Agenda item

To receive a report on Business Support delivered through Covid and advise on plans moving forward.

At this point, Cllr Claire Stewart left the meeting and took no further part in the proceedings.

The scrutiny panel received a report from Bob Doyle (Head of Economic Development, Regeneration Planning & Program Management) and Sam Buckley (Head of Knowledge & Insights) updating members on Business Support: Covid and Post Covid.

1.            Presentation

The following was highlighted by Sam Buckley and Bob Doyle: 

a.    Most of the financial support schemes were now closed apart from the Additional Restrictions Grant which is still ongoing.

b.     In terms of financial support to date, the council has received financial support to distribute to local businesses through direct grants and business rates relief as detailed on pages 7-8 of the report.

c.    The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) is a special amount of money given to Local authorities by the Government, who were asked to come up with their own scheme to distribute funds through direct grants to businesses. The council ran an application scheme process and were successful in spending £9.6M out to approximately 1800 businesses. Many small home- based businesses and freelancers benefitted from this scheme ARG.

d.    A further £2.3M in further grants was received from central government and the council must now devise a plan to distribute this extra money to support businesses like nurseries - early year’s settings, dry cleaners and garages as key sectors that had suffered through the pandemic. Once agreed, a formal proposal would need to go to EMT and Cabinet. Also, looking to build on the work that has been successful for the Council i.e. Month of Sundays, Festivals and town centre regeneration. Assessment is made against every idea against government guidance and the Council’s objectives. Everything that is spent requires accountability, is data driven and evidence led with requires tangible outcomes.

e.    The Council were now in a position to offer 5 sustained business support schemes. The Council have partnered with the Federation of Small Businesses. This has already started, and the aim is to sign up 1000 small businesses and to give them access to a range of business support/guidance. Five other London Boroughs are now imitating the Enfield model.

f.     The Council are also in partnership with Enterprise Enfield on an e-business support programme to help businesses enhance their digital capabilities. This will help over 550 small businesses over the next 3 years.

g.    Through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) funding the Council proposes 3 new business support programmes. Two providers had already been chosen. The 3 programmes will serve:

·         scale ups (Business in the Community) – now engaged with 500 participants on this programme and hopefully creating many more ne businesses over the next 2 years.

·         start-ups (Business School) – to help 1000 new businesses over the next 2 years.

·         creative businesses (Business School) – Aiming to reach 500 business owners over the next 2 years.

2.    Questions/Comments

a.  Referring to point 16 (bullet point 6) of the report regarding youth unemployment and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). This had started with 150 members already. 50 kickstart placements were proposed from the FSB membership. The Council were waiting for approval by the DWP and it would then be ready to use between the candidates and prospective employers. The Chair asked for data/figures regarding the cultural ratio/background of those young people as it was important that the Council are reaching those hard to reach communities.

b.  As regards the distribution of grant monies and complaints from businesses about this, it was advised that the distribution was challenging at the beginning of this process i.e. volume of activity, putting application scheme in place, staffing changes, businesses requiring the money quicker, etc. Over time these complaints had eased off and at present the Council were receiving very little in terms of complaints.

c.   In terms of the MHCLG (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) who require assurance from Local Authorities about the accounting of grant money provision, it was advised that this was in process now with the deadline being the end of September 2021. The Council must provide a sample of all the grants (£120M) it has paid so far to Central Government. The sample of grants paid to businesses from certain post codes in the borough with evidence of:

·         Which businesses have been paid from these postcodes.

·         What the assurance process was.

·         What the application process was.

·         What insolvency checks were made

·         Were checks made for registration of these businesses in Enfield.

·         Fraud checks with the fraud team.

                   All processes had been followed including running businesses through ‘Spotlight’, an online tool made available by Central Government  to Enfield, before any monies were paid.

d.  The Panel were pleased with the work officers had done providing financial support to businesses in Enfield as regards the management and implementation. However, there were concerns were raised that the policy of supporting businesses could have been developed before the Covid pandemic struck and there was more that could have been done outside of the Covid Environment. A further report was requested to include strategies for the following:

·         The ending of furlough and the sectorial impact of that in Enfield. Residents will be impacted in different wards, who will those people be?

·         Remote working – is here to stay and will have a dramatic impact. There will need to be a change to the working environment. Remote working helps certain family circumstances and working arrangements and is a sectorial impact.

·         The Newables Board own workshops, they work with organisations that support converting offices into working locations. The Council have a seat on the shareholder group.

·         Empty shops the Council has.

·         Empty facilities that current landlords want to re-purpose.

                     The Council needs a strategy that addresses the above and it appears that this strategy can be implemented whether there is Covid or not. Officers need an understanding of this. Original ideas and how the Council plans this is required. A report is required that states what the issues are the Council are facing relating to Covid i.e. ending of Furlough and its impact, helping people with skills in some way and remote working.

                   The Council has potential building of homes near stations and have the ability to build workspaces and workplaces around those. The Council can engage and enable these which will rejuvenate its communities and high streets. The strategies should recognise Covid and state what the Council are doing as regards the above.

e.  Officers agreed to support all Councillors with the sharing of data/information on how businesses have been helped regarding grant payments, details of which businesses and in which wards. So, they can get an overview and visibility of this.

Attendance by officers at Ward Forums would be a good opportunity for officers to provide feedback on what Council work has been done over the past 18 months and planned additional work i.e. LTN’s, regeneration, etc.

f.    The Chair noted the Panel’s concern about what the Council is doing about increasing footfall through Enfield Town and getting back to normality. Directly starting with the Council’s workforce notwithstanding remote working.

g.  In reply to comments by the Panel regarding the grants system and how the panel could measure its success, officers clarified that they did have some information regarding this but was difficult to gauge what businesses would be doing with the grant and if it helped their business as officers could not necessarily ask business owners what they would do with the money. Where businesses had engaged with the team, they have said that they would like to contact them in the next 3 – 12 months to see if grants did have the impact they required and the long-term benefits. Officers did have some data on this and would take this away and look at what they can do.

3.      Chair’ Summary

a.  There would need to be 3-6 months further work on any additional report. The points raised would be considered in terms of reviewing the Panel’s Work Programme and where feedback can be heard next year.

b.  With regards to point e. (above), making use of Council and those seeking information. This would need to be taken back in terms of how better communications can be done.

c.   Councillor Gunawardena to e-mail the Chair about any specific information that is required. Officers to also take this back regarding how they communicate particular projects within particular wards, who the Councillors are, what the projects are and how to feed this back at ward forums i.e. leaflets, etc.

How quickly this will happen before Christmas is unknown as yet as there are still concerns by people gathering in large groups.

d.  The Chair noted the concerns about getting back to normality in terms of wards/surgeries.

e.  The Chair thanks Bob Doyle, Sam Buckley and their team for their work and in report including their initiatives. Many businesses are grateful in the way the Council has conducted itself and able to keep them afloat through difficult times.