To elect a Chairman.

RESOLVED:      That Councillor AW Johnson be elected Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the ensuing year.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor M Pate.

To receive details of any Executive Member nominated to attend the meeting in place of the voting Member representing their Authority.

Councillor S Charmley substituted for Councillor M Pate.

To receive any declarations of interest by members of the Committee in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2015.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To allocate Marches investment funding againast a loan application received by the Marches local enterprise partnership (LEP).

The Committee considered allocating Marches investment funding against a loan application received by the Marches local enterprise partnership (LEP).

The Marches LEP Project Officer presented the report. 

The Chairman of the LEP Board reported that the LEP Board had considered the application and supported it.

RESOLVED:  That a loan of £720,000 (5.04% interest rate) to Dicentra LLP be approved.

To approve the allocation of funds to four projects that have been approved by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) for funding under the Marches Growth Deal Skills Capital fund.

The Committee was asked to approve the allocation of funds to four projects that had successfully completed a due diligence appraisal by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) for funding under the Marches Growth Deal Skills Capital fund.

The Marches LEP Director presented the report.  She highlighted paragraph 3 of the report with regard to the project from SBC Training.  This noted that the SFA had recommended that the grant for the capital equipment element be approved at this stage but that the element for fit out be conditional on provision of satisfactory detailed figures.   She confirmed that this information was expected to be available before the end of March 2016.  The Marches LEP board had recommended approval of the balance of the grant once they had been satisfied that the capital works met the SFA requirements.

The Chairman of the LEP Board reported that the Board had considered and supported the allocations.

RESOLVED:  That the following skills capital allocations be approved:

(a)   Hereford and Ludlow College - £197,400;

(b)   Herefordshire Group Training Association - £158,200;

(c)   SBC Training Ltd - £50,000 (of which £10,000 conditional on SFA confirmation of satisfactory receipt of further information as set out at paragraph 3 of the report*); and

(d)  Derwen College - £56,000.

(* see minute 5 - 31 May 2016)

The Committee referred to the discussion at its previous meeting about making effective use of the time of Members and officers in discharging the Committee’s role.

The Solicitor reported that a scheme of delegation was to be submitted to the Committee in April seeking to address this point.