Welcome from Councillor Izzi Seccombe
Welcome to the January edition of Warwickshire Means Business. May I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2017.
These are, in some ways, uncertain times as we all wait to find out the full ramifications of Brexit although, as Dave Ayton-Hill points out in his Economics Outlook in this edition of Warwickshire Means Business, there is guarded optimism for the future locally and nationally. But at Warwickshire County Council it is very much a case of 'business as usual' in terms of doing all we can to support our business community.
A key element of that commitment is to work tirelessly to create and promote partnerships between business and education-providers. Such links are proven to be mutually beneficial as businesses receive talented and well-suited young employees who, in turn, benefit from great opportunities to learn and grow into their career of choice.
To that end, it has been very pleasing to see the success of our Skills in Employment programme's Build A Business Network grant scheme. The scheme was created after schools and businesses told us they would appreciate opportunities for greater collaboration and it has proved a great success. Since January 2015, we have awarded grants worth more than £1 million to schools and colleges, business and education partnerships.
That scheme will be among many initiatives and subjects covered at our Skills Conference at the Chesford Grange Hotel, near Leamington Spa, on Monday 13th March. I am very much looking forward to attending - please do come along.
Another of our ongoing priorities is supporting SMEs and in this edition of Warwickshire Means Business you can read about our new £600,000 round of funding to support small businesses and help encourage economic growth and job creation in the county.
The cash is part of a £2 million package of support available to small businesses up to March 2018. Grants from £5,000 to £35,000 are available to small and micro businesses with plans to grow so please get in touch if you would like to know more.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy and I never cease to be impressed by the diversity of expertise within Warwickshire's borders. It was fascinating to see that the Royal Household, no less, benefits from that expertise - courtesy of Neil Stevenson one of the county council's tenants at Church Lawford Business Centre. Neil's story is a great tribute to his own skills and enterprise and it is great that the county council has made a contribution by providing a perfect base and, very early in the story, vital information via our wonderful library service!
I hope you enjoy this edition of Warwickshire Means Business. Please also look out soon for the first edition of our new related publication, the Quarterly Labour Market Report. If you would like to be added to the circulation list for that please let us know at brianhalford@warwickshire.gov.uk.
Once again, a very Happy New Year!