Agenda item

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and to make the following resolutions:

(1)  That the Enabling Grant Scheme for new and existing small businesses, as set out in section 4, supported by £83,333 allocated from the Pooled Business Rate Fund, and that the Head of Commercial Services be authorised to approve grants under the scheme be approved.

(2)  That a record of all grants allocated under the scheme be reported to the Grants and Concessions Panel to ensure co-ordination of the two approval processes be approved.

RESOLVED

(1)  That the Enabling Grant Scheme for new and existing small businesses as set out in section 4 of the agenda report (amended to allow a maximum grant for capital grants to be £2,500) be approved, to be supported by £83,333 allocated from the Pooled Business Rate Fund and that the Head of Commercial Services be authorised to approve grants under the Scheme.

(2)  That a record of all grants allocated under the Scheme be reported to the Grants and Concessions Panel to ensure co-ordination of the two processes be approved.

The Cabinet considered the agenda report (copy attached to the official minutes).

The report was presented by Mrs Keegan.

Mr Oates was in attendance for this item.

Mrs Keegan reviewed the forerunners to and explained the Enabling Grant Scheme (EGS), which was now being proposed as from December 2016 as a result of the approved funding from the Pooled Business Rates Fund for the county’s district and borough councils. The details of how the EGS would operate were set out in section 4 of the report. It was important to publicise the scheme as widely and inventively as possible.     

Mr Oates said that there was clear evidence from the 2005-2009 and the 2013 schemes to show how small grants made an appreciable economic difference to new and existing small businesses in terms of increased turnover, job opportunities and general hope and optimism. A similar success story was sought by virtue of this new scheme.

Mr Over advised that in the second sentence of para 4.2 of the report the sum of £2,500 should be substituted for that of £2,000 so that it read: ‘Capital projects will be funded to a maximum of £2,500.’ This amendment would replicate the £2,500 ceiling for consideration by the Grants and Concessions Panel (GCP) of applications for such grants and thereby avoid the need to have to refer applications for funding over £2,000 and under £2,500 to the GCP. As stated in para 4.3 of the report, the GCP would be kept informed of all grants allocated by the Economic Development Service (EDS) under the EGS.

The Cabinet members commended the scheme.

In reply to members’ questions on points of detail, Mr Oates and Mr Over explained (a) why (to avoid delay) applicants might prefer to seek funding directly from the EGS rather than submit an application to the GCP; (b) the EGS would be more focussed than those grants considered by the GCP eg apprenticeships and capital grants and would be limited to smaller businesses; (c) how the EDS would process grant applications; (d) that the GCP might benefit thereby from a reduction in the volume of business it had to consider; (e) the definition of a small business (number of employees); (f) the Cabinet could be kept informed as to how the EGS was working; and (g) the EGS would run until September 2017.           

It was agreed by the Cabinet that the text of the first recommendation (para 2.2 of the report) should be amended to reflect the aforementioned advice given by Mr Over that in the second sentence of para 4.2 of the report the sum of £2,500 should be substituted for that of £2,000 so that it read: ‘Capital projects will be funded to a maximum of £2,500.’     

Decision

At the conclusion of the debate the Cabinet voted on a show of hands unanimously in favour of the recommendations in paras 2.1 (as amended) and 2.2 of the report.

RESOLVED

(1)  That the Enabling Grant Scheme for new and existing small businesses as set out in section 4 of the agenda report (amended to allow a maximum grant for capital grants to be £2,500) be approved, to be supported by £83,333 allocated from the Pooled Business Rate Fund and that the Head of Commercial Services be authorised to approve grants under the Scheme.

(2)  That a record of all grants allocated under the Scheme be reported to the Grants and Concessions Panel to ensure co-ordination of the two processes be approved.