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:
- The proportion of
young people in Staffordshire aged 18-24 that are claiming
work-related Universal Credit continues to fall and now stands at
4.2%.
- Our claimant rate has
seen a further reduction to 3.1% of the working age population in
January compared to 5.5% regionally and 4.5%
nationally.
- The overall number of
company insolvencies increased by 88% in November 2021 when
compared to the same month last year and is now 11% higher than two
years previously. We have seen a rapid increase over recent months
with levels now above pre COVID due at least in part to government
support measures which were put in place to reduce insolvencies
having now largely ended. Help is available to businesses through
our own Staffordshire Means Back to Business website or the
Staffordshire and Stoke Growth Hub.
- As seen nationally,
in December we continued to see an increase in job vacancies in
Staffordshire, however the increase is slowing. This is reflective
of the increasing demand we are seeing for workers across most
parts of the economy to aid the recovery from the pandemic which
has been further heightened by seasonal job opportunities.
Staffordshire saw vacancies increase by 1% between November and
December equivalent to over 400 more job vacancies, this was in
line with the increase seen nationally.
- Staffordshire is well
placed to work with government to drive forward the Levelling Up
Agenda, working closely with our Districts and Boroughs. We
have already demonstrated our willingness to invest in supporting
business to deliver more higher paid and higher skilled jobs.
Our investment in strategic employment sites, infrastructure and
skills is extensive and was clearly evidenced only recently when we
set our budgets and have allocated an additional £1M to
support our economy.
- The Government are to
ask Homes England to play a wider role in supporting us as local
government to drive forward our ambitions for new affordable
housing and regeneration of our respective areas. Our Business
& Enterprise Service is to have early discussions with Homes
England to understand how they can support us, to not simply
provide us with money, but to deliver
opportunity.
- The Council is
continually looking for opportunities to bring in new employers or
HQ relocations as demonstrated by the significant Pets At Home
development at Redhill. The “We Are Staffordshire
Investment Prospectus,” to be submitted to Cabinet in March,
will be launched on an international stage at the forthcoming MIPIM
event by our Officers. This will be followed up by our attendance
at the significant UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure
Forum to be held later in the year in Leeds. Working
closely with our Districts and Boroughs we have brought together
our collective regeneration priorities as a County under one
document. This document represents strong Staffordshire
branding, a place that is confident and creates opportunity.
It demonstrates to investors and developers that we are a connected
County, an investment in one locality will benefit from the wider
opportunities of being part of the Staffordshire
family.
We will shortly be going out to
consultation on our Economic Strategy for Staffordshire and
alongside it our Rural Economic Strategy which recognises the
specific requirements of our non-urban areas. These plans will
provide a clear way forward to build our success, addressing the
challenges and opportunities that lie before us.