Chamber help for businesses facing huge amount of uncertainty in Rugby and wider region

As we can see from all of the recent economic statistics, there is still a huge amount of uncertainty for businesses in Rugby and the wider region.

We can only hope that, as summer turns to autumn, that the rate of inflation continues to fall and, therefore, interest rates can stabilise too.

It is also time to start looking ahead to Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Economic Conference in November.

As ever, it will be attended by a mix of business people and civic leaders, offering a chance to meet and network with key figures and decision makers.

It will also feature great insights from speakers and panel sessions, including this year’s keynote address from the experienced broadcaster, Clive Myrie.

The event, which is being delivered in partnership with Prime Accountants Group and PET-Xi Training, is taking place

on Friday, November 10 at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

We’re also hoping to announce when our next Rugby branch meeting will be taking place.

These are a great opportunity to discuss issues facing firms across the borough and ensure that we speak with a collective voice for our businesses, so please get in touch if you’d like to get involved.

Finally, you will have hopefully read about a major new plan to help the West Midlands and Warwickshire tackle labour and skills shortages that has been approved by the Government – with more than £10 million of funding available in the region to deliver its aims.

The West Midlands and Warwickshire Local Skills Improvement Plan (WMW LSIP) has been produced by Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and Black Country Chamber of Commerce.

The plan, which sets out three key priorities, has been devised after around six months of research and consultation including engaging with more than 1,000 employers as well as skills and training organisations such as FE and HE institutions and other private providers.

It has identified where there are shortfalls in provision and, also, a lack of knowledge of what is available, both by individuals and employers, and makes recommendations on how they can be addressed.

Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, has rubber-stamped the plan and £10.4 million has been made available through a Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) to enable FE providers to respond to the proposals.

A partnership of local providers, led by Solihull College, is now bidding for that funding to address the issues set out in the plan and the fund is an immediate opportunity to further develop the critical relationship between education and business.

The first priority is to target key sectors crucial to the growth of the region including engineering & manufacturing, construction, ICT & digital and logistics & distribution and to promote training and education provision already available, but also to invest in new facilities and courses where appropriate. General actions are also recommended for all

sectors.

The second priority set out in the WMW LSIP is the provision of excellent, flexible leadership and management training in both specific and general topics to help facilitate business growth.

Thirdly, the plan responds to employer requests for greater levels of essential skills for work and workplace digital skills with a range of recommendations from the creation of a new short course programme through to mentoring and coaching.

It’s a great credit to everyone who has worked on the LSIP so far and I look forward to seeing how this can develop to help businesses overcome one of the issues they have been facing for years.

For more information on the Chamber’s Annual Economic Conference go to https://www.cw-chamber.co.uk/events/annual-business-economic-conference-2023/

If you’d like to get involved with the branch, please email our head of policy, Sean Rose, at [email protected]