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:

• Increases in fuel and energy prices would continue to present a number of challenges to the local economy and, working with our Districts and Boroughs and other partners, the Councils’ continued support for businesses locally.
• The continuation of the Council’s Staffordshire Means Business programme which had delivered assistance to hundreds of Staffordshire businesses and supported the creation of 400 new Apprenticeships.
• Proposals for the Council’s new Start Up and Step-Up Business support package aimed at helping those wanting to start and grow their own business which had a strong focus on making those businesses resilient.
• Staffordshire’s Universal Credit figures which showed that the claimant count in Staffordshire saw an increase of 200 claimants between July and August 2022, although the claimant rate remained at 2.7% of the working age population.
• The proportion of young people in Staffordshire aged 18-24 that were claiming work-related Universal Credit currently stood at 4.0%, an increase of 120 young people.
• Despite these increases in the claimant count, during the same period, Staffordshire saw a 5% rise in job vacancies equivalent to just over 900 more job vacancies to a total of over 20,200, which was more than work related benefit claimants.
• The role of the Council’s new Job Brokerage Service to match those seeking work with the jobs Staffordshire businesses were so successful in creating.
• The agreement of terms with the Harworth Group, using County Council funding together with funding from Newcastle Under Lyme Borough Council, through its Town Deal, to enable the development of the Chatterley Valley business park site.
• The new Pets at Home HQ in Stafford was nearing completion (which would generate over 800 jobs); and the exceptionally strong interest in the Council’s serviced employment land at i54.