Welcome from Monica Fogarty, joint managing director of Warwickshire County Council

Hello everybody and welcome to the April edition of Warwickshire Means Business.

I am delighted that this month sees the launch of Warwickshire County Council's new campaign Tackling Skills Shortages.

Our Economy & Skills team is out and about among the business community on a daily basis and it is clear that one of the biggest concerns facing companies is the Skills Gap. In many cases a struggle to recruit people with the required skills is providing a real obstacle to growth.

Last year we appointed a Business Skills Advisor, Fay Winterburn, specifically to focus on this issue. Fay has done a lot of fantastic work in her first year and now, to support that work, comes the Tackling Skills Shortages campaign. David Ayton-Hill, our Head of Economy  Skills, has compiled a five-point plan outlining practical steps that businesses can take to locate, appoint and train the young talent they need.

Addressing that Skills Gap means that everyone benefits; employers will get the talented new blood they need and young people become equipped for productive careers which in turn help to keep the county's economy strong.

The Skills Gap is a national issue, of course, and an inevitable result of rapidly advancing technology, but here in Warwickshire we are lucky to be working from a position of great strength. It is great to read in this edition of Warwickshire Means Business that, despite concerns about the Brexit effect, businesses in the digital sector continue to relocate to the county. Meanwhile, results of the latest Quarterly Economic Survey reveal that confidence remains high particularly among companies in the manufacturing sector.

Warwickshire has so much to be proud of in its business community, in many sectors across the whole county. At Warwickshire County Council we are committed to doing all we can to support that community in every way we can.