Alwen Williams
(Portfolio Director) to present the report.
Decision:
1. To
note the Annual Report for 2023/24.
2. To
approve the submission of the Annual Report 2023/24 to the Welsh Government and
UK Government as well as the local authorities' scrutiny committees.
Minutes:
The report was presented by the Portfolio Director
with support from Ambition North Wales officers.
RESOLVED
Noted and accepted:
1. To
note the Annual Report for 2023/24.
2. To approve the submission of
the Annual Report for 2023/24 to the Welsh Government and UK Government, as
well as the local authorities' scrutiny committees.
REASONS FOR THE
DECISION
Quarterly
and annual reporting on progress against the North Wales Growth Deal is one of
the requirements of the Final Growth Deal Agreement. Following consideration
from the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, the reports would be shared with
the Welsh Government, UK Government and the local
authorities' scrutiny committees.
DISCUSSION
It
was explained that the report provided an overview of the Growth Deal and the
progress that had been made when fulfilling projects, expressing thanks to the
Ambition North Wales officers for their quality work throughout the year.
The
Members were guided through the Report's main points, drawing specific
attention to:
·
2023/24
Highlights -
It was acknowledged that challenges had prevented Outline and Full Business
Cases from being approved during the first half of the year and the officers
were thanked for their work to ensure that those business cases developed in a
timely manner to be considered later in the year. Additionally, it was
confirmed that they were working on alternative projects such as the Hydrogen
Sponsor challenge and they had managed to introduce five new projects to join
the Growth Deal. It was emphasised that many Outline Business Cases, such as
the Tourism Talent Network and Former North Wales Hospital, and Full Business
Cases, such as the Deeside Anaerobic Digestion Work had been approved by the
Board during the second half of the year. It was elaborated that the Former
North Wales Hospital Full Business Plan had now been approved by the Board.
·
Digital Signals Processing Centre (DSP) -
It was confirmed that this was the first project to reach the aim of fulfilment
and that 2023/24 was its second year doing so. They were proud that the project
had led to creating 13 jobs and had produced an additional GVA of £1.275m. It
was elaborated that the project had now secured additional funding of £1.5m. It
was noted that the project continued to collaborate with 18 partners and that
53 people had attended the skills and training sessions during the year.
·
Enterprise Engineering & Optics
Centre - Pride was expressed that the work of building the centre
had commenced since February 2024 and that the work continued to develop ahead
of schedule. They were reminded that the centre was an innovative building to
develop business cooperation and develop skills in optics, photonics and
composites, as light alternative choices for manufacturing. It was also noted
that the development would integrate hydrogen as an alternative fuel source,
contributing to sustainable practices in industry by reducing the carbon
emissions of regional companies. It was emphasised that a key part of the
project was attracting investment to north Wales and creating local employment,
emphasising that approximately 70 to 90 new jobs were anticipated to be created
within the centre and over a thousand people trained to provide innovative
solutions for the future.
·
Local
Broadband Fund
- It was explained that the project had upgraded broadband connections on 17
sites managed by the public sector and had installed fibre optic broadband with
gigabyte ability in areas of the local authorities and health sites in Wrexham,
Gwynedd, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy. It was
acknowledged that it had not been possible to report on the wider impact of the
work to date but the suppliers had confirmed that such
data would be available to the Members soon.
·
The
Regional Skills Partnership
- Members were reminded that the partnership's current Skills Plan had been in
operation for a year by now and that the partnership's work focused on the
priority of 'Enabling and Empowering Employers' as well as 'Enabling and
Empowering Individuals'.
o
It was reported that officers had been
collaborating with employers in the low carbon sector to understand their needs
before collaborating with colleges and universities to address any gaps in key
skills. It was acknowledged that businesses were not aware of the innovative
equipment and provision that was available in North Wales. It was emphasised
that this had led to skills prospectus development which shared information
about the skills that can be nurtured in colleges and universities in the
region. Pride was expressed that the prospectus enabled companies to re-train
their staff and gave confidence to anyone who moved into the area, that it was
possible to learn these skills here.
o
Reference was made to the work that the
partnership had been doing with HMP Berwyn to recruit previous offenders. They were
proud that this scheme had been successful as officers had held discussions
with employers and that many previous offenders had managed to get a job
following their release from prison. It was emphasised that this work would
continue over the next year.
o It was reported that officers
had been collaborating with young people to teach them about career pathways
and help them to succeed in following it whilst remaining within the region. It
was explained that officers had managed to do this by promoting courses that
were available within the region as well as drawing attention to jobs that were
available in North Wales. It was reported that this was currently being
trialled through a joint pilot scheme with Isle of Anglesey County Council. It
was detailed that the partnership had collaborated with the five secondary
schools in the County to integrate career pathways as soon as possible when
young people moved to primary schools. It was explained that the pilot would
extend to Flintshire County Council over the next year.
o Digital
Skills Research - Reference was made to research commissioned
by the Skills Partnership which engaged with organisations in each sector. It
was noted that work had commenced via a questionnaire and 68 responses were
received across the region from different sectors. It
was acknowledged that many matters had arisen within this questionnaire,
including lack of diversity within workplaces, with fewer women working in some
fields. Attention was given to many exciting aspects that were underway, such
as Artificial Intelligence and technological games.
o
It was reported that the enquiry commissioned
had led to eight recommendations for the future, and that many of them detailed
collecting information to ensure that it was available across the region. It
was confirmed that work was being done to fulfil these eight recommendations as
future targets through a variety of videos, meetings, campaigns
and case studies. It was confirmed that the report was available to the Members
if they wished to look at it.
o Young Person’s Support Pack - It was explained that the
pack had been divided into four parts to reflect that each young person was
different and taught in different methods. It was detailed that the four parts were; written PDF document, animated video, written case
studies and case studies in video form. It was explained that a common theme
across all these parts were transferable skills and displaying the different
ways available to reach career targets. They were proud that over 2000 visits had
been made to the site since it was launched in January, with the PDF document
downloaded over 1000 times.
·
Local
Area Energy Plans and Regional Energy Strategy - It was noted that officers had
collaborated closely with suppliers and the local authorities, as well as
stakeholders to develop energy plans. It was emphasised that the main aim of
the team was to support the work of local authorities' officers whilst ensuring
consistency across all regions and that there was continuous cooperation with
Regional Energy Strategy and National Policies and Plans. It was confirmed that
the development of the strategy and these plans had been a very thorough
process with a high number of contributions by partners. Everyone was thanked
for sharing their opinion and experiences to ensure that these plans would help
targets to reach Net Zero Carbon. It was reported that the final plans were
currently being reviewed to ensure that the information and targets were correct and they would be translated and shared with the
local authorities as soon as possible.
·
Shared
Prosperity Funding
- Members were reminded that over a million pounds had been secured from the
Shared Prosperity Funding to deliver work streams that run in parallel to the
plans of the Growth Deal. Pride was expressed that many of the work streams
were now operational. An update was shared on the work streams, noting:
o Skills
and Employment - It was noted that the Tropic company had
been commissioned to develop a Skills and Employment Portal to raise awareness
of jobs available in the region and to inspire young people to consider a
career in priority sectors within the area.
o Benefits
and Social Value - It was reported that an officer was
developing an online monitoring platform for social value commitments and best practices
would be shared across the region.
o Energy
and Zero Net - It was confirmed that small grants were
available for small and medium businesses through a project to help write
successful bids, in the hope that companies would then go on to make an application
to the Growth Plan's 'Smart Local Energy' project when it would be operational.
o Digital -
It was reported that this was the biggest work stream within the plan,
including 'Rural Digital Community Support', 'SME Connectivity Assessments',
'Access Agreements' and 'Mobile Coverage Survey'.
They were looking forward to next
year, noting that it was very busy with many projects underway. It was
confirmed that there were many Business Cases to be considered over the year,
including 'Deeside Anaerobic Digestion Work', 'Tourism Talent Network',
Environmental Biotechnology Centre, LPWAN, Cydnerth,
Parc Bryn Cegin, Advanced Wireless and Responsible
Adventures.
Attention was drawn to the fact that
it was hoped that the transfer of the Portfolio Management Office and the
Growth Deal to the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee would happen within
the current year, meaning that work would be underway to ensure that
arrangements were in place for a successful transfer.
In addition, reference was made to
many developments where officers procured for projects. It was detailed that
these would include: Smart
Local Energy, Environmental Biotechnology Centre, Tourism Talent Network, Cydnerth, Enterprise Engineering and Optics Centre and AAP
Framework. They were looking forward to seeing the developments of these
projects, as well as all the other developments over the year to come.
The officers were thanked for their
continuous work.
Supporting documents: