Agenda item

(To consider a report from Justin Brown, Assistant Director – Growth, on the Business Support Programme Reserve Funds which is being presented to the Leader of the Council for decision between 2^nd and 7th July 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Leader of the Council as part of his consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report from presented by the Head of Economic Development on behalf of the Assistant Director – Growth, on the Business Support Programme Reserve Funds which was being presented to the Leader of the Council for decision between 2^nd and 7^th July 2021. The views of the Board would be reported to the Leader of the Council as part of his consideration of this item.

The report reminded members that full Council approval had been given on the 19^thFebruary 2021 to create a Support for Business Reserve Fund of £12m to provide grant programmes designed to support Lincolnshire businesses who had been directly impacted by Covid-19 and to enable them to survive and adapt to the changing environment and grow once restrictions were lifted. On 19^thFebruary 2021 the Leader of the Council had approved the provision of four grant programmes. The grant programmes had been well received and in particular the Digital and Rural business grants had been substantially oversubscribed. This report requested approval to repurpose £1.5m from the initial £12m approved fund to help to meet the scale of demand. The report recommended that because the initial period of economic uncertainty resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic had now ended, that  the County Council's business support programme should close on Friday 13^thAugust 2021.

The report recommended that the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor for Resources, Communications and Commissioning):- approve capping the amount to be distributed by way of Business Recovery Fund grants so that no applications were processed which would take the total funding distributed above £3.700m; approve increasing the total funding available through the Digital Voucher Scheme by £0.750m to £1.750m; approve increasing the total funding available through the Rural Business Grant Scheme by £0.750m to £1.750m; approve the closure of all four  programmes of the business support programme so that no payments were made in respect of any application which had not been approved by 5.00pm on Friday 13 August 2021.

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         Applications for funding had been dealt with on a first come first serve basis. For those applications which had missed out on the initial funding for the Digital Voucher Scheme and the Rural Business Grant Scheme, this was due to the timing of the submission of the applications and not because of any issues with the applications.

·         The Digital Voucher Scheme and the Rural Business Grant Scheme would not be opened up to new applicants or re advertised. Only those applicants on the waiting list would be invited to complete a full application for the additional funding, which would be allocated by working down the waiting list of applications in order of submission. If the applicant was unable to continue with their application, then the next applicant on the waiting list would be invited to complete a full application.

·         For the Digital Voucher Scheme, it was estimated that there would be approximately 400 applications on the waiting list which would not be taken forward. Around £1.5m of additional funding would be required to fund these applications. For the Rural Business Grant Scheme, there would be between 60 and 70 applications not taken forward which would require over £1m of additional funding to fund these applications. However, some of the applications on the waiting lists might be ineligible for the additional funding or the applicant might not be able to progress with their application due to a change in circumstances.

·         Alternative funding streams had been identified which unsuccessful applicants would be guided to. These included European and digital grant funding. Discussions with the District Councils were on-going for those who did not qualify for the Digital Voucher Scheme.

·         Once the Business Support Programme had concluded, it was agreed that a report on its operation and the positive benefits derived from it be brought forward for the Board's consideration.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the recommendations as outlined in the report and above, be supported;

2.      That a summary of the comments as outlined above be reported to the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor for Resources, Communications, and Commissioning) as part of his consideration of this item;

3.      That a report on the general operation of the scheme and, in particular, any positive benefits derived from it be submitted to the Board once the scheme had ended.