Agenda item

Local Enterprise Partnership update on activity and review of work being undertaken

[To receive a presentation from Sarah Middleton, Chief Executive of the Black Country Consortium.]

Minutes:

The Board welcomed the Chief Executive of the Black Country Consortium, Sarah Middleton to the meeting. Ms Middleton gave a presentation on the Black Country LEP.  Ms Middleton detailed a slide titled, “Strategy into Delivery – An Evidence Based Approach.”  There were a range of indicators that the LEP used to determine the direction of travel.  The indicators were intended to show if the LEP was making a difference in the areas they wished to.  

 

The Board noted that one area of concern was that in Wolverhampton, residents’ wages were not increasing at the same rate as the national average.  In Wolverhampton the increase stood at 2% compared to a national average of 2.7%.  The average wage of residents in Wolverhampton stood at £25,463, which meant a shortfall of £5,198 compared to the national average. 

 

The employment rate was considered to be a key indicator.  Overall in the Black Country Economy this indicator was classed as green.  In the Wolverhampton economy it was classed as amber.  So, whilst the situation was improving in Wolverhampton more needed to be done to match the national picture.  In both the Black Country Economy and Wolverhampton Economy the gross value added (GVA) was growing, but not at the rate that they wanted.  Overall in the Black Country Economy the rate was 2.5% growth compared to 3.1% growth nationally, whilst the Wolverhampton economy had a growth rate of 1.1%.  

 

Ms Middleton remarked that there had been an overall downward shift in the job market in the Black Country.  The situation in Wolverhampton was better with the number of jobs in Wolverhampton increasing by 103,000.  This was a 1% increase compared to a national level of 0.6%.  It was the quality of jobs in Wolverhampton and the wages which needed more investigation.   The level of new enterprises being established had stalled nationally and this was also reflected locally in Wolverhampton.  Ms Middleton commented that this was in part due to the role of the banks and them taking a tighter approach. 

 

It was remarked that the LEP worked closely with the WMCA on creating a West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy.  They were waiting to hear from Central Government as to how much importance the new Government would place on the strategy.   The content would however remain relevant regardless of Central Government’s position.  The strategy outlined that the major new market opportunities were the future of mobility, data driven health and life sciences.  The principles of implementation were to create a single pipeline of significant, strategic projects and programmes; to be proactive and biased towards action; to be collaborative and complement existing activity; and for projects and programmes to integrate commitment to a balanced and a more inclusive economy, engaging with communities and employees. 

 

The Board noted that there was a Black Country Local Implementation Plan.  In Wolverhampton and across the West Midlands one of the unique factors was the excellence in manufacturing and engineering. 

 

Funding to the LEP had been drip fed since 2012, initially there had been no funding available.  From a Wolverhampton perspective, there was a strong success rate of securing investment for projects.  This was a real credit to the officers of the Council; the aim was to ideally double the figure by securing future investments.  Securing funding for the City Quarter, interchange and the i54 was a top priority.   Ms Middleton referred to sector action plans in a variety of different fields.  The LEP were interested in all sectors. 

 

The Board noted the importance of securing appropriate energy infrastructure for the West Midlands.  Without greater control of the local energy infrastructure investment the LEP would not be able to deliver the local industrial strategy in a meaningful or cost-effective way.  35% of the West Midlands Energy use was in the transport sector.  The LEP wanted to ensure businesses were investing in the right sustainable solutions and were doing so in a carbon neutral way. 

 

Since the Spring of 2017 the Enterprise Advisor Network had been established.  All senior schools had been matched with a Business Enterprise Advisor.  They were now beginning to look at primary schools.  They had seen some positive progress in the quality of career advice being given. 

 

The next steps for the LEP moving forward were summarised as follows: -

 

  • Funding baseline, fiscal tasks, new funding streams e.g. UK shared prosperity fund
  • Ongoing Pipeline Development
  • Cross LEP collaboration
  • Policy Development in Brexit context
  • Provide evidence and intelligence for future “asks” of Government
  • Detailed delivery plans that outline short, medium and long-term actions needed for major new market opportunities, foundations and sectors development.   

 

Ms Middleton stated that in terms of support for skilling and reskilling, that there had to be some flexibility in the adults support budgets to help people move from one skill to another rather than only being for people who had been made redundant. It was also important to push employers to reskill employees so that if there was a re-entry point then it could be taken up.

 

The Board requested an explanation as to what spatial zones and pipelines were. It was stated that the spatial approach (orange arrow) integrated core strategy with the planning framework to produce a plan with a view as to how different places needed to perform to deliver the transformation.  This could be sliced and diced down to a town or regeneration corridor to enable officers to interrogate whether they were getting the funding that each area was entitled to and whether the investment was going to the right place. It was noted that there were 11 identified areas spread right across the Black Country and the Board queried how this would work. 

 

It was stated that the spatial zones had originally been identified through the core spatial strategy, not at the exclusion of all places but identified through the planning regime as having capacity to change (could they attract more investment etc.).

 

The Board noted that the numbers for funding were high and questioned how the LEP might guarantee that in these corridors, jobs went to people from Wolverhampton and that the skills that were being given were the right skills.

 

The Board also noted that there was no mention of the green agenda and green issue in the presentation and that the current Mayor of the West Midlands regarding car batteries appeared contrary to what was required which some Board members considered was a move to hydro power. 

 

The Board considered page 13 of the agenda that referred to sector strengths such as aerospace and considered that most of these areas looked like Warwickshire and Birmingham. The Board considered that it might be useful to see a comparative benchmark as to how Wolverhampton was doing compared to the other cities and then nationally.

 

The Board also considered that it could assume that most of the new entries were small or medium-sized enterprises and noted that the presentation did not consider business failures and exits or multinational businesses. Ms Middleton stated that information on the failure rate could be provided to the Board along with information on multinational and strategic companies (a barometer was available).

 

The Board queried whether social enterprise was already being carried out by Young Enterprise and that it would be better for the LEP to support this. It was stated that Young Enterprise was already in schools and that the LEP were coordinating this and provided a tapas style menu that schools could call on. 

 

The Board queried what would replace European Regional Development Fund money and European Social Fund Money. It was stated that these would be replaced by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and that there were ongoing discussions as to how much money to put into this and what it would be used for. It was confirmed that the LEP would work with Local Authorities to shape the fund.

 

Ms Middleton stated that where public resources were going to businesses then the LEP did all that it could to encourage and put into the grant agreement a condition of grant that jobs go to local residents. What often happened however was that there was a commitment but then it didn’t happen and there was a need to follow up on this through the partnership to identify what the barriers were. 

 

In relation to the green economy there was an opportunity for Wolverhampton and the Black Country to ensure they were working with universities and the development and supply chain to ensure that we could link in with the wider economy. It was thought that Wolverhampton was holding its own in specific places, but work was required to ensure competitiveness.  Many factories were now outdated and trying to relocate a business when there was no pipeline of sites was a challenge.

 

In relation to specific sectors Ms Middleton stated that they had an analysis that could be provided showing benchmarks and that there was a good understanding of our strengths and where there was potential for growth. It was accepted that there was a need to do a lot more work around marketing the offer Wolverhampton had.

 

The Board considered pages 17 and 18 of the agenda regarding the overall total identified and unidentified funds and whether a risk assessment had been carried out and whether there was a prioritised list. It was stated that a report could be provided that reflected the pipeline.

 

The Board noted that Tesla and Jaguar were struggling to recruit and whether there was a way to bring those work opportunities to Wolverhampton. One key part was whether it was a new type of apprenticeship. Work was happening in that area already with apprenticeships and higher apprenticeship levels improving plus bitesize courses and upskilling that could be included on a CV. It was important to continue to invest in skills in different ways and with different types of skill sets and to make sure that people could access jobs. 

 

The Board noted that 42 companies had ownership outside of the UK and queried whether any work had been done relating to attracting industry back into the West Midlands.

 

It was confirmed that the City Council had officers working closely with growth companies to ensure that the best propositions were coming to the City. There had been a dry up of work recently primarily due to Brexit uncertainty. Marketing was important at the Midlands level and getting the geography right was essential as well as ensuring that the City had sites ready to go (landing sites). The Board considered that the issue of drying up was very concerning and needed to be discussed by the Board in more detail at a later date as the City could not afford to lose any more investment or industry. A clear understanding was required as to why this dry up was happening.

 

The Board questioned how investment was allocated and how it was decided that something was right for Wolverhampton. It was stated that there were Trade Missions carried out with enquiries fed into a Midlands wide pool and each Local Authority was requested to respond. Each authority had an opportunity to respond but work was required to enhance this process.

 

Resolved:     1)       That a report be brought to a future meeting of Scrutiny Board to exam the implications of economic conditions affecting work and investment in the City.

2)       That the Chief Executive of the Black Country Consortium, Ms Sarah Middleton, be thanked for her in depth and informative presentation.

 

Supporting documents: