DELIVERING OUR FUTURE TOGETHER - THE POWER OF LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPS
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 26 July 2021
UPDATED: 26 July 2021
The chair of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) has hailed the work of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across the Midlands region as a significant success, as new figures show the impressive economic impact they have made in the last ten years.
LEPs should be central to the delivery of the economic recovery and levelling up. For a decade, they have been driving forward inclusive economic growth across the country. They have harnessed the energy and expertise of leaders from 2000 businesses, 180 local authorities and 250 Higher/Further Education organisations.
The new figures show the nine LEPs in the Midlands have delivered £4.1 billion of Government investment into the area, unlocking a further £11.1 billion of match funding from private, public and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VSCE) partners.
Kevin Harris is Chair of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership. He said:
“We put local people and local places at the heart of our work. I am proud of our significant contribution to the overall Midlands LEP figures.
“Over the last ten years our programmes, including, City Deal, Local Growth Fund, Getting Building Fund, Growing Places Fund and Enterprise Zones have invested over £200 million in the local economy of Leicester and Leicestershire. When you include match funding from the public, private and third sectors the overall total is a staggering £559 million, or nearly £56m per year.”
LEPs are flexible and agile and their response to Covid-19, the EU Exit and future skills challenges has been made possible thanks to the unique way they bring public, private, and academic sectors together to create joined-up solutions.
Together the Midlands LEPs have driven forwards locally informed and sustainable investments creating over 75,000 jobs so far and they are on target to create over 200,000, as they collectively support the Covid-19 recovery and develop opportunities for inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
The Midlands is home to over 10 million people and has a £238 billon economy, generating over 12% of the UK’s Gross Value Added (GVA). Building on the strengths of their partnerships and the Growth Hubs, Midlands LEPs have supported over 135,000 businesses across the region to enable them to grow and prosper.
Another key aspect of LEP’s work is skills development to ensure the current and future workforce have the skills employers need.
Through locally-driven insight and collaborative approach with schools, colleges, universities, training providers, employers, and career professionals, LEPs have supported over 40,000 learners to ensure the regions can respond to the future skills needs and that everyone has access to opportunities, no matter what their background.
Kevin Harris added:
“It's great to see that LEPs have supported so many learners and businesses across the Midlands. Locally we have created over 6200 jobs, safeguarded 302 and we are on course to deliver a further 8430 jobs for the people of Leicester and Leicestershire.
“We have supported nearly 10,000 learners by investing in educational facilities alongside partners including MIRA Technology Institute and Leicester College, and we’ll support over 2000 more.
“Through the Business Gateway Growth Hub and LLEP programmes we have supported over 11,500 businesses.”
As the birthplace of the industrial revolution, innovation is a defining characteristic of the Midlands economy, and collectively LEPs have invested over £100 million in research and development. We work with universities and businesses to develop innovative products and services to drive international trade, growth, and productivity.
With the government’s ambition to evolve the way it supports local growth and levelling up for the long term, LEPs have a critical role to play by building on their legacy to ensure we collectively maintain a focus on the region’s prosperity and drive forward the government’s ambitions of a green recovery through improved productivity, skills development, and business support for everyone.
Kevin Harris concluded:
“We are committed to creating a thriving economy for Leicester and Leicestershire.
Over the last 10 years our local economy has transformed to a leading and fast-growing centre of science, technology, and knowledge-industries. We have set our sights on increasing our GVA to £30.2 billion with 568,000 jobs in Leicester and Leicestershire by 2030.“Through our long-term Economic Growth Strategy, we are setting out our plans for investment to maintain and build a productive, innovative, inclusive and sustainable economy over the next 10 years.”
The LLEP’s Economic Growth Strategy is currently out for public consultation until 30 July so anyone wishing to read and comment on the document should go to Economic Growth Strategy Consultation
You can find out more about the LLEP and our work at www.llep.org.uk and keep up to date with the latest LLEP news at www.llep.org.uk/subscribe
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