Agenda item

The Director of Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment submits a presentation to update Members of the Commission on the City Economic Recovery Plan.

The Director of Tourism, Culture and Investment submitted a presentation providing updated details of the City Economic Recovery Plan which included progress drawing in external finance and activity in several key areas namely support for people, support for business, the City Council as an employer, measuring impact and City promotion.

It was noted that a large part of the economic recovery speed was dictated by national policy around Covid-19, however there had been good progress on drawing in external finance to support initiatives such as the £2m secured to extend the council’s Employment hub.

On behalf of the government, the council’s finance team over the past 12 months had been able to pass on £100m of support to local businesses across Leicester and the government had also made available another £10m (with the possibility of a further allocation flagged via the Chancellor’s recent budget) of additional restricted grant that will be used to both sustain businesses, and to support them change course (if necessary) and be more sustainable in the future.

Members also noted that:

·         It was anticipated there may be a rise in redundancies and LASALS had relaunched its redundancy support package for individuals referred and was reaching out to employers too, the package included a flexible offer of careers advice, planning and online interview skills.

·         £2m ESF funding for the Employment Hub would secure services that work with business, with employment skills plans, pathways and traineeships.

·         Apprenticeship numbers had plummeted during the pandemic, the team had been working within government policy creating opportunities to aggregate unspent apprenticeship levy from employers enabling businesses to receive training costs for new apprentices.

·         The council had been approved as a Kickstart intermediary body with an initial programme approved covering 87 vacancies with that number potentially able to increase once more vacancies were identified, enabling paid work for unemployed 18-24 year olds.

·         A new Youth Employment Hub would be launched via a virtual service with a physical hub to support young people into employment following at the old Visit Leicester Gallowtree Gate premises.

·         The new Textiles Training Academy would launch later in year supporting people to develop technical and higher level skills in the fashion/textile industries.

·         The Construction Training Hub (with funding secured from CITB alongside council resources) was now on site at Ashton Green with a secondary site planned at Glen Parva. A manager had been recruited for that programme and work was ongoing with a range of construction companies to create opportunities in that sector to provide people with construction specific employability skills.

·         Digital Inclusion had become a strong theme over the last 12 months, and work was ongoing to combine digital skills training and around loaning devices. Funding had been secured for 80 devices in the first year which would be loaned to the most vulnerable first as part of a joint initiative which included LASALS, Smart Cities and Neighbourhood Services.

·         An Ex-Offenders Project was being developed to support ex-offenders into employment in partnership with the Police and Crime Commissioner, the DWP and the Council. Funding from DWP had enabled the appointment of a new co-ordinator post in the employment hub.

·         Graduate Retention scheme in partnership with both universities in Leicester now had  ten companies signed up and due to target the first cohort in June 21.

·         An Economies for Healthier Lives bid had been made in partnership with the Public Health teams. The programme focus is on reducing health inequalities through observing labour market and displacement because of Covid-19. Public health data showed where impact was being felt and opportunity had been taken to submit a £500k bid to the Health Foundation to look specifically at this and labour market interventions. It was proposed that a project manager be appointed who would bring together a range of support services for mental/physical health and employment hub and volunteering.

·         Entry to employment posts within the City Council  were noted.

In terms of business grants attention was drawn to the following:

·         213 small business recovery grants had been approved, helping those businesses to reposition and invest in core digital technology.

·         Growth grants continued to be popular and the team were looking to increase the grant pot with government.

·         The retail café seating grants scheme was currently closed but the intention is to use ARG resource to top it up to support more businesses when restrictions are eased.

·         Shop front improvement grant was an existing scheme that had been very popular especially during the pandemic with nearly 600 enquiries received for grants up to £5k. The scheme was currently closed whilst applications in the pipeline were assessed.

Regarding City Promotion the £185k grant secured from LLEP would be used to boost Place Marketing and deliver new video and digital content at key destinations as part of wider strategic tourism programme. The City Centre Director was leading on new itineraries and trails, a suite of physical and digital content that included trails and guides to Roman Leicester,  the Thomas Cook story, eating and drinking etc and targeted at the staycations sector.

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

·         Officers were congratulated on the success of the business and discretionary grants schemes which were very useful; in terms of the Shop Front Improvements scheme it was queried whether those were freely available across the whole of Leicester as there were some areas such as Green Lane Road where shops were in need of improvement and such a scheme would add value to that part of the city. It was advised that  the shop front improvement scheme had been running for several years and had previously prioritised several neighbourhoods, however officers were exploring options to see if the scheme can be expanded through other resource.

·         It was recognised that a substantial amount of money was being invested to help with apprenticeships and employment however it was queried what was being done to support the hard to reach families with young people. Officers responded that there was a lot of work around that in the Employment Hub, as well as work with the Princes Trust and Futures which particularly tried to engage with those disadvantaged. The additional funding secured would also have focus on reaching out and contacting those with needs and hidden needs, as an example the textiles academy will be engaging people through employers and that will bring contact with other groups such as those who spoke English as a second language.

·         In terms of providing assurance that the £185k would be used to provide a positive portrayal of Leicester officers agreed to bring a further report to a future meeting to show how that money had been applied and its impact.

·         Responding to concerns about rebuilding Leicester’s reputation it was noted that allegations of slave labour and exploitation across the textile/factory sector had been discussed many times and there was a piece of work to coalesce those organisations where allegations were centred. However, it was important to promote the wonderful work that goes on across the city, and at same time to ensure those organisations with powers to act do so. A review of this work would be published over next few weeks.

·         In relation to East Midlands Airport being identified as a free port it was understood that the activity will be harnessing freight and the business that already exists there and so it should not pose a threat to the city but open up positive opportunities for people in Leicester that might want to commute there to work. In terms of LLEP they were working alongside Derby and Notts LEPs in developing the bid and it is very much predicated on further inward investment, forecasting 30,000 direct jobs on three sites namely the East Midlands Airport, the Ratcliffe on Soar power site and at the Toyota site on A50. This will offer a range of financial incentives with a job focus on advanced logistics and automotive.

·         Regarding the economic recovery dashboard data, it was confirmed that relevant, evidence based decision making was aspired to however not all data was available at ward level but the platform did allow some mapping which could then be made available at ward or other levels. Officers were also exploring data from other services to build into the platform and there was ongoing work around how IOS and DWP data could be obtained and made available at ward level. It was noted that the speed of the pandemic meant data was not always available.  At a high level data showed the impact of the pandemic had been disproportionately felt in different sectors. Research looking at sectors that had done well throughout the pandemic, those sectors where demand had dipped but was predicted to recover quickly and others where there may be a more permanent drop in demand.

Drawing discussion to a close the Chair commented that she was pleased to hear the many positive actions planned but felt that one thing missing, which would be helpful to see at a future meeting was the analysis and data e.g. to know who was most impacted by Covid-19 and lockdown, their ages, where they live, are they men/women, are they with or without qualifications, in low skilled/paid jobs, which businesses affected, which sectors, etc and from that can identify where to direct effort and initiatives.

AGREED:

1.    That an update report on Place Marketing/Invest in Leicester to be brought to a future meeting to show how additional funding of £185k had been applied and its impact,

2.    That a further report with data and analysis of impact of Covid 19 and lockdown on people affected to be brought to a future meeting,

3.      That a report providing details of work undertaken by the council and other partners regarding working practices across the Textile/Factory sector to be brought to the next meeting.