News and Views

The Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) Board confirmed the date and format for its Annual General Meeting at its recent meeting, which will cover its first full year of operations as a Company Limited by Guarantee.

At its meeting on Friday 24 July 2020, the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) Board agreed that it would hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday 18 September 2020 at 2pm, via Video Conference to comply with social distancing requirements. The AGM comes at the end of CLEP’s first full year trading as a company limited by guarantee, with the Board also approving its Statutory Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020 at the meeting.

Lord Inglewood, CLEP Chair, said: “This has been a period of significant change for CLEP as we have responded to the challenges COVID-19 has had on our economy and business community, with CLEP being at the forefront of leading response and recovery work for Cumbria through the Business and Economic Response and Recovery Group (BERRG).

“I believe that our partners have recognised the role that CLEP has played in developing Cumbria’s economic response to the pandemic through our work on supporting the development of mitigation measures; communicating the support available and assessing the economic impact on Cumbria. We would be delighted if people could join us at the AGM to find out more about what has been happening.”

The accounts for 2019/2020 received a clean audit report with no weaknesses identified in the accountancy and internal control systems.

Nigel Wilkinson, CLEP Board Member and Chair of the Finance, Audit and Resources Committee, said: “I was pleased to be able to present a clean audit report to the Board, during our first full year of operations as a company limited by guarantee. CLEP is in a healthy financial position going forward, carrying forward revenue reserves of £378,849 and contingency reserves of £331,582 into the 2020/21 financial year. Over the coming 12 months we will be working hard to build on this positive platform and ensure that CLEP targets its funding to meet the needs of our economy and business community. In 2020/2021 the Board has agreed to utilise some of the company’s revenue reserves to fund additional support activities as Cumbria faces the unprecedented economic challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The approval of the accounts marks a further positive step forward for CLEP, which was recognised by Government as having ‘exceptional’ governance in its 2019/20 Annual Performance Review by Government earlier this year.

The AGM is a public open ‘virtual’ meeting with those wishing to attend invited to book via: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/3515961102102/WN_amBbuPErRdaSla54aI3ZWA