through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
• The performance of the 'Growth Hub' scheme, which appears to be a business support scheme.
• The work of the Combined County Authority's Innovation Advisory Board.
• Plans for business support after April 2025.
• The Combined County Authority's investment pipeline.
• Plans for the East Midlands Investment Zone.

It is not clear what decisions, if any, the Business Advisory Board had the power to make.