S3SN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REFERENCE GROUP
30th November,
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust,
10-12 pm
Attendees
Ron Dougan
Trent & Dove Housing Ltd (LEP Board Member)
Mike Romeno
Stoke CC.
Guy Corbett-Marshall
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (Main Headquarters)
Jeanette Burrows
S3SN
Louise Norgate,
VAST
Pat Callaghan
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (Main Headquarters)
Paul Bridges
Arch (North Staffs)
Peter Davenport
Staffordshire County Council
Nick Maslen
Age UK South Staffs
Ken Stepney
JCB
Chris Welsh
Staffordshire Community Council
Ken Lawrence
Lichfield
Gillian Cheal
Lichfield District Council
John Moseley
Colwich Parish Council
Juliette Putter
Whits-End ADHD Support Group Lichfield
Paul Gilbert
Colwich Parish Council
Lesley Tyler
Revival Home Improvement Agency
Dave Pinwell
Solihull Sustain
Jon Flanders
Staffordshire Biodiversity Partnership
Apologies
Richard Breakell.
Barbara Wain
Changes - 12 Steps to Mental Health (North Staffs HQ)
Cathy Jones
Adsis
Sajid Hashmi
VAST
Martin Chadwick
Beat The Cold
Justine Eardley-Dunn
Savana
Jill Norman (Chair)
Staffordshire Moorlands CVS
Nicola Edmonds
SCC
Julie Roberts
NSCA
Ray Elkes
ARCH
Lynne Whealans
Beth Johnson Foundation
Minutes
Aim; To bring together voluntary and community organisations to influence economic
development in Staffordshire
1.
Introductions & welcome; Jeanette Burrows. (Chair)
2.
Minutes of the last meeting (Monday 19th September,), approved.
3.
An update on the Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership
Peter Davenport (SCC) and Ken Stepney (JCB)
a. Peter Davenport gave an update on the LEP Priorities including
 Delivering a ‘red carpet’ for businesses to encourage development and inward
investment in Stoke and Staffordshire. Also developing and introducing a single
investment brand
 Simplifying planning and associated procedures across Stoke and Staffordshire and
introducing a kite mark scheme
 Over the next few years, broadband services across Staffordshire and Stoke-onTrent will be improved. The Government’s Broadband Delivery UK programme has
allocated £7.44m to improve services in the area.
b. Regional Growth Fund 2 has been over subscribed, the focus was on creating jobs, quickly.
Successful bids at http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/economic-development/regional-growthfund/successful-2nd-round-bids.
c. An Engagement event was held at JCB on the 7th October, 11. The event provided an
opportunity to meet the Board members, learn about the priorities developed at the
January event, the progress that has been made and some of the early successes.
d. Inward investment and job creation
 Sub‐regionally the picture is that Staffordshire was a leader in attracting inward investment
and job creation, having 6 successful projects including Amazon and JLR.
 The LEP is also developing its links with Jaguar Landrover on I54.
 The autumn statement by the Chancellor may highlight benefits for the ceramics industry ,
low carbon communities and capital allowances.
4.
LEP Enterprise and Skills Sub group
a. KS, Chair of this subgroup said that the group is focussing on three priorities;
 Develop a more enterprising culture both at school and beyond
 Ensuring that young people are equipped with basic employability skills required by local
businesses
 Ensuring that we are delivering the education and skills needed to fill jobs now and in the
future.
b. STEM Event at ALSTROM on the 13th December
One of the aims of the event will be to join up thinking between the educator, recipient and
schools on STEM. Invites have been issued to head teachers, universities, colleges and local
employers. Also present will be the pre apprenticeships’ programme delivered by PM training
with the YMCA.
c. PD pointed out an opportunity from DEFRA; Natural England valuing eco-systems. The work is
due to take place between April – June 2012 and would take into consideration the diverse range
of places within Staffordshire; natural park / urban fringe. It is a practical piece of work against a
checklist of economic consequences.
Action; PD to forward GCM the details of this opportunity.
d. PB raised the importance of the voluntary sector in providing the support for families and care
systems that support and contribute towards the economic growth of Staffordshire.
5.
Ron Dougan
a. RD has been CEO of Trent & Dove Housing in East Staffordshire since its inception in 2001.
Setting up Trent & Dove initially to take on the transfer of over 5,000 council owned homes.
b. RD leads on the land and housing sub group of the LEP. One of the key project within this
subgroup is a database which will analyse all the available land sites across Staffordshire
and Stoke that could be used to deliver jobs and growth. He has bought together the Housing
associations in North Staffordshire that can contribute towards this project and is willing
to hold a similar session with the voluntary sector. Revolving funds (Growing Places) will be used
to act as a catalyst for the project which will then be paid back as the project becomes
sustainable. Further information on the Growing Places Fund is available from
Communities and Local Government; The Growing Places Fund
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/regeneration/growingplacesfund
e. As a board member of the LEP, RD was asked to take forward the views of the voluntary sector
to the LEP Board and feedback to the S3SN Economic Development Group. RD agreed to do this
but asked that there be a single point of contact.
Action; It was agreed that Jeanette Burrows, S3SN Development Manager, would act as the
single point of contact.
6.
LEP Capacity Building Fund has resourced 6 workstreams including developing social enterprise
capacity to fully engage in cross sector procurement opportunities, and promote integration in
mainstream business through increased partnership and other collaborative working with the
private sector in particular. JB took the group through the project plan for this work and the
following comments made
 It was agreed that the voluntary sector and SMEs face many common issues when it comes
to procurement including the liabilities associated with TUPE.
 That good practice developed in the County needed to be shared with Stoke; Compact and
Third Sector Commissioning Standards.
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How can the voluntary and private sector work together to gain an understanding and
mitigate risk.
A glossary of common terms would be useful for the event and ones that are used by each
sector; supply chains, business model, procurement, collaboration, product.
Collaboration is a familiar term within the voluntary sector whereas the private sector tend
to work in competition.
Building partnerships between the sectors to deliver public sector contracts would need a
common skill set and would be different from the relationship developed between sectors
when discussing Corporate Social Responsibility.
7.
Greater Birmingham LEP
Wade Lyn, Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership board champion for
social enterprise facilitated a discussion exploring how social enterprise sector organisations
contribute to economic growth at a Be Birmingham event. Wade Lyn will be working on a
strategy to develop a mechanism by which Social Enterprise’s can contribute to the LEP priorities
(sub-board). Brian Carr will follow-up and explore what social enterprise can do to best position
themselves to take advantage of these opportunities.
8.
Dave Pinwell; Solihull Sustain
Gave a presentation on how they have developed a Corporate Volunteering Scheme.
9.
Date & time of next meeting
6th February, 2-4pm at the Dudson Centre, Stoke on Trent.