Agenda item

The Director of Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) has submits a presentation to update Members of the Commission on the LLEP Economic Recovery Planning.

The Director of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) submitted a presentation setting out details of the LLEP Economic Recovery Plan.

Councillor Myers (Assistant City Mayor, Policy Delivery and Communications) addressed the commission and advised that the council had received £2m from the European Social Fund to deliver the “Get Inspired” and  “Youth Hub” projects between 1^st April 2021 and end 2023. This would enable continued work with LASALS and funding towards youth advisor posts as well as opportunity to explore and enhance work with others such as Transform.

Councillor Myers (Assistant City Mayor, Policy Delivery and Communications) also advised it had been announced in the budget that additional funding was being made available through the UK Community Renewal Fund to pilot programmes and invest in skills. Leicester had been identified as eligible to apply and a bid for £3m would be worked up for submission by end of June 2021.

The Head of Economic Strategy & Engagement (LLEP) gave an overview of the LLEP Economic Recovery Planning taken in three stages: analysis of the economic shock; details of the creation of a short term economic recovery plan and lastly insight into the development of a long term economic recovery strategy.

Data illustrating the current situation around Job Postings, Furlough and Claimants was explained. It was noted that the number of job vacancies had dropped in 2020 (although not all jobs are advertised) with some rise later in the year and currently Leicester had the highest number of furloughed people in the East Midlands which could possibly account for the low number of jobs advertised. The claimant count (per centage) in the City was also higher than other comparators although it followed the same trajectory.

The Recovery Plan (available on the LLEP website) contained five sections: Business Recovery; People, Employment and Skills; Green Recovery; Innovation, Science and Technology; Infrastructure, each with their own priorities and underpinning all priorities in  the plan are “golden threads” that cut across everything.

The Head of Economic Strategy & Engagement (LLEP) briefly illustrated progress against the plans priorities and how repurposed LLEP GPF funding had been allocated to interventions within the Recovery Plan, e.g. £90k establishment of area Digital Skills Partnership which would research and gather evidence around digital skills deficits and reasons behind that; e.g. initiative around place marketing, with allocation of £185k to Invest Leicester.

Lastly £20m allocated to “Getting Building Fund” to deliver four projects namely: Junction 23 M1/A512 Access Improvements; St Margaret’s Gateway; Sport Park Pavilion 4 and Granby Street/St Georges Street Regeneration Gateway, which would all contribute to enabling recovery from the impact of Covid-19.

The Chair invited Members to discuss the presentation which included the following comments:

·         In relation to the £185k for Leicester place marketing this was repurposed LLEP GPF funding allocated to Place Marketing, and was a was a top up to contributions from both the City and County local authorities in recognition of the need to include more activities that enhance Leicester and Leicestershire and showcase it as a great place to visit, invest and live.

·         In terms of opportunities being explored to help young people recover from the impact  of Covid-19,  it was noted that 18-24 year olds tended to have higher rates of unemployment, £100k was being put towards NEET prevention through intensive targeted support and additional funding allocated for extension to Gateway schemes that offered opportunities to experience the working environment for a year. There was close work with both universities on the Graduate City programme to retain graduates and offer opportunities as well as a key piece of work exploring jobs in the future and to understand where those opportunities will lie as the demography of businesses has shifted. LLEP had also produced a series of videos around the world at work to help embed career guidance into schools, employment hubs etc.

·         It was clarified that the “Claimants” data related to Universal Credit claimants that are seeking work, this was currently significantly higher than the national average. It was difficult to specifically say which sectors had shed jobs at the moment, as this data was previously collected by DWP in respect of JSA claimants but is no-longer with Universal Credit.

·         It was felt that Golden Threads were helpful and a good way of approaching proposals. It was confirmed that funding had been repurposed to allow access by businesses and those had started immediately, some projects were still subject to a procurement process e.g. Kick Start, whereas, the Place Marketing scheme had been approved so all of those activities were imminent starts with funding completed and/or delayed to next year.

The Chair welcomed the approach adopted by LLEP beginning with analysis, then developing a shorter and long term action plan..

AGREED:

                        That the contents of the presentation report be noted.