Agenda item

Further to their declarations of interest, Councillor Kelham Cooke (Leader of the Council), Councillor Adam Stokes (Deputy Leader of the Council) and Karen Bradford (Chief Executive) as Directors of InvestSK Ltd left the meeting at this stage of proceedings.

Councillor Linda Wootten, Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance and Licensing, chaired the meeting for this item.

Purpose of report

To provide Cabinet with an opportunity to consider options and recommendations relating to the efficiencies and financial considerations of insourcing InvestSK Ltd.

Decision

That Cabinet approves:

1.    InvestSK Ltd be dissolved as a company as at 31 March 2022 and the activity be transferred to the Council’s Growth and Culture Directorate for implementation at the earliest opportunity.

2.    The successful InvestSK brand be retained.

3.    The annual funding allocated to InvestSK Ltd be included in the Council’s Growth and Culture Directorate and the remaining InvestSK Ltd financial reserve be utilised to fund the additional pension costs that will be incurred by the Council.

4.    The development of a communication plan for both external and internal announcements by the outgoing InvestSK Ltd Board of Directors.

Alternative options considered and rejected

In terms of the delivery model for 2022 onwards, based on the evaluation work undertaken, three options were considered as follows:

·         Retain the existing InvestSK model

·         Bring InvestSK Ltd in-house

·         Cease delivery

Reason for decision

In recognition of the economic landscape resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Invest SK Ltd Business Plan presented to the Companies Committee on 22 September 2020 refined the focus to the priorities of business support, regeneration, place making and the visitor economy. Following a series of further restructures, the functions of the team had returned to those originally identified and the staffing numbers had reduced accordingly. For the current financial year, the number of budgeted posts was seven, with the budget for the year being £370,000. Of that budget, 84% had been allocated towards staffing costs.

InvestSK had achieved several objectives and outcomes since it was first formed and more recently had been working extremely closely with the Council to support the administration of over £51 million of Covid grant support to 3,000 businesses across the district. Further recent successes included securing £5.56m for the Grantham Future High Street Fund and additional funding to support delivery of the Grantham High Street Heritage Action Zone. Externally and amongst the business community, InvestSK had an excellent reputation and a strong track record of delivery.

A review by the InvestSK Board undertaken in November 2021 considered an in-house alternative for both practical reason and as a means of achieving the Council’s economic development and regeneration leadership responsibilities. Having gone through a consultation process and in considering all of the options available, the following advantages of insourcing the services associated with InvestSK were noted:

·         The role and responsibility would embed alongside Planning, Planning Policy, Leisure and Cultural Services, under the leadership of the Director of Growth and Culture

·         Terms and conditions for staff would improve which should aid morale and retention

·         Potential to explore closer working with other Council team, as well as for partnerships with neighbouring local authorities to deliver efficiencies

At the meeting of the Council’s Companies Committee held on 25 January 2022, unanimous support was given for the recommendations contained within the report.