A national conference – attended by the Chair and Chief Executive of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership – today (March 27) heard that more than £16billion has been invested into local communities served by LEPs.
There are 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in England; private sector-led, locally-owned partnerships between business, local authorities, skills and training providers, and community and voluntary organisations. D2N2 is the LEP which covers Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
David Ralph and Peter Richardson, respectively the Chief Executive and Chair of the D2N2 LEP, today attended the 2017 Annual Conference of the LEP Network – the collective body representing England’s LEPs – which was held at London’s Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.
Speakers at today’s Conference event included Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (pictured above); Claudia Harris, Chief Executive of The Careers & Enterprise Company; and Dr Adam Marshall, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce.
Subjects under discussion included how LEPs can support the ambitions of the Government’s new Industrial Strategy, support for businesses in the lead up to Brexit, and support for skills and training to ensure employers get workers with the right knowledge.
Each LEP was asked to offer an example of a success story from their area, which they had been closely involved with.
In the Conference session called ‘5 years on – what have LEPs ever done for us?’ D2N2 Chair Peter Richardson took to the stage to talk generally about the good that LEPs had done for the economy; and citing as an example the £30million BioCity Nottingham extension, set to open shortly, which D2N2 had backed from the outset and gave £6.5m towards from its own Local Growth Fund allocation.
Delegates heard that Local Enterprise Partnerships had helped generate over £7billion in private sector investment since they were created, in 2010/11; which, added to a total of over £9billion that they’d received to date through the Government’s Local Growth Fund allocation, amounted to more than £16billion invested into local economies.
Other figures given at the Annual Conference were that LEPs had helped:
- create over 145,000 jobs
- put 95,000 people on the road to learning new skills.
Figures for each LEP are published on their websites, in line with the individual priorities of each LEP’s own published Strategic Economic Plan (SEP). D2N2’s SEP, Business Plan, latest State of the Economy publication and a report on its impact to date can be found on the D2N2 LEP website at www.d2n2lep.org/growth
Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, said of today’s event: “Today’s figures demonstrate the vital role that Local Enterprise Partnerships play in building economic growth in their communities, backed by our £9billion Local Growth Fund.
“This has helped create nearly 150,000 new jobs, supported businesses and improved transport links across the country.”
For more information on the LEP Network see its website at www.lepnetwork.net/
Further information on the work of the D2N2 LEP can be found on its website at www.d2n2lep.org/Home
Media wanting more information about the D2N2 LEP can contact D2N2 Communications Manager Sean Kirby on 0115 957 8749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
