Issue - meetings

Report of Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills updating them on progress made in the delivery of Staffordshire’s Economic Strategy 2022-2030 (schedule 1 to the signed minutes).

Members heard that the Primary focuses of the Strategy were:- (i) Town centres; (ii) Higher skilled and higher paid workforce; (iii) ‘Start-up’ and ‘step-up’ businesses; (iv) The development of investment ready projects and; (v) Strategic corridors. In addition, various other priorities and themes were identified as being important in supporting the future growth of the economy. These included:- (i) Innovation; (ii) Supporting businesses on their journey to net zero and; (iii) Maximising the use of investment to unlock external funding.

Following Cabinet’s approval and scrutiny by the Committee in March 2022, a four-week public consultation exercise had been held in May 2022 in order to give residents, businesses and wider stakeholders the opportunity to comment and shape the strategy prior to it being finalised. Feedback from the consultation was overall supportive with ambitions for the regeneration of Town Centres being cited as the most important.

The Cabinet Member updated them on the potential impact of recent national and global economic headlines on the County and the Authority’s ability to deliver the various priorities set out in the Strategy. However, he updated them on the activity undertaken to date towards achieving the Authority’s various ambitions, as follows:-

Priority (i): Town Centre/High Street Regeneration

Ambition: “By 2030, we will tackle the challenges faced by many of our town centres and strive to create places that we can be proud of”.

(i) Delivery of Central Government’s Future High Streets Fund, Town Deals and Levelling-Up Fund in the eight Staffordshire District/Boroughs by assisting with the development of business cases; (ii) Work related to the appointment of a Development Partner for the Stafford Eastgate Regeneration Programme.

Priority (ii): Higher Skilled, Higher Paid Workforce

Ambition: “By 2030, we will address the low levels of skills across some parts of the County and support more of our residents to gain the high-level skills needed to take advantage of many better paid job opportunities”.

(i) Launch of the Staffordshire Jobs and Careers Brokerage Service to support local residents and employers by providing free recruitment and support services including an on-line digital platform; (ii) Continued delivery of Staffordshire’s Apprenticeship 500 programme which had so far resulted in 205 local businesses take on 400 Apprentices; (iii) Continuation of Staffordshire’s Ignite initiative, designed to encourage a greater understanding of entrepreneurialism and enterprise amongst young people in their final year of college, which had so far trained over 12,000 students; (iv) Assistance given to skills providers in the County to further develop their facilities; (v) Continued delivery of Multiply, a £4.2m programme to develop numeracy skills regardless of age or profession together with various other adult learning initiatives.

Priority (iii): Supporting Start-Up and Step-Up Businesses

Ambition: “By 2030, we will create the conditions to allow more people to start and grow their business within Staffordshire, thereby addressing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28