Welcome from Cllr Izzi Seccombe
Welcome to the November edition of Warwickshire Means Business. As always there is plenty to report and plenty to look forward to, as befits a county with such a talented and diverse business community.
Tourism and culture make a major contribution to Warwickshire's economy and we are delighted to feature an interview with RSC executive director Catherine Mallyon. The RSC generated income of £63.9million in the last financial year and Catherine talks about the organisation's strong business base which underpins all the excellent work they do.
We report back on the inaugural Coventry and Warwickshire Tourism and Culture Awards and show how a Rugby pub capitalised on the Rugby World Cup with some help from the county council.
Warwickshire’s richly diverse economy means that we support a wide range of sectors and size of business. December will see a celebration event for the Rural Growth Network, which I am proud to say has helped safeguard or create 293 jobs, awarded £685,000 of funding and unlocked over £2.3 million of private sector investment into the economy.
We are always keen to support small business and this edition of Warwickshire Means Business features two real success stories. North Cotswold Brewery continues to go from strength to strength, stimulated by an RGN grant, while Kenilworth-based Proserve Marine Construction received a Queen's Award for Enterprise for work on the Venice Flood Barrage - a project undertaken on land supplied by the county council.
We look towards 2016 with increasing confidence and optimism. As our economics blog the Warwickshire Outlook shows, two thirds of companies surveyed in Coventry and Warwickshire expect to see their turnovers improve and around a third forecast that their workforce will increase.
Of course, challenges remain. Some 30% of businesses in the Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey stated they had problems recruiting suitable staff while nearly 50% of local manufacturing companies said they face skills shortages. This is exactly why the county council has invested £2.4 million in our Skills for Employment initiative to develop the employability skills of young people. In this edition you can read about the programme and how your organisation can get involved. We also include the interesting back-story of Glenn Robinson, who is driving Skills for Employment for us.
Recently I've been talking to local people about what makes Warwickshire such a great place to live and work with the Let's Talk Roadshows. These events offer us an opportunity to report back on how the council is spending public money to support local communities and the economy. Providing good support to business is a priority for us and if you would like to attend one of the remaining events, I'd encourage you to come and speak about what's important to you.
As we go to press we await the Chancellor's November 25 Autumn Statement and what it will mean for local government and businesses. Inevitably, as a council, we will be required to continue to play our part and make further significant savings.
Whatever the challenges, we will continue to champion enterprise in our communities and work hard to promote opportunities for economic growth and innovation. And we will ensure that Warwickshire remains a place of choice for businesses to start up, to settle and to thrive.