Purpose

Proposed
decision
 
Approval of the Investment Advisory Board
Terms of Reference and the recent voluntary appointments made to
the Boards: The Investment Advisory Board, (“IAB”), IAB
Sub-Group and the IAB Debt Recovery Group.
 
Reason for the decision
 
The
Investment Advisory Board (IAB), the IAB Sub-Group and the IAB Debt
Recovery Group convene monthly to support the operational delivery
of the Kent & Medway Business Fund, Innovation Initiative
Investment Fund (i3), the Discovery Park Technology Fund (DPTIF),
Kent Life Sciences Fund (KLS) and the RGF Bespoke Equity Fund
(RGFBEF). The role of the boards and sub groups is to
make

·        
Recommendations to KCC to approve, reject or defer a
funding application, include what conditions should be set if a
funding is approved.

·        
Recommendations to KCC to reprofile repayment
schedules for companies in receipt of funding within the Loan
Portfolio and/or make recommendations to recover loan funds where
all other repayment options have been exhausted.

 
The
work of The Boards are covered by a number of Key Decisions
attributable to specific loan schemes, the latest being 2300088 in
conjunction with a revised set of Terms of Reference.
 
Background
 
The
original Kent & Medway IAB Terms of Reference have been
formally reviewed, by the Office of General Counsel and Officers of
the Business Investment Team in conjunction with external support
from a specialist lawyer within Bevan Brittan.  This work provided a new draft set of Terms of
Reference for review and subsequent approval on 16 January 2024 by
the Investment Advisory Board. 

Recruitment, vetting process, and exit interview
process of Volunteer Board Members

 
To
support the interim recruitment and thereafter an annual
recruitment drive (subject to requirements for additional board
members), the Business Investment Team developed a recruitment
process along with template documentation, have established a
recruitment panel supported by the Interim Head of Economy, Steve
Samson and Susan Berdo, Strategic Programme Manager.  This includes an exit interview process, which has
been developed to support the continuous improvement of the
Boards’ activities and delivery thereof.

 
Options (other options considered but discarded)

 
The Investment
Advisory Board (IAB), IAB Sub-Group and IAB Debt Recovery Group
have operated in their current capacity for a number of years and
following a full review of the loan schemes, their associated
administrative processes and funding thereof, options were
considered for Board composition and recruitment , in line with the
revised Terms of Reference provided by Bevan Brittan and supported
by the Office of General Counsel.
 

1.   
Continue with the same recruitment processes which
involved the nomination by an existing Board Member of a proposed
new Board Member to approach.  This was
discarded in favour of 2. below.

2.   
Review the recruitment process and fully develop an
open and transparent recruitment process for volunteer board
members, and draw future membership from a more diverse business
demographic which would ensure representative from all the business
sectors within Kent & Medway, and those future emerging
sectors.
 
How the proposed decision supports the

Framing Kent's Future
- Our Council Strategy 2022-2026
 
The Kent & Medway
Business Fund (Standard) and KMBF Small Business Boost
supports:

·        
Priority 1 – Levelling Up Kent (2, 3, 4, 5, 6
and 7)

·        
Priority 2 – Infrastructure for Communities
(3)

·        
Priority 3 – Environmental Step Change
(7)
 
How the proposed
decision supports the Kent & Medway
Economic Framework
The Kent & Medway
Business Fund supports:
Ambition 1, Action
area 4: Supports the conditions for Growth
 
How the proposed
decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022
-2026:
Securing
Kent’s Future - Budget
Recovery Strategy.pdf
 
The decision is
compliant with the Strategic Statement in the context of the
significant financial challenges that the Council is
facing
 
As detailed above, the
Boards support the Kent & Medway Business Fund (Standard) and
KMBF Small Business Supports which supports the Council’s
strategic objectives and the delivery of Securing Kent’s
Future without negative impact on the priorities listed
above.
 
It prioritises Best
Value statutory duty considerations as volunteer board members
receive no remuneration or no expenses.
 
 
 
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Economic Development I
agree  to accept the Investment Advisory
Board Terms of Reference and the voluntary appointments made to the
Boards: The Investment Advisory Board (“IAB”), IAB
Sub-Group and the IAB Debt Recovery Group.