Transcript Presentation Slides - Warwick Business Growth Network

Local Enterprise
Partnerships set in the
context of “The Big
Society”
Warwick Business School
Friday 10th December 10
“Thank You”
for inviting me and in advance of
your valuable time and engagement
re: this ‘important’ agenda.
Louise Bennett OBE
Today’s Presentation
• To brief the Warwick Business School “Business
Cluster” on Local Enterprise Partnerships
• The Coventry Warwickshire Local Enterprise
Partnership
• Set in the context of “The Big Society”!
• An opportunity for ‘debate’ and ‘discussion
around the above…
Local Enterprise Partnerships
• An ‘invitation’ for Local Authorities and Business Leaders to
“come together” to form Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) issued by Cable and Pickles on 29th June 2010.
• Councils and Business were invited to replace Regional
Development Agency’s with proposals for Local Enterprise
Partnerships – submissions by 6th September 10.
• Coventry and Warwickshire submitted a (business led) LEP
proposition and were successful as notified in November 10.
• …..and now the work begins...
Local Enterprise Partnerships
Role
• Strategic Leadership –
setting out local economic
priorities
• A rebalancing of the
economy towards the
private sector
(pull/demand led)
• Creating an environment
for business and growth
• Tackling issues – planning,
housing, transport &
infrastructure,
employment, enterprise
and the move to a low
carbon economy.
Governance
• Business and Civic Leaders
working together.
• Equal representation on
LEP Board.
• Chair, prominent Business
Leader.
• Variants – Elected Mayor if
agreed by Civic Leaders
and Business Leaders?
• Robust and transparent
Partnerships required.
Cable and Pickles
‘Parameters’
Role
• Supporting small business
start-ups.
• Local Enterprise
Partnerships – of Business
Leaders and Civic Leaders
– to work closely with
important stakeholders
such as Universities and FE
Colleges and others….
• Some local LEPs may
include ‘tourism’ as part of
their proposition
Centralist approach to:• Inward Investment
• Sector leadership
• Business Support
• Innovation
• Access to Finance
***We may not agree !!
Private Sector Thoughts –
LEP Geography
•The private sector does not recognise Local
Authority / Govt boundaries
•Proposed - Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull – a
functional economic area
•The Birmingham dimension?
•‘Working together’ with other areas –
Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire,
Staffordshire, Oxford…..
Private Sector Thoughts –
Role of LEP
Local Enterprise Partnerships should:• Set out a 5+ year Economic and Enterprise Strategy;
• Have 3 key targets – GDP growth, job creation and
economic diversity;
• Seek to create demand-led, ‘pull’ economies;
• Galvanise, direct, influence and ‘commission’ the ‘supply
side’ – to get the right skills; the right infrastructure
(housing, education, planning, health); the right enterprise
support in place.
• Creating Conditions for Private Sector Growth and
Removing Barriers to Growth.
• Add value to the local economy, be light touch and non
bureaucratic and, with Partners, secure resources.
• Provide strong local leadership along side robust and
successful influence into national Government.
Private Sector Thoughts –
Governance
• Keep with the spirit of the joint BIS and CLG ‘invitation’ –
Business Leaders and Civic Leaders.
• Equal representation. Business Chair and 50% of seats.
• Recognise that Civic Leadership has an important
machinery behind it within Local Authorities. LA’s who
discharge statutory functions.
• Recognise what lies outside LA machinery, but is a huge
public sector funded resource that needs to be demand-led
and influenced, e.g. Universities, Colleges, Health….
• Recognise the need for a private-sector (light touch)
machinery that supports the Business Leaders on the LEP
Board, e.g. a private sector Council.
• No ‘talking shops’ – an action oriented focus on ‘growth’.
Private Sector – Why Engage?
The Prize?
• An opportunity!
• A localised, demand-led
approach to ‘growth’ –
creating conditions for
growth and removing
barriers to growth.
• LEP to be utilised as a
vehicle for leveraging /
bidding for funds, e.g.
Business Growth Fund.
• Hypothecated Business
Rates (linked to growth in
inward investment).
• Devolution of AWM
resource.
• Place-based budgeting
(joined up LAs)
• Accelerated Development
Zones – revenue stream.
Questions and Discussion…
Does the Private Sector want to engage / provide
leadership?
Geography?
Role ?
What should be a LEP’s immediate priorities – creating
conditions for growth and removing barriers to growth?
Governance?
The Big Society
“The Big Society is widely thought of as a political programme,
but it is much more than that. It is a set of interlocking
ideas, even a philosophy: a concerted and
wide-ranging attempt to engage with the twin challenges of
social and economic decline and to move us towards a
more connected society. It rests on a bold conjecture that
lying beneath the surface of British Society today is a vast
amount of latent and untapped energy.”
Jesse Norman
The Big Society
University of Buckingham Press, 2010
Constraints to “The Big Society”
(or success of a LEP)
•
•
•
•
•
State growth (e.g. £7bn state benefit system)
Centralisation
Legislation and Regulation
Rigor Mortis economics
A massive misunderstanding of human nature vs. human
motivation!
Behind which lies:• Giant areas of poverty
• Inequality and division
• Lack of political imagination.
Jesse Norman
The Big Society
University of Buckingham Press, 2010
Next Steps
 This is the ‘start’ of the process / work…
 Establish a Shadow LEP Board.
 Business Leaders – to step forward if interested in being
part of the “LEP Voice”…
 Continue the debate in your networks – ‘The Big Society’
and the ‘Local Enterprise Partnership’ – how do we make it
work for the benefit of local people?
 Please contact me directly on [email protected]
Thank You for Listening