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Healthcare expert joins North East LEP team

One of the country’s leading healthcare professionals has joined the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to drive forward the region’s innovative health and life sciences sector.

Dr Teresa Fortune, an experienced research manager from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, has been appointed Health and Life Sciences Programme Lead at the North East LEP.

Tasked with aiding the economic development of the North East by supporting growth in the life sciences and healthcare sector, Teresa has a wealth of experience in the field having held senior positions at the National Institute for Health Research and One North East.

Teresa said: “Health and life sciences is identified as a key growth area for the North East because we already hold a diverse range of specialisms. Our region’s universities are world leading and our thriving pharmaceutical industry adds over £1 billion to the national economy, exporting over 85% of its output.”

“We want to build on our knowledge and reputation by investing in the sector to create more and better jobs here in the North East.

“It’s a very exciting time to be joining the North East LEP, particularly following the launch of our refreshed strategic economic plan for the region. The health and life sciences sector provides a huge opportunity in terms of economic growth and job creation, helping us to achieve our aim to create 100,000 more and better jobs for the North East economy by 2024.

“I’m looking forward to working with central government to ensure the region’s strengths in this sector are a core part of the UK’s wider industrial strategy.”

One of Teresa’s first roles as Health and Life Sciences Programme Lead was to Chair an event on Thursday 23 November with partners from across the region to look at two new reports from First for Pharma and BioCity detailing regional assets and opportunities within the sector. The meeting discussed the opportunities and challenges for the health and life sciences economy in the North East of England.

After graduating from the University of Glasgow with a PhD in Molecular Genetics, Teresa went on to work for a number of public and private organisations including Cels Ltd (now Bionow) and the North East England’s regional development agency, One North East.

In her role at One North East, Teresa championed a new approach to the healthcare pillar of the Regional Economic Strategy as well as being technical lead for healthcare.

Before joining the North East LEP, Teresa held a number of roles within the National Institute for Health Research Coordinating Centre. As Head of Commercial Business Development and Marketing, Teresa lead a team who worked with global companies to bring cutting edge clinical research into the NHS. In her position as Portfolio Lead she lead a broad range of activities specific to the national management and performance of clinical research delivery, working across all stakeholders, including the NHS, the academic and clinical community, funders of research, patients and their families.

Helen Golightly, Executive Director at the North East LEP said: “Teresa’s skills and experience make her the perfect person to lead our work around health and life sciences. She’s worked in the region for a number of years and has an excellent knowledge of the healthcare cluster in the North East. We’re delighted to welcome her to the team.”

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LEP funding available for early stage innovation projects

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) is inviting bids from early stage innovation projects to come forward for development stage funding that will help to prepare business cases that can help deliver the ambition set out in our Strategic Economic Plan.  

Projects that are able to demonstrate clear links to the SEP and key Government policy (such as the Industrial Strategy), and are anticipated to be over £5m in scale are encouraged to come forward. Funding available through this call is to support the costs of getting projects ready to produce a HM Treasury Compliant, Five-Point Business Case – the funds are not for projects at implementation/build stage.      

We anticipate that the North East LEP will be asked to fund around 50% of the costs of the development of a project (subject to State Aid).  While there is not upper or lower limit attached to this, but the eventual ‘full’ projects should be anticipated to be of a significant scale (i.e. of at least £5m capital build cost).

Prospective applicants, who can be from public, private or voluntary sector, are encourage in the first instance to read the Project call information document which can be found along with other supporting information on our funding page.

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In conversation: Dinah Jackson discusses the Rural Growth Programme’s current funding calls

With more than £10 million to invest in businesses in the North East LEP area, Dinah Jackson, North East LEP Business Growth Programme Manager, outlines how the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Growth Programme will unlock business investment across the region to create jobs and growth.

We’re thrilled to be able to announce that the deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest to the RDPE Growth Programme has been extended to 31 May 2018. This gives an additional four months for businesses to apply for three grants which are available: rural business development, rural tourism and food processing. The Growth Programme provides capital funding to support projects that invest in building businesses, creating new jobs and growing the economy in rural areas.

We’re extremely pleased with the decision to extend the deadline for the benefit of the rural economy. We hope that the grant will incentivise businesses to bring forward their investment plans despite the uncertainty of current times. Individual projects could be eligible for up to 40% grant funding in most cases, and in some cases a higher grant threshold is available (for some specific projects to build our rural tourism infrastructure).

With more than £10 million to invest in businesses in the North East LEP area, businesses are invited to submit expressions of interest as soon as possible to give the maximum amount of time available to deliver individual projects.

So what types of projects can the Growth Programme fund?

Here are some examples of the kinds of projects that could be eligible for a grant:

Rural business development grants – New equipment or machinery that creates productivity and efficiency gains, new premises or facilities that diversify farming activities

Food processing grants – Expansion of a meat cutting and processing plant to meet new international markets, a new milk processing facility or expansion to an existing soft fruit processing facility to enable processing of lower quality and lower value fruit to supply growing markets for end products

Rural tourism – New footpaths, bridleways or cycle paths, extending a local museum or new high quality visitor accommodation

We now need good strong applications from rural businesses, rural tourism businesses and food processing businesses to ensure that we maximise the economic benefit returned to the North East from the programme.

Here are some top tips that will help you progress your project to create growth and jobs:

How do you apply for a Growth Programme grant?

The first step is to identify whether you are eligible. It may sound overly simple, but if you don’t meet basic eligibility requirements, you cannot apply.

Are you an eligible business, located in an eligible area, intending to carry out eligible activities?

With the exception of applicants for food processing grants, your business must be located in the rural North East. You can use the postcode checker tool

Whilst all business development and tourism projects must be in the Rural Growth Network area, your food processing project might be eligible in the urban parts of our region, depending on the exact nature of your project.

The next stage is to follow carefully the advice provided by RPA.

Clearly written handbooks are available for each of the three calls provided by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), the grant administrator. The handbooks set out information on what activity is eligible (and what activities aren’t) and how to apply. They also give a summary of our local priorities for rural business growth. Your project will need to deliver against national and local priorities.

Each project will be considered on its own merit and the application process is competitive. This means grants are not awarded automatically to an applicant. The RPA will assess all expressions of interest to see which best meet the criteria. This is through a rigorous two-part application process (starting with submitting an ‘expression of interest’) to tell RPA about the work you’re doing and how the grant could help you with it.

If RPA assesses that your expression of interest is suitable, they will invite you to submit a full application.

Top tips for applicants

Before you start an application, here are some important reminders…

Jobs + growth + rural

Every successful application starts with a good idea and a clear plan for how to make that idea a reality. The whole aim of the RDPE Growth Programme is to create jobs and growth in the rural economy. Your application will need to show how your project will help do this.

Sell your idea

Explain clearly what your project does and how it will benefit the economy.
Show what the funding will mean to the success of your project. If you can show that your project is good value for money, and that you’re planning to use the grant money to improve your project, you’re more likely to produce a successful application.

Do the market research

Explain how there is real demand for what you want to do.

Be prepared

You will need to keep detailed records about your project, because you’ll have to provide proof (including detailed quotes) of how much the various elements of your project will cost.

An information event discussing the available funding, the types of projects funded and the application process will be held on Monday, 11 December at Wansbeck Workspace, Ashington. To book a place at this free event, click here.

For further information
For further help on growing your idea, see further information at www.northeastgrowthhub.co.uk/finance-and-funding/department-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs/rdpe-growth-programme/  call the Defra Helpline on 03000 200 301, or email the Growth Programme at [email protected].

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2017 Budget reaction

Andrew Hodgson, Chair of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), today gave his reaction to the Budget delivered by Chancellor Phillip Hammond.

“This is a Budget that recognises that we face a range of challenges but is focussed on preparing the economy for the future.

“The Chancellor has prioritised actions which can strengthen the UK’s competitiveness through innovation, skills and investment in housing and infrastructure.

“I fully support devolution to the North East and welcome today’s announcement by the Chancellor, with details that the three North of the Tyne local authorities have struck a devolution deal with Government.

“The business community in the North East wants devolution of finance and powers from central Government to the North East and would like these devolved funds to cover as much of the North East as possible. Decision-making by locally elected politicians for local people is important.

“However, the door must be left open for all of the other local authorities in the North East who may decide in the future that they would also like to be part of a devolution deal.

“Any deal for the North East region should have the delivery of the Strategic Economic Plan at its heart and be focused on boosting economic growth and creating more and better jobs in the North East.”
“We welcome the £337m investment in the Tyne and Wear Metro system. I personally wrote to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget to call for this funding.

“The strategic importance of the Tyne and Wear Metro to the local economy of the North East of England cannot be over-stated. It carries up to 40 million passengers each year, two thirds of whom are travelling for work or education and is a significant employer in its own right.

“The Transforming Cities Fund, which will invest £1.7bn into transport infrastructure and the commitments to develop the next generation of 5G technologies, were also positive. The North East can play a key role in testing and delivering 5G for the UK.

I also welcome the £20m to help further education colleges prepare for the new T levels.

“I was encouraged that the OBR has confirmed we can expect to see ongoing jobs growth across the UK. The North East Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) has set an ambition of generating more and better jobs for the North East and we hope today’s Budget will create opportunities to support that.

View a fuller budget overview from the North East LEP here.

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Notice of meeting cancellations from the North East Combined Authority

North East Combined Authority (NECA) business is cancelled on Thursday 16 November as members are paying their respects to its Chair, Councillor Paul Watson who died last week. Meetings will be re-scheduled in due course.

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North East LEP ONS Regional Labour Market Statistics Reaction

North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Senior Economist Victoria Sutherland gave her reaction to today’s positive regional labour market statistics.

“Today’s data is encouraging. It shows the number of people in employment in the North East has increased by 10,000 on the quarter and 25,000 on the year.  There have also been declines in unemployment, with 6,000 fewer individuals unemployed than last quarter and 8,000 fewer unemployed than this time last year.

“The improvements in the employment rate and the unemployment rate have been better in the North East than across England as a whole over the quarter and the year.

“In addition, there are only two regions (the East of England and the South East), that have had a larger improvement in their employment rate than the North East over the last quarter.

“Interestingly, over the last year, most of the growth in employment has been among women, with18,000 more women in work than a year ago. However, over the last quarter, the majority of the increase has been amongst men.

“It remains an uncertain economic environment so it is good to see employment is growing and unemployment declining. Given concerns over other economic data recently, we welcome these positive trends for the North East.

“We would like to see next week’s Budget and the Government’s Industrial Strategy bring forward plans that will support the North East to continue to grow its economy and create good quality employment opportunities for its residents.”

 

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North East Economic Partners provide joint response to government’s report on immigration

As Brexit talks continue between the UK and European Union, North East economic partners including the CBI, North East Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs Forum, TUC, North East LEP and North East Combined Authority, continue to work together to advise government on important issues for the North East economy implied by the decision to leave the European Union.

One of those areas is the future shape of the labour market, and in particular the availability of the skills we need to enable the delivery of the strategic economic plan.

Immigration, the economic and social impacts of Brexit and how the UK’s immigration system should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy, are key issues under consideration by the Government. In July, Home Secretary Amber Rudd commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise government on migration trends to and from the European Economic Area and the UK, their impact on current recruitment, training and skills practice in the UK and on the economic, social and fiscal impacts of EEA migration and the potential impacts of any changes in UK policy.

The North East Economic Partners – working on behalf of the wider business, education and industry sectors – have delivered a combined response reflecting the current and future labour supply in the area, the role of EEA migrants in the North East labour force and survey evidence and case studies of the experience and views of North East businesses.

The key findings and recommendations were:

It is important that the composition of immigration data in the North East is understood

Whilst numbers of migrants in the North East population are relatively small compared with other regions of the UK, there are a high number of students enrolled in our region’s four universities and these are included in the data. Immigration data from the EEA also includes large numbers of older UK citizens and forces personnel returning from parts of Europe.

The concentration of migration in specific places and roles and the skill levels of these posts

Within the North East, there is a high concentration of migrants in cities and urban centres, in particular around Newcastle. Migrants in the labour force have a relatively high skill profile; working in higher value industrial jobs and in professional, managerial and technical roles across the economy including universities and healthcare.

The important contribution migrants have made to overall population growth experienced in region

The North East has recently returned to population growth, but at the same time seen significant population ageing. Our labour market growth and balance across age groups has been supported by migration and the higher birth rates amongst migrant populations.

Looking forward, there will job opportunities from both new jobs, and significant ‘replacement demand’ as older workers leave the labour market. We will need to replace these valuable skills by ensuring that people in all parts of the region have the skills to fill the jobs in the North East economy and by attracting people to the region from other parts of the UK and internationally at all levels of the labour force.

Internationalisation of North East business

The North East has secured significant foreign direct investment over recent years with many investors regarding our region as an opportunity to access European markets and supply chains. Parts of the region have a significantly higher proportion of employment in foreign owned businesses compared with other parts of the UK. Whilst the number of businesses hosting high numbers of international workers is small, the common framework of regulation and employment policy and the opportunity to recruit has been an important factor in decision making. There is already concern about the tone of the discussion on migration.

Businesses and economic development agencies work hard to secure skills and invest in training

North East businesses and agencies work hard to secure the skills they need and have invested in training and apprenticeship schemes, as well as seeking skills overseas, especially for high level skills. There is more to do and the area of skills and labour market development is a key priority within the strategic economic plan.

A post-Brexit immigration policy needs to consider potential dynamic effects on the North East

North East based EEA migrants include a higher proportion of higher skilled staff than in other areas in occupations such as engineering, digital, education and healthcare. There is a concern that the overall numbers in these occupations are restricted. Areas with a ‘thicker’ jobs market, London for example, may draw EEA migrants away from the North East. North East partners encouraged the MAC to recognise the potential dynamic impact on the North East labour market of migration controls elsewhere in the UK.

Read the North East Economic Partners full response to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) here.

 

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Join the Innovation Board

Closing date extended until Friday 15 December.

We are looking for two passionate, well-connected business people from the Health and Life science and Digital and Data sectors in the region to join the Innovation Board.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is committed to driving economic growth, delivering more and better jobs for the North East as set out in our Strategic Economic Plan (SEP). To do this, the business-led, partnership brings together the private sector, local authorities and university and college representatives to deliver against six strategic programmes: innovation, business growth, skills, employability and inclusion, economic assets and infrastructure and connectivity.

Our Innovation programme has two core principles:

  • Creating an open, collaborative and networked environment with a focus on supporting delivery
  • Maintaining a strategic focus on recognised areas of industrial specialism and of scientific leadership in the North East economy

To enable this, the Innovation Programme is comprised of three work streams:

  • Ecosystem development: Our ecosystem needs to provide access to finance, business support, expertise and knowledge and foster access to regional, national and international partnerships.
  • Innovation Infrastructure: Developing, demonstration and delivering new ideas required a physical infrastructure including research, test and demonstration facilities.  There is an opportunity to co-ordinate different North East assets to provide test bed sites which can interest international engagement and investment.
  • Smart Specialisation: As well as supporting innovation across the economy, we are focused on our four areas of smart specialisation and areas of knowledge strength.

Our Innovation Programme Delivery Board oversees, provides advice and actively supports programme implementation and delivery with thematic sector leads responsible for reflecting, galvanising and engaging with their respective sectors and supporting cross-sector initiatives. The sector leads also take the lead and chair the respective working-groups to provide links between the different sectors.

We are seeking to engage two sector leads with a commercial and business growth background who are willing to volunteer their time and input their specialist knowledge and expertise to represent and stimulate the Health and Life science and Digital and Data sectors to ensure delivery of the strategy and develop the next phase of delivery.

If you have the drive, passion, business insight, skills and experience at a senior management or board level in either of these sectors and significant awareness of the North East economy we would love to hear from you. To find out more or apply, click here..

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5G North East consortium appoints project director

5G North East, the consortium leading the development of the region’s plan to create a national 5G testbed has appointed a highly-experienced project director.

Xavier Priem will lead the drive to position the North East as a key focus for the UK’s 5G revolution.

Xavier has extensive experience working for multiple telecom suppliers, their customers and, network operators. He has established specialist 5G research and innovation centres and projects across Europe.

His appointment comes as the Government is looking to establish the UK as a global leader in 5G enabled communications and is seeking to establish a group of testbeds to trial the technology.

Xavier said: “This is a fantastic chance to establish a transformative ecosystem that will create new jobs and economic opportunities for the North East.

“I come from the North East of France which has in many ways followed a similar trajectory as the North East of England, reinventing itself and generating new economic opportunities in technology and innovation following the decline of traditional industries.

“Having the opportunity to contribute to establishing the North East as a technology- enabled innovation powerhouse within the UK and global community is a very exciting role to undertake.

“I am looking forward to helping to create 5G North East and delivering new economic value and improved services for people in the region. Success for 5G North East will see the generation of new jobs, the bringing of new industries to the region and the creation of new opportunities for local businesses to develop high value services on a 5G network that will provide operators with testing capabilities. It will ultimately lead to wider roll out and better mobile services to the general public.”

Xavier’s previous posts include three years as business development and portfolio manager at the French Institute of Research and Technology (IRT) B-COM.

Andrew Hodgson, Chair of the North East LEP, one of the consortium partners, said: “The North East partners are committed to producing a strong and long term programme that will showcase the region’s suitability as a testbed and lead to a sustainable 5G delivery system in the region.

“We are delighted to welcome Xavier to the team. We are confident his experience in research, project management and commercialisation strategy, and his vast technical, commercial and global network knowledge will help position and elevate the North East’s reputation in the 5G ecosystem.”