Minutes:
(Verbal update by the Chairman, Mr Wickham and Ms B Cooper, Director of Economic Development)
1. The Chairman raised the issue of the Cabinet Committee visits which he considered had not been well attended in the past. He asked whether Members wished to retain the idea of visits and if so whether they wished to visit businesses that were recipients of the Regional Development Fund.
2. Members were given the opportunity to make comments and ask questions which included the following:-
a) A Member suggested that this Cabinet Committee was enhanced by the visits which gave the opportunity for Members to speak with business people to gain a better understanding of the issues businesses faced. This was considered a strength of this Cabinet Committee.
b) A Member suggested that the visits could be combined with the diarised Cabinet Committee meeting dates with half a day set aside for the meeting and the other half of the day for the visits as a solution to overcome poor attendance.
c) A Member considered that it was important that the Cabinet Committee meetings were not curtailed and full debate took place to ensure that the Members views were heard by the Cabinet Member.
d) A Member asked that the visits were set well in advance to give more Members the opportunity to attend to avoid clashes with other diary commitments.
e) The Chairman suggested that High Growth Kent gave a presentation at the next Cabinet Committee and Ms Cooper suggested a visit for Members to meet the coaches at High Growth Kent to hear about the barriers and obstacles to opportunities that businesses were facing.
f) A Member suggested that the Cabinet Meeting due to be held on 19 April should be moved in light of the forthcoming County Council elections in May.
g) The Chairman agreed to discuss the merits of the suggestions at the next agenda setting meeting.
3. The Chairman invited the Director of Economic Development to give her verbal update. Ms Cooper raised the following:
· The Cabinet Committee had received presentations at previous meeting about Kent Rural PLC and its aim to value the food and horticultural sector in Kent.
· KCC had bought the report together. The Private Sector Board had produced a report in the style of the FTSE 100 index annual report which showed that if Kent was a FTSE 100 company it would be at number 53.
· The challenge was to determine how best to use the information.
· Eminent presenters were present at the launch including a representative from Barclays that dealt with national agricultural investments who said that this was the first time they had seen anything like this report produced and that it was a good start in showing how important the horticultural sector was not only in Kent but the United Kingdom.
· Ms Cooper highlighted that the report included interesting comparisons about capital investment, upstream and down stream investment in food and horticulture compared to other sectors.
· Ms Cooper agreed to submit further updates to the Cabinet Committee.
4. RESOLVED that the responses to comments and questions by Members and the verbal update be noted, with thanks.