Decision details

Decision – That the oral report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills giving an update on “Staffordshire Means Back to Business” activity including the following matters be noted:

• This month saw an increase of 550 claimants, with the total number of claimants in the county now standing at 15,000.? The claimant rate for Staffordshire increased from 2.7% to 2.8% over the last month. The rate in Staffordshire continues to be one of the lowest rates in the West Midlands and far lower than the average for the region 4.8% and, also lower than the average for England at 3.7% of the working age population.

• Contributing to this overall increase in claimants this month, the youth claimant count in Staffordshire saw an increase of 135 to a total of 2,785 young people. The proportion of young people in Staffordshire aged 18-24 that are claiming work-related Universal Credit has increased this month from 4.2% to 4.4%, although this remains lower than the national rate of 4.8% which has increased from 4.7% this month.

• The launch of our new Rural Economic Strategy that sets out our rural economic priorities in the coming years.  The strategy offers a framework for policy choices and investment decisions. The successful delivery of the strategy will depend on us continuing to work proactively with a wide range of stakeholders across the public, private, academic, voluntary and community and third sectors.

• The success of the Enjoy Staffordshire Tourism & Good Food Awards where there was opportunity to celebrate many of the fantastic tourism businesses we have within the county. Tourism and leisure businesses make up a significant part of the local economy, and we have an opportunity to build upon our many existing assets, including our renowned attractions that bring millions of visitors to the county every year. This is why we have supported the development of the Visitor Economy Action Plan, which was formally launched at last week’s event. This has been prepared in collaboration between local authority and private sector partners that make up our Destination Management Partnership and includes several key actions to boost our visitor economy including encouraging more people to work within the sector, addressing emerging skills challenges and supporting the development of the local accommodation offer. We have also recently applied to Visit England to secure Local Visitor Economy Partnership status for Staffordshire and I hope to be able to update on this in future updates.

The newly formed Staffordshire Jobs and Careers service which provides?advice on jobs, careers, training and learning opportunities in the county, and working with local residents and businesses, ultimately connects people to jobs.