Today’s UK Government Budget announcements appear to offer potential opportunities for co-ordinated local economy, key sector support.
Much of the detail has still to come out of course but three things that catch the eye:
Enterprise Zones: an urban focus first of all in designated city region locations; and then the opportunity for other locations, (or maybe groups of businesses in a particular location?) to bid on a further 10 EZ’s. A big emphasis on working with LEPs on this. Are LEPs organised enough to pursue this? Some are. Some it is clear, are not. And then of course there are those locations that don’t have a LEP…
University Technical Colleges: 24 more to be established by 2014. We have close experience of the Tresham College/ National Motorsport Academy UTC at Silverstone in Northamptonshire – which works very well in support of the performance engineering, motorsport cluster in that county. Where there aren’t UTC’s there is a real opportunity for local economic delivery bodies to work with business, HE and FE to tackle a key part of any location’s business proposition.
Apprenticeships: On a similar theme to the UTC’s and about economic inclusion for the young and unemployed, but also about addressing barriers faced by SMEs in accessing apprenticeships.
The Government is also to encourage and support business consortia to set up and maintain advanced and higher apprenticeships schemes, supported by grants, creating a further 10,000 apprenticeships within the overall apprenticeship programme. Perhaps that might be the same business consortia that collaborated on the establishment of the University Training College and supported the proposal for an Enterprise Zone?
Its been a turbulent period (putting it mildly) on a wide range of business support activities in the last 12 months in the UK – and its not over yet. But do the above three proposals and others that are now starting to take real shape offer genuine opportunities for many different locations to make a strong business and place co-ordinated pitch for government support for battered local economies? They just might.
