Transcript Slide 1

LEPs, Local Growth Fund
& Growth Deals
Iain McNab
BIS London and East
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Start of a Journey
• The Spending Round underlines the Government’s commitment to the
devolution of economic powers from central government to local areas,
putting business-led LEPs, working with their local partners, at the
heart of promoting growth.
• LEPs need to demonstrate the impact they can achieve with greater
funding and flexibility and over time Government will seek to expand
the scope of funding included.
• LEPs have been asked to develop multi-year strategic plans,
bringing together bids for funding from the Local Growth Fund with
plans for EU Structural and Investment Funds, and details of leveraged
funding from Local Authorities and the wider public and private sector.
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Spending Round
• The SR increases the resources under the ‘strategic direction’ of LEPs
to £20 billion through to 2020/21.
• The Local Growth Fund (LGF) will amount to £2bn in 2015/16 and will
include funding from transport, skills and housing.
• This is the starting point for the LGF and the Local Growth Fund will
continue to be at least £2 billion a year in the next Parliament.
• The SR confirms that the LGF will include £5 billion of capital
funding (Transport Majors) from 2016/17 to 2020/21, to enable long
term planning of investment in local areas.
• For the first time, LEPs will be given the responsibility to decide how
the £5.3 billion EU Structural and Investment Funds for 2014/20 will
be spent in their local area.
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LGF for 2015/16: Breakdown
AREA
TRANSPORT
FUNDING STREAMS
Local Authority Transport Majors
819
Local Sustainable Transport Fund
100
Integrated Transport Block
200
SUB-TOTAL
SKILLS
15/16
(£M)
1,119
Further Education capital
330
ESF skills match funding
170
SUB-TOTAL
500
New Homes Bonus
HOUSING
SUB-TOTAL
TOTAL
400
400
2,019
LGF 2016/17 to 2020/21 – minimum of £2bn pa but includes £1bn pa from transport budgets
(available for allocation)
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Growth Deals
• A partnership between the Government and LEPs, with the shared
objective of growth
• Builds on the work of City Deals
• An opportunity for local business and civic leaders to set out their
vision and priorities for local growth in their areas
• Local Growth Deals = A Local Growth Fund allocation AND a wider
offer of additional levers and influence
• Local areas will need to show they are committed to this agenda by
bringing their own resources to the table as well
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Strategic Economic Plans
A Strategic Economic Plan for growth – not just for the Local Growth
Fund
•Demonstrating wider commitment to growth across local spending and
decision-making
•Creating an environment which enables private investment in growth
•Aligning or pooling local authority capital and revenue spend on growth
•Effective collaboration on economic development activities
•Maximising the synergies with wider local growth programmes including
EU funding.
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Strategic Economic Plans
Underpinning principles
Local leadership, depth of partnerships and deliverability
•Deliver collective decisions
•Are coterminous with the LEP area where appropriate
•Build a strong relationship with the business community
Political and financial accountability
•Effective political and financial accountability is essential
•Can be delivered either locally via democratically elected council leaders or
nationally via Ministers
Transparency
•Basic reporting and independent audit requirements to support transparency and
effective accountability
•Ongoing co-design over the next few months
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Allocation and timetable
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Draft timetable:
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July 2013 – LEP guidance
September/October 2013 – LEPs to share outline of Strategic Economic Plans with HMG
End Dec 2013 – LEPs to share draft of Strategic Economic Plans with HMG
January 2014 – Feedback to LEPs
March 2014 – LEPs to submit final version of Strategic Economic Plans to HMG
April to June 2014 – assessment of LEP Plans and Growth Deal negotiations
July 2014 – SLGF allocations announced and Growth Deal agreed
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The importance of the Strategy
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Areas which develop strong strategies that they can deliver effectively, supported by strong
governance and arrangements for local accountability, will benefit in three ways:
1) They should receive more money
2) They will earn local accountability
3) Wider powers and responsibilities
Effective delivery in the first year will influence future years
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14-19 LEP activity
• Leicester and Leicestershire LEP
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undertaken a comprehensive Skills Needs Analysis, which revealed significant
skills mismatch issues as well as highlighting employment challenges for
young people in Leicester and Leicestershire;
launched a Skills Academy at the MIRA Enterprise Zone
prioritised action to increase Youth Employment and address NEETs as part of
their City Deal
worked with the county's FE colleges to support the development of a joint
FE prospectus
heavily promoted the UK Skills Show, offering 'Have a Go' opportunities in
advance of of next month's show
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Stoke and Staffordshire LEP
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keen to ensure that that young people coming out of school / college are adequately prepared for the
opportunities available to them in the area. They are particularly keen to change young peoples’
perceptions of manufacturing industries as the LEP believes that significant growth will come from
advanced manufacturing and applied materials over the next decade. For this reason the LEP has
established an ‘Education Trust’ – here is an excerpt from their Core Brief:
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“…. the LEP’s Education & Skills Sub-Group encouraged partners to develop the concept of an
Education Trust. The idea, a national first, is for senior representatives from the ‘supply side’
(schools, colleges, universities, private training providers etc.) to sit on the Education Trust alongside
representatives from the ‘demand side’ (employers) to take action to (i) ensure that education and
training provision is relevant to the needs of local businesses and (ii) raise educational aspirations and
attainment. The first meeting of the Trust took place in November 2012”.
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JCB chair the Trust as. A couple of years ago they set up the first UTC (with £20m from DfE plus
private sector investment) - the JCB Academy is for 14 – 18 year olds keen to progress a career in
engineering. It’s a big decision for the youngsters as they have to leave their current schools where
they will have been since they were 11, to join the JCB Academy. The Academy’s first GCSE results
were published last year – 99% A*-C!
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Apprenticeships reform
• There are three key aims for reforms:
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Putting employers in the driving seat of Apprenticeships. In future,
Apprenticeships will be based on standards designed by employers to meet
the needs of their sector.
Radically simplify the system. The new employer-led standards will be short
and easy to understand. They will describe the skills and knowledge that an
individual needs to master to be fully competent. They will relate to a clear
occupation (e.g. baker) rather than, as now, to a broader sector area (e.g. food
and drink).
Increase the quality of Apprenticeships. An apprentice will need to
demonstrate their competence through rigorous independent assessment,
focused primarily on testing their competence at the end of their
Apprenticeship. We will introduce grading to Apprenticeships – Pass, Merit and
Distinction. All Apprenticeships will be required to last at least 12 months and
English and maths requirements will be stepped up gradually, reflecting the
importance of these transferable skills.
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Apprenticeships reform 2
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We are consulting separately on how to give employers greater control over funding for
Apprenticeships, which will further support these three aims. The consultation lasts until
01 October and results will be announced later this year.
We will launch Apprenticeship Trailblazer projects as early adopters in a range of
sectors. These will be led by employers and professional bodies, who will develop the
new Apprenticeship standards for a number of occupations. The first of these will be
announced in the Implementation Plan and others who are interested can contact us at:
[email protected]
The Trailblazers will pave the way for full implementation of the reforms during 2015/16
ad 2016/17 with the aim that all new Apprenticeship starts from 2017/18 will be on the
new programme. As the new standards are developed and agreed, we will cease
funding Apprenticeships under former frameworks.
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Apprenticeships reform 3
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In future:
– employers will determine what competencies an apprentice must
acquire to undertake an occupation effectively, and how these are tested;
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– assessment will be rigorous to ensure each Apprentice has genuinely
met the standard set by employers by the end of their Apprenticeship; and
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– employers will be given the buying power to select the most appropriate
training provision, forcing training providers to up their game.
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This will lead to better quality Apprenticeships more suited to employers’ needs