Action Notes - Southampton Connect

SOUTHAMPTON CONNECT ACTION NOTES
Thursday 14 th June 2012
Participants
Business Solent: Sally Lynskey (SL)
Further Education representative: Lindsey Noble (LN)
Hampshire Chamber of Commerce: Denise Barlow (DeB)
Hampshire Constabulary: Dave Thomas (DT)
Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service: Mark Raven (MR)
Hampshire Probation Trust: Maria Galovics (MG)
Higher Education representative: Prof. Van Gore (VG)
Jobcentre Plus: Bernadette Hagan (BH)
NHS Southampton City: Andrew Mortimore (AM)
NHS Southampton City: John Richards (JR)
Southampton City Council: Alistair Neill (AN)
Southampton City Council: Dawn Baxendale (DaB)
Southampton Voluntary Services: Jo Ash (JA) Chair
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust:
Mike Murphy (MM)
No Item
Apologies
Hampshire Chamber of Commerce: Jimmy
Chestnutt (Denise Barlow Deputising)
Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service: Jason
Avery (Mark Raven Deputising)
Skills Funding Agency: Alan Jenkinson
(AJ)
Observer
Deputy Leader of the Council: Councillor
Jacqui Rayment (JR)
Support
Southampton Connect Support Officer:
Lynsey Malpuss (LM)
1 Welcome and overview by host
JA welcomed everyone to the meeting as chair including Cllr Rayment SCC deputy
leader as an observer. JA explained that Cllr Williams had been invited as leader to
give presentation of the new administrations views of the city but was not available
until the next meeting.
As host SL explained Business Southampton started back in 2006 with the aim to
connect business leaders, the public, private, education and third sector to find
opportunities and overcome barriers for the good of the place. It has since widened
its remit to become Business Solent, working on behalf of over 200 champions
across the region, through which it receives funding. There are currently 8 or 9 local
action groups operating.
2 Notes of the 3 rd May 2012 meeting
The notes of the last meeting were agreed as an accurate record. A number of
items were identified as appearing on forthcoming agendas. Matters arising:
a) Executive Support for Southampton Connect update – on the 13 th June LM
circulated a paper prepared by SL relating to the recent decisions made around
exec support and governance issues in general. As a result in July we will hold a
discussion on this and look to agree some TOR for the group going forward. JA
confirmed that there is currently £99,000 available to support Connect through the
previously set aside Management & Administration fund.
b) Draft refreshed Southampton Connect Plan 2012-15 – this has been delayed
slightly to allow time for the new administration to consider whether they are happy
with SCC‟s input into the plan.
c) Healthy Workplaces – AM to follow up sickness reporting in due course
d) Exploration of LinkedIn as a partnership tool – LM informed the group of the
software‟s capabilities, discussion lead the group to conclude that there is no added
value in communicating via LinkedIn, if we are looking to add value though
promotion of Connect other avenues are available to us which should focus on what
we do, rather than who we are.
3 Neighbourhood Plan Front Runners Presentation
James Prowse of Ramboll, Chair of the Future Southampton Group (FSG) & Peter
2012.06.14 Southampton Connect Action Notes Final 1
Action
a) LM &
JA to
draft
TOR
b) LM to
progress

Hine provided a presentation on the work of the FSG, a Business Solent Action
Group. It consists of around 50 individuals in the built environment professions who
wish to see their ambitions for the city realised. They have developed their own
vision and values for the city linked into the Masterplan themes and have been
significant contributors to the Masterplan process.
Neighbourhood plans are community lead and focus on how the framework
translates on the ground for Southampton residents. The area chosen between East
Street, Queens Way, Bernard Street and the High Street is surrounded by 3 VIP
projects and has some great assets, but also neglected areas. DCLG guidance on
developing plans is generic allowing us to take an appropriate local approach; SCC
has been awarded a £20,000 support grant by DCLG to enable the process. Next
steps in the process of developing a plan reply on positive engagement with the
diverse business and residential community who occupy this area.
Points to note from discussion:
a) Community engagement will take place in the next 2-3 months; delivery is
on the same timeframe as the Masterplan – 10-15 years.
b) SCC is involved in the FSG and sees is as a valuable vehicle in which to
enable some difficult conversations. If the community decide they wish to
have a neighbourhood plan SCC has a duty to respond which could be
expensive, therefore it is beneficial to be engaged and working with the
group.
c) It is important the Masterplan is not just seen as VIP projects, it is about
people and places, infrastructure and connectivity, large and small.
d) Community engagement needs to be appropriate for diverse groups.
e) This could be an opportunity to engage city students in local practical
projects with professionals that could boost their maths and other skills.
f) An audit of facilities would be a good idea. SCC is currently undertaking to
map the city from a community asset perspective. Generally we need to
maximise resource by sharing data and working from the same information.
g) James Prowse to send contact details & documentation to LM for circulation
h) All of Connect to consider how the FSG‟s Neighbourhood Plan initiative
could interact with priority projects and organisational work being undertaken
to maximise benefits – contact James Prowse directly
4 Creative Industries Presentation
Professor Van Gore, Vice Chancellor Southampton Solent University provided a
presentation accompanied by Anthony Gray of HE Research, from whom a report
had been commissioned into Creative Industries (CI) in this area. The report
concludes “that there is a critical mass of employment and a potential for growth in
higher value added services in film, media production, digital technologies,
photography, advertising, marketing and design in Southampton (and within the
wider Solent economy, other sectors, such as computer games)”
The presentation detailed how despite there being fewer CI jobs in Southampton
compared to Brighton and Bristol who are renowned for their CI, the city compares
favourable when considering the GVA created from CI. The CI sector has grown
over the last 10 years, at a faster rate than the GB economy as a whole, as a result
many local authorities expect to see growth in this area, but not all will succeed. In
order to do so a Creative Industries Strategy for Southampton was suggested.
Points to note from discussion:
a) We have some great British products for export; creative marketing can
boost the economy in many ways. It would be great to position ourselves as
the place to source creative input.
b) The premise of the presentation is sound and we should look to build upon
2012.06.14 Southampton Connect Action Notes Final
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e) LN &
JP to
follow
up
g) JP &
LM to
action
h) all to
action
b- c) VG

it, DB and VG to discuss detail and practical applications.
c) Voluntary and Community sector aspects are key to development of this
along with physical space and appropriate business development support. A
bid is currently with the Regional Growth Fund for support to SMEs, if
successful we could look at opportunities around this.
d) A CIBAS (Creative Industries Business Advisory Services) is needed,
human capital is required for start-ups, more so than financial capital.
5 Promoting Southampton as the connected city – Priority Project Review
Sally Lynskey, Chief Executive, Business Solent & Giuseppe Saieva, Web Portal
Project Manager, Southampton Solent University jointly provided an update on the
project. Marketing Southampton is operating as a cohesive group and the
milestones listed are work in progress; however they have largely been overtaken
by the web portal project. Giuseppe is liaising with multiple stakeholders over
content and format of the portal to best sell the city. A soft launch is planned in the
2 nd week of September to coincide with the boat show, following which more
elements will be released. An expression of interest has been sent to digital
agencies, who have been shortlisted for interviews later this month the aim is to
appoint 1 all rounder agency, or 2 agencies for design and digital capabilities.
Regular meetings are taking place with a core group of people progressing the
project, there is no spend to date.
Points to note from discussion:
a) Costs details will be provided as the project progresses on a monthly basis
b) The portal will be a „front door‟ to the city, some content will be original other
content will signpost to existing sites, it will be available on mobile platforms.
c) The site will be tested from a end user perspective prior to going live, using
reception staff might prove a useful means.
d) It may be useful to have a virtual network of IT colleagues within
organisations, who could engage with the project, learn new skills and then
offer resource to the site in return to aid sustainability.
6 Gateway to employment and volunteering opportunities– Priority Project
Review
Professor Van Gore, Vice Chancellor, Southampton Solent University provided an
update on the project. It has been frustrating not managing to get all three pilot
projects up and running, however the project that is running has received a national
award for its work. The project has been affected by turbulence in organisations and
vacant key posts. The work which has taken place is linked to volunteering more
strongly than work experience or internships. Discussions have taken place over
linking into Jobcentre Plus priorities. On evaluation it is necessary to consider
whether the project outcomes are balanced with the inputs, we do want to focus on
where we can make a difference.
Points to note from discussion:
a) Some Priority Projects will achieve more quicker than others, some may
need to be placed on the back burner for the time being
b) SVS has seen volunteering figures go up 700% in the last 5 years, these
have now reached a plateau and a slight decrease is beginning.
c) Some really good activities are going on, but we need to evidence the
outcomes for evaluation against effort.
7 Update
Lynsey Malpuss, Southampton Connect Support Officer provided an update on:
Southampton Connect Conference – the draft programme was discussed and
amendments to the running order agreed including moving networking to the start, a
2012.06.14 Southampton Connect Action Notes Final
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& DB to
action
a-d) SL
& GS to
consider
a-c) VG
to
consider

lucky dip approach to 2 nd breakout session and creation of the Voxpop. Points to
follow up include:
a) Postcards / post it notes could be used to provide delegates with the
opportunity to feed back or suggest ideas.
b) Delegates to be identified in the next few weeks and informed to „save the
date‟
c) Delegates to be informed of activities around projects prior to attendance
and potentially posed some questions to get them thinking, format yet to be
agreed. A spread in the Chamber Business News magazine was kindly
offered by DeB.
d) Examples of activities which would not have happened without Southampton
Connect or the priority projects to be collated for the event – all to send to
LM.
e) LM to provide additional updates nearer the time
Southampton Connect Plan Year 1 Progress Report - the draft was discussed,
points to follow up include:
a) The formatting needs finalising to make it easier to read
b) Statistics to be cross referenced with Priority Projects
c) We should be wary of using the LSOA data as these are very small areas
with low numbers of people – we should look to provide a caveat or
aggregate the data.
d) DeB can offer additional detail on VAT registration rates.
e) Outstanding crime data to be followed up with DT.
f) LM to remind Connect of exact priority areas for good news stories.
8 Any Other Business & opportunity to propose future agenda items
a) Consultation on HWB draft strategy agenda item to be scheduled for
September
b) Presentation by unpaid work manager to be scheduled for July if possible?
c) SCC & DWP are working with British Gas to provide support to those facing
redundancy
d) The Transport Secretary Justine Greening opened Southampton‟s
refurbished train station this week and the outcome of our large sustainable
transport fund bid is due this month.
e) Any observations on running of meetings or chairing style to be fed back to
JA
Date of next meeting: Thursday 5 th July 2012, 0900 – 1200hours
Host: Richard Taunton Sixth Form College, Hill Lane, Southampton SO15 5RL
2012.06.14 Southampton Connect Action Notes Final
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a-e) LM
& JA to
follow
up
d) All to
action
a-f) LM
to action
a-b) LM
to
agenda
e) all to
action