2a. 230907 - AEPB Minute
North Ayrshire Council · 25 April 2024
Back to Ayrshire Economic Partnership Board — 25 April 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Ayrshire Economic Partnership Board 7 September 2023 At a Meeting of the Ayrshire Economic Partnership Board at 1.00 p.m. involving participation by remote electronic means. Present Councillors Marie Burns and Anthony Gurney (North Ayrshire Council); Douglas Reid, Iain Linton and Maureen McKay (East Ayrshire Council); and Martin Dowey and William Grant (South Ayrshire Council). In Attendance C. Hatton, N. McIlvanney and L. Kirk (North Ayrshire Council); D. McDowall, E. Mackay, P. Davies and D. Watt (East Ayrshire Council); G. Hunter, L. Reid, D. Yuille and S. Yeardley (South Ayrshire Council); R. Phillips (Scottish Government); D. McCrindle (Scottish Enterprise); A. Cox (Ayrshire College); J. Mone (University of West of Scotland); A. Dobson (Taste of Arran); S. Foster (Spirit AeroSystems); H. Kuboyama (Federation of Small Businesses); M. Roughhead (Visit Scotland); C. Baird (Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce); S. Crauford (Craufurdland Country Estate); C. Stewart and H. Clancy (North Ayrshire Council). Apologies Councillor Bob Pollock (South Ayrshire Council) and Stephen Canning, substitute (East Ayrshire Council), Katie Hutton (Skills Development Scotland), Russell McCutcheon (North Ayrshire Council), Eddie Fraser and Graham Saunders (East Ayrshire Council), Eileen Howat (South Ayrshire Council), Paul Zealey (Skills Development Scotland, Gillian Docherty (University of Strathclyde), Christine Johnstone (Scottish Government) and Milan Radosavljevic (University of the West of Scotland). Chair Councillor Douglas Reid in the Chair (for first item of business only). Councillor Marie Burns, thereafter. 1. Appointment of Chair It was agreed, subject to approval of the Joint Committee, to appoint Councillor Marie Burns (North Ayrshire Council) as Chair of the Ayrshire Economic Partnership Board for the period from September 2023 to 31 August 2024. Councillor Burns took the Chair at this point in the meeting and thanked Councillor Douglas Reid, for starting off proceedings and for his hard work and diligence as previous Chair of both the Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee and Partnership Board. 2. Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest by Members in terms of Standing Order 11 and Section 5 of the Code of Conduct for Councillors
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3. Minutes The Minutes of Special meeting of the Partnership Board held on 7 August 2023 were confirmed and the Minutes signed in accordance with Paragraph 7 (1) of Schedule 7 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. 4. AGD Internal Audit Annual Report 2022/23 Submitted report by the Chief Auditor (East Ayrshire Council) providing for noting an annual report on internal audit activity in line with obligations laid out in Ayrshire Growth Deal (AGD) Governance Document. The Partnership Board agreed to (a) note and endorse the Internal Audit Annual Report 2022/23; and (b) the report being submitted for consideration at the next Ordinary meeting of the Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee (AEJC), noting the statutory context at paragraph 3 within the report which the internal audit function operated including freedom from limitations on the scope of work including reporting. 5. AGD Internal Audit Plan 2023/24 Submitted report by the Chief Auditor (East Ayrshire Council) providing for noting an annual consolidated internal audit plan in line with obligations laid out in Ayrshire Growth Deal (AGD) Governance Document. The Partnership Board agreed to (a) note and endorse the Internal Audit Annual Plan 2023/24; and (b) the report being submitted for consideration at the next Ordinary meeting of the Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee (AEJC), noting the statutory context at paragraph 6 where AGD assignments are formally approved within the individual Council’s internal audit plans. 6. Ayrshire Growth Deal Programme Risk Register Update (August 2023) Submitted report by the Chief Auditor (East Ayrshire Council) providing for noting an annual consolidated internal audit plan in line with obligations laid out in Ayrshire Growth Deal (AGD) Governance Document. Members asked questions and were provided with further information in relation to:- • the scoring in the first column of Appendix 1 under ‘Risk’ which required an update to the narrative, to reflect the up-to-date position in relation to the Proposed Matrix and Score. The Partnership Board agreed the content of the report, subject to an amendment to the first column of Appendix 1 (as referred to above), and recommended approval to the Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee for the updated Programme Risk Register dated August 2023.
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7. Ayrshire Growth Deal - Programme Update Submitted report by the Head of Economic Growth (East Ayrshire Council) on the programme of the Ayrshire Growth Deal and the development of its component projects as at 25 August 2023 (Appendix 1). The Partnership Board agreed the content of the report and recommended approval to the Ayrshire Joint Committee to (a) note (i) the updates provided in the report, (ii) the progress across the Ayrshire Growth Deal Programme, and (iii) actions to address anticipated slippage of business case milestones and risk to financial drawdown. 8. Exclusion of the Public – Paras 9 & 10 The Partnership Board resolved in terms of Section 50(A)4 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude from the Meeting the press and the public for the following items of business on the grounds indicated in terms of Paragraphs 9 & 10 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act. 9. Ayrshire Growth Deal Spaceport delivery proposals Submitted report by the Assistant Director – Strategic Change (South Ayrshire Council) on the above. Following questions and discussion, the Partnership Board agreed to endorse the recommendations in the report. 10. Ayrshire Growth Deal Subsea Cable and Infill projects re-scoping proposal Submitted report by the Assistant Director – Strategic Change (South Ayrshire Council) on the above. Following questions and discussion, the Partnership Board agreed to endorse the recommendations in the report. The meeting ended at 2.20 p.m.