Agenda and minutes

          The Minutes from the meeting held on 6^th June 2025, were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

          It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

          The Board was presented with the minutes relating to the Employment, Learning & Skills and Community Portfolio and Corporate Services Portfolio, which had been considered by the Executive Board since the last meeting of the Board.

          The Board noted that relevant items should come to the PPB before they are approved by the Executive Board.

          Regarding Activity Funding, the Board noted that it should be funded more clearly with information on how to access it. The circumstances of the group who received the funding was in the report received by the Executive board themselves.

          The Board received a report and accompanying presentation which provided an overview on the Halton Business Investment & Growth Team. The Halton Business, Investment & Growth Team run the UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund) funded Halton Business Support Service and offered expert assistance to local businesses to make them more productive and competitive. They also helped with growth strategies and property searches.

          The presentation outlined the range of current services offered to Halton businesses, progress on the delivery of the funded programmes and a view to post March-2026 when the UKSPF funding ends as it covered all the services provided by the Team. Work done by the Team included signposting businesses to local council services, having one to one meetings and workshops with businesses in Halton to educate them on area like cyber security. 67 businesses were supported between 2022-25 which was the target and 15 new businesses created but they were still checking how many jobs were created.

          The targets for 2025-26 were a lot smaller due to the end of the UKSPF Programme; for example, five businesses had been created with the Team this year out of the targeted 10. Positive feedback from the businesses helped had been received. For the future, the Liverpool City Region (LCR) will focus on business support, housing, strategic planning & regeneration, transport, digital & energy infrastructure, employment skills and health as part of its industrial strategy.

          LCR will look at what could be done to replace UKSPF when it ends in March 2026 by looking at best practices and to ensure that it would not need to be as reliant on external funding. The Team will work with the highest growing and business rate paying businesses in Halton for different aspects and businesses important to residents will be considered. An Economic Forum will be held in early 2026 which 140 companies attended when this was held the previous year.

          It was confirmed that there was no clarity on what will replace the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) as Central Government attention shifted towards combined authorities and devolution. Business rate relief was unavailable under the UKSPF, but the Team will signpost businesses to alternative sources of support, though this gap made it harder for new enterprises to establish themselves.

A proposal was raised that the council should require new developments in Halton to offer on-site apprenticeships for local young people, in partnership with schools and the college.

The Team’s promotional materials for town centre regeneration will be shared with the Board.

It was confirmed that outreach to developers and property agents was conducted via the Liverpool City Region (LCR) network, real estate events, and local promotion. The Council did not have its own budget for self-promotion. The Board noted a need to better highlight Halton’s strengths, for example its transport links.

Halton’s strongest economic sector was retail, but housing and construction employed the most people. The fastest-growing sectors tended to be those receiving the most business support. Historically, European funding did not cover retail services, so retail  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Councillor Aimee Skinner left the Meeting at this juncture at 19:32

          The Board received a report and accompanying presentation which provided an overview on the Sci-Tech Daresbury Joint Venture and the positive impact it had. Sci-Tech Daresbury Joint Venture was established in 2010 as a partnership with the Science & Technology Facilities Council (Daresbury Labs) and Langtree Property Partners. The campus has been a legally designated Enterprise Zone since 2012 and in 2024 it became part of the Liverpool City Region Health & Life Sciences Investment Zone. It’s the only national UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Lab in north England and 160 companies were on site, some were large while others had their Head Quarters on site.

          The presentation outlined the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus and the big companies it had on site, including the fastest supercomputer in the UK and one of Europe’s largest liquid helium cryogenic cooling facilities. These had led to other companies moving to the site where there was a 95% survival rate. There were mainly small businesses onsite, but the average sales growth was 29%. £45 million was invested into the campus and £20 million of this was from public sector grants. £6.5 million of this came from the Council using the Enterprise Zone Borrowing mechanism which meant that the joint venture paid back the Council borrowing the money.

          The Council was a shareholder in the campus owning 25% and investing £500,000 in initially but this was worth £4 million now in assets. £883,000 can be reinvested into the enterprise zone until 2037. The Council retains the business rates from the centre and all but one business who left the campus stayed in Halton.

          15% of employees on site were from Halton and this roughly increased to up to 40% for the businesses who moved into another premises in Halton. Over 70% of jobs at Sci-Tech Daresbury are degree level and above and over 189 apprenticeships were created in the last four years. Officers were awaiting information to see how many of these apprentices were from Halton. Two businesses had put roughly £3 million into the local economy. Businesses from the site had worked with local schools and colleges to engage with students on things like coding and video game design. 

          It was confirmed that placements at the Campus had increased for students from schools in Halton but it was unknown if employment levels were low because they were not being offered or applied to by local students.

          Officers agreed to ask the companies of site to see if they were receiving applications from students from Halton. However, it was possible that applications came from local people who went to a university out of the Borough.

          Warrington had recently stopped their bus service to the Campus, but Halton were retendering their service. It was noted that a lot of people got there on bikes and the Council had an electric bike leasing scheme.

          Regarding the charity partnership, the Board requested that the next charity partnership be established with a charity based in Halton.

          As the mangers of the site,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

          The Board received a report on Halton’s Creative Curriculum for Adult Learning in 2024/25. Work was done to design programmes that would allow a holistic development of literacy, teamwork, communication/presentation skills, self-reflection and confidence. Halton Adult Learning was fully externally funded by LCR’s Adult Skills Fund. There were previously issues with staff members going off on long-term sick leave. Officers provided brochures to the Board detailing the work undertaken in 2024/25 including crafts, murals, educational trips to free to access places and writing stories which were published. Most of the 450 adult learners in Halton enrolled on the creative courses and the feedback received was very positive.

          It was confirmed that Halton Adult Learning will need to pay £20,000 back to LCR as the allocation target was not met. However, they had recently received £25,000 from the UKSPF to provide literacy lessons.

          Regarding the books that the adult learners had got published, Officers agreed to provide them put into local schools as it promoted local successes.

          Historically, there had been issues with getting non-accredited courses funded but a lot of adults did not want to take accredited courses because there could be negative connotations for exams. Classes were 12 adults at maximum in order to help individual learning.

          The Board praised the work done by Halton Adult Learning and suggested that the artwork of the learners go in Bridley Theatre.

          It was confirmed that the learning courses were for adults aged 19 and above.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

          The Board received the performance management reports for Quarter 1 of 2025-26 (1 April 2025 to 30 June 2025) and were requested to consider and raise any questions or points of clarification in respect of these.

          The key priorities for development or improvement in 2025-26 were agreed by Members and for the various function areas reported to the Board as follows:

    · Enterprise, Employment and Skills; and

    · Community and Environment.

          The report detailed progress against service objectives and milestones and performance targets and provided information relating to key developments and emerging issues that had arisen during the period.

          It was confirmed that the new Brindley library was now set to open in the spring of 2026 due to site issues. Despite the footfall reduction at the relocated library, service usage had increased due to the usage of online services. It was assumed that the reduction in footfall was because of the relocation.

          Regarding the report, it was clarified that things were recorded as ‘on target’ unless the target was missed.

          Officers agreed to get an update regarding the condition of the swimming pool at Halton Leisure Centre. At the Leisure Centre, it was confirmed that there were no official complaints regarding the changing village but there was a camera filming the corridor outside it and this was an important security feature. It was noted that it was the Board who recommended this security camera.

          The Board noted that there was some bad behaviour regarding swimmers at the pool in the leisure centre.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

          The Board received a report from the Director of Finance, which gave the Council’s overall revenue and capital spending position as at 31 May 2025, together year-end outturn position. All Policy and Public Performance Boards had received this report.

          It was confirmed that the Board were unable to receive the budget information for July 2025 was because the agenda legally had to be published before this paperwork was ready.

          The Board noted the cost of agency staff in care homes had on the Council and queried whether costs would have to be increased to maintain these services.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.