Agenda item

The Committee received a report of the Corporate Director of Regeneration Economy and Growth which provided an update on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Programme and the Rural England Prosperity Fund for County Durham, including governance and performance management arrangements and an update on programme implementation and delivery (for copy see file of minutes).

The Funding and Programmes Manager reported that County Durham had been granted a UKSPF allocation of £30,830,618 and an additional £2,803,077 allocation for Multiply, a new adult numeracy programme. The County also had a further capital allocation of £3.5m through the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF), a rural top up to UKSPF providing capital grants to address the challenges that businesses and communities in rural areas face.  She continued by confirming that against the grant allocation of £34,342,919 UK SPF and £3,512,301 Rural England Prosperity Fund, £34,349,306 has been committed to various projects to date. It was highlighted that a further 7% (£2, 324,775) is due to be approved shortly to projects in development.

The Funding and Programmes Manager then provided an overview of the various projects which have either been delivered or are being delivered across the county through the three core investment priorities of the UKSPF and REPF: Communities and Place, Supporting Local Businesses and People and Skills.

Members were informed by the Funding and Programmes Manager that in relation to the Multiply Programme, this is delivered by DurhamLearn and 11 Partners with significant outcomes including increased participation, enhanced workplace numeracy skills, progression to further education, increased confidence and better support for children’s education.

Concerning the REPF, the Funding and Programmes Manager confirmed that an open call was launched in July 2023 for projects to deliver capital investments to develop, extend, restore or refurbish local tourist assets and infrastructure to improve the visitor experiences. The minimum grant request was £50k, with a maximum of £100k. A total budget of £600k was allocated for this call with 23 Expression of Interest forms received by the deadline and following a period of project development undertaken by the UKSPF Team, 9 full applications totalling £760,703 were received. The prioritisation exercise resulted in seven applications being approved totalling £608,578 with one project subsequently withdrawing resulting in £532,773 committed.

The Funding and Programmes Manager concluded by commenting that the future of the UKSPF is unclear beyond the end of this current financial year. The lack of confirmation on the continuation of this funding and the amount local areas will receive poses a significant risk to the ability to deliver current UKSPF funded activities like employment support and business growth activities. This impact will be felt as early as Summer 2024 as projects start to curtail activity. It was confirmed that the County Durham Economic Partnership (CDEP) is advocating for at least one year bridging allocation to allow UKSPF funded activity to be continued.

Councillor A Surtees declared an interest as a Trustee of the Welcome Centre in Easington which was mentioned in the report as a recipient of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Responding to a query from Mr Simons regarding how the benefits and impact of various projects are communicated to the wider public, the Funding and Programmes Manager advised that they captured outcomes and benefits at project level through performance management and confirmed that in addition the Inclusive Economic Strategy Delivery Plan looks at how actions are delivered with an ongoing evaluation of projects. It was noted that Durham had been chosen as a case study by Government which would provide further information relating to the benefits of various projects and again, this would be reported. With regards to communication, a considerable amount of comms and marketing had been undertaken around specific projects and programmes such as the Business Productivity Growth Programme to ensure that business were aware of the support, events and business networks available. Individual activities were provided with their own press release, however it may not be identified as resulting from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and this was something that needed to be look into.

With regards to comments from Councillor A Surtees regarding whether grant funding would be defrayed in 2025 if not spent, the Funding and Programmes Manager confirmed that funding will be defrayed if there is an underspend however she advised that the individual projects are indicating that current available funding will be spent. In addition, it had been requested that continuation funding be rolled forward and she confirmed that the team were looking at where funds could be reallocated, if they were unable to roll funding forward.

Mrs R Morris commented that she was pleased to see that there is a careers framework to help improve skills within the county however she noted that it was targeted at specific groups and commented that it needs to be wide ranging and not just target those groups that are economically inactive, the framework needs to apply to everyone.  She continued by highlighting that it needs to link to schools and in relation to apprenticeships, she commented that currently there is not the take up, as young people were unaware of the opportunities apprenticeships offer. The Economic Development Manager confirmed that there was a focus on primary and secondary schools to ensure that schools, children and parents were aware of the future opportunities and pathways available. He confirmed that a meeting was to be held shortly to further progress the framework and that it applies to all ages. He highlighted apprenticeships are a central element and would be linked with the ongoing work of the Combined Authority.

Responding to queries from the Chair regarding who would be delivering the town centre vitality events programme and whether they included all County Durham town centres, the Economic Development Manager advised that there were a range of activities undertaken as part of the vitality programme and referred to a recent exercise to procure external provides to deliver twelve events across the County.

Resolved:

That the contents of the report be noted.