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An economic growth strategy for An economic growth strategy for An economic growth strategy for An economic growth strategy for

SheffieldSheffieldSheffieldSheffield

Consultation dConsultation dConsultation dConsultation draft raft raft raft (September 2012)(September 2012)(September 2012)(September 2012)

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Contents Contents Contents Contents FOREWORD AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO BE ADDED 1 Bigger economy, better businesses, faster growth 2 The case for refreshing Sheffield’s economic priorities 3 A strategy for economic growth 3.1 Framework for the strategy 3.2 Governance and economic leadership 3.3 New financial tools for growth 3.4 Effective partnerships 3.5 Progress towards Sheffield’s economic vision 4 The scale of the challenge 4.1 Overview of Sheffield’s economic performance 4.2 Sheffield’s prosperity gap

4.3 Key messages for growing Sheffield’s economy 4.4 Responding to future trends

5 Sheffield’s economic objectives – What we want to achieve for the city 5.1 A dynamic private sector 5.2 World-class, high-tech sectors 5.3 A skilled and productive workforce 5.4 An unrivalled quality of place 5.5 An inclusive economy 5.6 An enhanced reputation 6 Responding to the consultation

Appendix A – Key economic challenges Appendix B – Sector profiles

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1111 Bigger economy, better businesses, faster growthBigger economy, better businesses, faster growthBigger economy, better businesses, faster growthBigger economy, better businesses, faster growth Sheffield is a creative, inventive and energetic city. It is one of the UK’s major city economies with internationally recognised, leading edge talents in manufacturing, engineering and design. The city’s authentic and independent character is reflected in an aptitude for generating bright ideas, an inquisitive and innovative spirit, and a deserved reputation for getting things done. The strength of the city’s economy is fundamental to Sheffield being a city of global significance. As the Core City at the heart of the Sheffield City Region, the city’s leaders in the private, public, education, voluntary and community sectors share a commitment to delivering a bigger economy, better businesses and faster private sector growth.

The vision for Sheffield’s Economy By 2020, Sheffield will be a city of opportunity with a strong, sustainable, international economy built on innovation and enterprise that drives prosperity across the city region. The city will have: • A dynamic private sector with a strong pipeline of new businesses and a

productive, competitive and growing business base. • World-class, high-tech sectors built on Sheffield’s distinctive economic

strengths that will transform and sustain the city’s long term competitiveness. • A skilled and productive workforce providing the right skills to meet

business needs and support growth. • An unrivalled quality of place with the right infrastructure and environment

to support the city’s competitiveness and enable businesses to run efficiently and grow.

• An inclusive economy that supports people to achieve their full potential

and take part in the economic and social life of the city. • An enhanced reputation locally, nationally and internationally with Sheffield

known as a creative, inventive, energetic city that is a great place to live, work, invest and visit.

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2222 The case The case The case The case for for for for refreshing refreshing refreshing refreshing Sheffield’sSheffield’sSheffield’sSheffield’s economic prior economic prior economic prior economic priorities ities ities ities The first Sheffield Economic Masterplan was published in 2008 and set out an ambitious programme of change for the city. Since its publication, the economic, political and financial landscape has changed significantly – there has been a major recession, a change of national Government, and the wind down of funding and business support organisations like Yorkshire Forward and Business Link. The last few years have been about withstanding recession and making progress in tough economic conditions. Many of the realities remain challenging – a struggling global economy, less public and private money available and higher unemployment. Yet major opportunities exist and the city must position itself to take full advantage of them. Sheffield City Region has the potential to make a significant contribution to a rebalanced UK economy by capitalising on its unique assets and heritage, and targeting collective efforts towards the most productive parts of the economy, including business investment and trade as key drivers of economic growth. The city region’s businesses need the right kind of support as they strive to be more agile and adaptable to change so that they can capitalise on growth opportunities quickly. Sheffield’s future growth will be defined by the way we create and shape opportunities now so the time feels right to reset the city’s economic priorities, and establish a renewed programme of change that equips Sheffield and the wider city region to meet the demands of the future.

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3333 A strA strA strA strategy for economic growthategy for economic growthategy for economic growthategy for economic growth

3.13.13.13.1 Framework for the strategyFramework for the strategyFramework for the strategyFramework for the strategy This strategy is focused on securing a bigger economy, better businesses and faster private sector growth locally, and strengthening Sheffield’s economic base to achieve the city’s core economic outcomes:

• Improved city competitiveness • Increased gross value added (GVA) per head • More private sector employment • Higher gross annual wages • Improved employment rate.

It provides the foundation for the city’s economic partners to prioritise support for and invest in the factors that drive growth in Sheffield’s economy and create the right conditions in the city for long term economic success. Table 1 summarises the framework for Sheffield’s economic strategy:

• the economic vision • Sheffield’s economic objectives – what we want to achieve for the city • the priority actions to deliver these objectives.

Successful delivery of the priority actions needs:

• strong commitment and economic leadership from the city’s private, public, education, voluntary and community sector partners

• a new approach to funding and financing economic development • highly effective partnerships.

Table 1: Framework for Sheffield’s economic strategy

Vision By 2020, Sheffield will be a city of opportunity with a strong, sustainable, international economy built on innovation and enterprise that drives prosperity in its city region.

Sheffield’s economic objectives – What we want to achieve for the city

A dynamic private sector with a strong pipeline of new businesses and a productive, competitive and growing business base.

World-class, high-tech sectors built on Sheffield’s distinctive economic strengths that will transform and sustain the city’s long term competitiveness.

A skilled and productive workforce providing the right skills to meet business needs and support growth.

An unrivalled quality of place with the right infrastructure and environment to support the city’s competitiveness and enable businesses to run efficiently and grow.

An inclusive economy that supports people to achieve their full potential and take part in the economic and social life of the city.

An enhanced reputation locally, nationally and internationally with Sheffield known as a creative, inventive, energetic city that is a great place to live, work, invest and visit.

Priority actions

• Building an enterprising and business friendly city

• Accelerating growth in our high potential, innovative SMEs

• Driving up productivity and competitiveness

• Attracting and embedding inward investment

• Building sector profile and leadership

• Delivering tailored sector support packages

• Championing game-changing sector initiatives

• Nurturing young talent to build a skills base for the future

• Up-skilling the current workforce

• Cultivating and utilising high level skills

• Developing a business focused skills system

• Strengthening the city’s infrastructure

• Ensuring that Sheffield is well-connected

• Harnessing the potential of the city’s physical assets

• Building a sustainable low carbon city

• Connecting people to training and jobs

• Tackling the root causes of poverty

• Promoting fairness and equality

• Building a resilient local economy

• Developing and marketing Sheffield’s distinctive brand

• Enhancing the city’s reputation for doing business

• Raising the profile of the city’s assets

Governance and economic leadership

Financial tools for growth

Effective partnership

3333.2.2.2.2 Governance and Governance and Governance and Governance and eeeeconomic conomic conomic conomic lllleadershipeadershipeadershipeadership Whilst this strategy is clearly focused on Sheffield’s economic future and pinpoints the priorities and actions that will be advanced at city level, there will be times when the city’s economic partners will need to work collaboratively at city region, national or international level where there are shared interests, or where this will lead to more effective delivery and more successful economic outcomes. As the Core City at the heart of the Sheffield City Region (figure 1), Sheffield is committed to playing its part in the growth of the wider economic area. This relies on ambition, strong commitment and economic leadership from the city’s private sector, supported by enabling and risk-sharing partners in the public, education, voluntary and community sectors. To take advantage of the range of new policies and funds designed to support businesses and boost the UK economy, Sheffield City Region needs fit-for-purpose governance arrangements that are ready to meet the challenge of devolution. The private and public sectors in Sheffield City Region have a long history of collaborative working to deliver the best opportunities for growth. This is reflected in the strong relationship between the local authorities and the private sector representatives that make up the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The Sheffield City Region LEP brings together the eight local authorities of Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Doncaster, North East Derbyshire, Rotherham and Sheffield to work with businesses and other partners towards a common goal of encouraging growth and economic activity to create a prosperous and sustainable city region. The city’s economic partners need to continue to move forward together with speed and determination, taking advantage of the range of new policies and funds designed to support businesses and boost the UK economy. Figure 1: Sheffield City Region

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3333....3333 New financial tools for growthNew financial tools for growthNew financial tools for growthNew financial tools for growth Far more than previously, the future of the Sheffield lies within its own hands. The challenging economic conditions and much reduced availability of public and private sector finance demands the ability to make critical investment decisions based on a clear set of economic priorities to achieve our vision and deliver the outcomes we want for the city’s businesses and residents. Whilst real financial pressures exist, the Government is beginning to devolve more powers and finance for delivery and greater flexibilities at city and city region level. Although some sizeable economic development resource streams no longer exist, others are continuing to provide opportunities for investment, including European Regional Development Funds and transport investment funds. In addition, a number of new funding opportunities to support growth in the economy are emerging including Regional Growth Fund and Growing Places, along with new financial instruments such as Tax Increment Financing and Community Infrastructure Levy. Working together, the city’s economic partners need to seize opportunities to make the most of these new financial tools for growth. Cities that can build self-reliance over the next five years have unprecedented opportunities to make progress relative to their competitors. This is not just about major projects on the ground, but becoming a more entrepreneurial, opportunistic, commercially smart and collaborative city. It means changing how we deliver, not just what we deliver. New funds are about sharing the benefits of growth, so partners need to make the strategic investments upfront that will unlock future growth. Working closely with the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, Sheffield intends to stimulate the economy by using these new forms of finance to achieve local ambitions and make a significant impact on the economic fortunes of the area. At the heart of this is the creation of a shared investment fund which will support action on a larger scale to attract investor interest, and be directed towards activities that will enable the fulfilment of a shared, sustainable economic vision.

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3333.4.4.4.4 Effective Effective Effective Effective ppppartnershipsartnershipsartnershipsartnerships

This strategy prioritises support for the factors that drive growth in our economy and create the right conditions in the city for long-term economic success. It sets out the city’s economic priorities to 2020 and provides a framework to guide activity, resources and investment over that period.

Highly effective partnerships have been central to the production of this strategy and will be critical to its implementation. By working together, the potential of organisations across Sheffield to deliver change and achieve the economic vision is strengthened.

While Creative Sheffield will take overall responsibility for implementation and monitoring of the strategy, responsibility for delivery of the priority actions sits across a number of partners in the city including the private sector, the Sheffield Executive Board, the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, Sheffield Hallam University, the University Of Sheffield, The Sheffield College, government departments, other public sector agencies, and voluntary and community sector representatives.

The priority actions identified in the strategy will form the basis of an economic programme for the city to be used to guide critical investment decisions, and generate a more comprehensive action plan that sets out what needs to be done, lead delivery partners, key milestones and specific outcomes for each priority action.

3.53.53.53.5 Progress towards Sheffield’s economic visionProgress towards Sheffield’s economic visionProgress towards Sheffield’s economic visionProgress towards Sheffield’s economic vision The strategy identifies a set of economic measures to enable effective monitoring of the city’s economic performance and progress towards the 2020 economic vision. The performance framework identifies the core economic outcomes and associated targets against the economic vision. These are underpinned by a set of progress measures which relate to the economic objectives we want to achieve in the city. These progress measures (summarised in table 2) will enable us to compare performance across historic trends, national averages and UK Core Cities, and help us to understand if we are effecting the underlying changes we want to see in the economy. An annual review of the progress measures and delivery of the priority actions within the strategy will provide the basis for a discussion among the main delivery partners to make any adjustments to meet the rapid pace of change in the economy. This will ensure that the economic programme remains relevant, focused and successful in achieving the outcomes we want for the city’s economy.

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Table 2: Sheffield’s economic measures

2020 Economic Vision Core economic

outcomes Targets

Competitive City Index

Increased GVA per head

More private sector employment

Higher gross annual wages

By 2020, Sheffield will be a city of opportunity with a strong, sustainable,

international economy built on innovation and enterprise that drives

prosperity across the city region. Improved employment rate

What we want to achieve Progress Measures Business Density / stock

Business Start ups

A dynamic private sector with a strong pipeline of new businesses and a productive, competitive and growing business base.

Productivity

% Employment in high value sectors

% GVA in high value sectors

World-class, high-tech sectors built on Sheffield’s distinctive economic strengths that will transform and sustain the city’s long term competitiveness.

% of people with level 3 and 4 skills

Apprenticeships

A skilled and productive workforce providing the right skills to meet business needs and support growth.

Carbon emissions (tonnes per capita)

Congestion

Office rental values

An unrivalled quality of place with the right infrastructure and environment to support the city’s competitiveness and enable businesses to run efficiently and grow.

City centre footfall

Index of multiple deprivation

Unemployment, including youth unemployment

An inclusive economy that supports people to achieve their full potential and take part in the economic and social life of the city.

% of people with no skills

Reputation/ FDI survey

Volume and Value of tourism

An enhanced reputation locally, nationally and internationally with Sheffield known as a creative, inventive, energetic city that is a great place to live, work, invest and visit.

Hotel Occupancy

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4444 The scale of the challengeThe scale of the challengeThe scale of the challengeThe scale of the challenge

4.14.14.14.1 Overview of Sheffield’s economic performanceOverview of Sheffield’s economic performanceOverview of Sheffield’s economic performanceOverview of Sheffield’s economic performance Sheffield’s economy has significantly transformed over the last 20 years. Much of this change has come from the diversification of the business base, moving from a declining post-industrial city to a growing knowledge-based economy with a wide range of business sectors. Over the last 20 years substantial improvement has been made across a range of economic indicators: gross value added1 (GVA) has increased; employment and skills levels have improved; and the city has developed some sector strengths. The look and feel of the city, and its quality of life and place has never been stronger. However, Sheffield is not yet fulfilling its economic potential. The strength and productivity of our sectors and businesses are below national average and, whilst the city experienced a period of strong private sector expansion from 2000-2005, job growth has been too heavily reliant on the public sector pre recession. This evidence is clear in its challenge. Sheffield needs to strengthen its private sector and rebalance growth so that both Sheffield’s public and private sector are productive, strong and growing.

4.4.4.4.2222 Sheffield’s prosperity gapSheffield’s prosperity gapSheffield’s prosperity gapSheffield’s prosperity gap The ‘prosperity gap’ was first calculated in the 2008 Economic Masterplan based on 2004 data. It was used to identify the shortfall between what Sheffield does produce and what it could produce. The analysis showed a ‘prosperity gap’ of over £1.1 billion and pointed to the combination of economic inactivity, unemployment, low productivity and a poor sector mix as the areas where change was required. A recalculation of the ‘prosperity gap’ shows that the GVA gap between Sheffield and the national average persists. This indicates that although the city’s economic trajectory has improved, other places have grown as strongly meaning that although Sheffield is keeping up, the city has not yet started to close the prosperity gap and meet its economic potential. Figure 2 is based on the latest analysis available (2009) and shows that Sheffield’s GVA stands at £9.578 billion against its ‘potential prosperity’, GVA of £11.212 billion2, giving a prosperity gap of £1.63 billion. The ‘potential prosperity’ highlights the level Sheffield’s GVA would be at if GVA per head in Sheffield (£17,510) were equal GVA per head nationally (£20,498).

1 GVA is an overall indicator of the dynamics of the economy: how much it produces; wage levels;

productivity of the work force; and the city’s main sectors, all of which impact on the overall output or ‘value added’ produced by an economy. 2 If GVA per head in Sheffield was equal to GVA per head nationally, Sheffield’s GVA would equal

£11.212 billion.

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The graph also highlights how Sheffield’s performance on key economic indicators like the potential labour supply, the employment rate, the sector mix of the economy and the productivity of sectors and businesses are contributing to the prosperity gap. For example, a large negative number on an indicator means that Sheffield’s performance is lagging the national average and so is contributing to the prosperity gap. Figure 2 – Components of Sheffield’s Prosperity Gap

Based on this analysis we know that to start to close the prosperity gap, we need to improve our performance relative to the national average on the following indicators, which are currently the largest contributors to the prosperity gap:

• Productivity sector performance – The strength and productivity of our sectors and businesses is below the national average.

• Real employment rate – There are not enough jobs available for local people to work and the number of people unemployed and workless in Sheffield is significant.

A further way to close the prosperity gap is to out-perform the national average on key indicators (indicated by a positive number). For example, in the original prosperity gap analysis (2004 data) the productivity-sector mix indicator was negative, contributing -£146 million to the prosperity gap. In 2009 this is now positive, reducing the gap by +£60million. This notable change reflects the city’s improved sector make up, with a broader range of growing sectors. However as one of England’s largest cities, we would expect Sheffield to perform better than the national average on this indicator, reflecting the comparative strength of the knowledge economy in cities. As such we can conclude that there is further potential to close the prosperity gap through strengthening Sheffield’s sectoral mix (productivity sectoral mix).

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4444.3.3.3.3 Key messages for growing Key messages for growing Key messages for growing Key messages for growing Sheffield’sSheffield’sSheffield’sSheffield’s economy economy economy economy Building on the prosperity gap analysis and drawing on more detailed data (see appendix A) we can point to a clear set of evidence-based priorities for the refreshed economic strategy where progress is essential to secure sustainable economic growth: • Strengthening the private sector economy, building and enterprising, dynamic

business base that also creates jobs will require more businesses. • Improving the productivity of our sectors and businesses is important in adding

value to the economy and will require more competitive businesses across the general business base, as well further growth in high value sectors.

• Harnessing skills to support private sector growth is a priority, ensuring that

skills are fully utilised by Sheffield businesses and that there is a sustainable pipeline of high level skills.

• Ensuring local people have the opportunity to connect to economic growth and

see the benefits in more jobs and improved incomes. • Ensuring Sheffield is a place where businesses can grow by identifying and

delivering critical infrastructure projects to facilitate growth. • Building Sheffield’s profile to secure economic benefits.

4.44.44.44.4 Responding to future trends Responding to future trends Responding to future trends Responding to future trends Just as the financial and economic landscapes change rapidly, there are a number of future trends that will impact on cities for many years to come3. By planning for and reacting to these early, Sheffield will be better placed to defuse threats, exploit new opportunities, and build a more resilient economy. Key trends include:

• An ageing and more diverse population meaning a changing workforce and increasing pressure on local services.

• A dramatically changing climate with an increased chance of more extreme weather events means building environmental, structural and economic resilience for the city and its businesses.

• An over-riding requirement to reduce carbon emissions. Carbon consumption cannot continue at current levels and Sheffield will need to play its part in radically reducing carbon emissions and exploiting new opportunities to stay competitive.

3 The Future of Yorkshire and Humber: trends and scenarios to 2030, Henley Centre and Yorkshire

Futures, 2008; Building the New Leader, HayGroup, 2011

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• Diminishing natural resources and changing energy markets will lead to higher energy prices and an increasing uncertainty of energy supply. Potential opportunities in areas such as renewable energy and heat generation.

• Globalisation and changing economic geography will require new trade strategies in relation to large, rapidly growing economies.

• Technological convergence and rapid advances in new technologies reinforcing the need for intelligence, innovation and creative approaches that span multiple sectors and specialisms.

• Rising demand for higher level and transferable skills which will be vital to success in the ‘knowledge economy’.

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5555.... Sheffield’s economic objectivesSheffield’s economic objectivesSheffield’s economic objectivesSheffield’s economic objectives –––– What we want What we want What we want What we want to to to to

achieve for the cityachieve for the cityachieve for the cityachieve for the city

5.1 5.1 5.1 5.1 A dynamic private sectorA dynamic private sectorA dynamic private sectorA dynamic private sector What we want to achieve A dynamic private sector with a strong pipeline of new businesses and a productive, competitive and growing business base. The Challenge Sheffield’s business density is low compared to other UK cities, as is the productivity of our sectors and businesses, meaning we lag other cities in terms of overall competitiveness. The sector profile of our business base is under-represented in ‘knowledge’ sectors, particularly high value business services. Although the level of micro business start-ups (mainly sole traders) in Sheffield has improved in recent years, too few of these businesses are growing beyond the VAT threshold4. This is compounded by the recession which has seen the number of start-ups in the city reduce significantly and, as survival rates are lower due to the economic climate, the business base in the city is at risk of being eroded. Sheffield primarily is a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) economy, with 95% of the business base employing fewer than 50 employees. This is broadly in line with both the national average and other Core Cities. However, the resilience of businesses and their ability to grow and employ is the main issue for the city in terms of building a strong pipeline of new businesses. Figure 3: Sheffield’s current business base

4 2009 data – Based on start up analysis at sole trader, PAYE and VAT registration levels.

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Priority Actions A strong, well-supported, vibrant business sector is vital to the economic growth of the city, generating wealth and prosperity for the people that live here. It provides the goods and services that the city needs, bringing money into the local economy through exports, drives innovation and enterprise, attracts new investment into Sheffield, creates new markets and encourages entrepreneurial ambition in young people. We know from economic trend data that in periods when the business base is expanding, jobs have followed. Whilst job creation is not the primary purpose of starting a business, it is a vital economic outcome that flows from a dynamic and growing business base. To deliver more and better businesses for Sheffield, we need to draw on and draw in private sector talent. We need businesses to generate new ideas that key stakeholders and the public sector can back. We need businesses to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs and encourage the business community at large to drive up standards, productivity and competitiveness so Sheffield businesses can succeed in global markets. There are four priority areas where the city must focus its efforts in pursuit of a bigger, better, faster private sector economy:

• Building an enterprising and business friendly city

• Accelerating growth in our high potential, innovative SMEs

• Driving up productivity and competitiveness

• Attracting and embedding inward investment Building an enterprising and business friendly city Businesses must be our champions to help instil a culture of enterprise in the city with the public sector, universities and other stakeholders working closely and positively with them to ensure that young businesses have the right workspaces, support, mentors and networks to survive and grow. Our focus must be on growing and attracting new talent, by creating a pipeline of new entrepreneurs and business leaders and by being a business friendly city where entrepreneurs want to live, work and invest. Since 2007, businesses, Sheffield City Council, schools, colleges and the universities have worked together to transform enterprise education with the aim of fostering a culture of enterprise so that starting, running and growing a business is a compelling option for any young person from any background. For this to generate the improved start up performance the city needs, we must build on these foundations and seek to inspire young people to look beyond self-employment, convincing them that they can turn their good ideas into innovative products and grow successful businesses. Partnering with the private sector to sell this aspiration will be central to the success of the programme. Businesses also need a range of good quality business support that they can call on to help their businesses survive and grow. Until 2011, the city benefited from significant investment in business support through Business Link (£20m regionally each year), Yorkshire Forward and the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative. Although this support has now been scaled back, there still is important support available nationally that we should encourage Sheffield firms to take up. However, this is not comprehensive.

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We will enhance the national business support provision, filling gaps in support and ensuring businesses can access what is available in a simple way. We will invest in:

• An Enterprise Gateway which all business can use to access all aspects of business support, including business-facing Council services such as licensing, health and safety, planning and other basic business information and nationally available provision.

• A new package of support to individuals looking to start a business including access to group coaching workshops, support with research and business information, events on key business topics, drop-in sessions with advisors and business experts and mentoring support.

• Support for businesses at critical stages of their life-cycle, for example, taking on employees, expanding or making capital investments. Businesses will have access to business advisors, mentoring support from other businesses in the city, coordinated access to accountants, lawyers and other professional and technical experts.

We also recognise that it is about how we do things as much as what we do, and in this strategy we are setting out a clear commitment – we will demonstrate, through everything we do, that we want businesses to succeed in Sheffield. Accelerating growth in our high potential, innovative SMEs We recognise the SME nature of the city’s economy and will direct resources into tailored and focused support for those SMEs with growth potential, giving them access to business advisors and experts drawn from the private sector. We know we have over 6,000 businesses in Sheffield which are of a critical size where we estimate there is the highest potential to achieve sustainable growth, create jobs and strengthen the business base. The right intervention at critical points for these businesses can enable and accelerate business growth. In addition we will launch a new initiative to identify, support and champion the next generation of leading businesses in Sheffield. The Sheffield Business Growth Programme We have approximately 6,000 businesses in Sheffield of a critical size, that is £100,000 to £1 million turnover, where we estimate there is the highest potential to achieve sustainable growth, create jobs and strengthen the business base. We will work with 1,000 of these businesses over the next five years to accelerate their growth through a new programme providing: • A long term relationship with an experienced business account manager who will work with

businesses to understand their ambitions, pressures, and the barriers they might be facing. • A bespoke programme of support drawing on our network of experts in areas such growth

finance, international trade, product development, innovation, leadership and management and human resources.

• Specific development ‘boot camps’ to kick-start growth through export, improved procurement practices and the introduction of transformational ICT.

• Access to business development networks, both at home and overseas, which provide opportunities for our most ambitious business leaders to collaborate with others.

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Sheffield gazelles This is a new initiative to identify, support and champion the next generation of leading businesses in Sheffield It will work intensively with Sheffield’s top ‘gazelles’. These are our highest potential businesses aspiring to achieve rapid and sustainable growth in revenue and jobs. Research shows these businesses are not size or sector specific and can be in any market and of any age. These companies are driven by the entrepreneurs behind them, and as a city we want to invest in these leading businesses to support and accelerate their success and secure their long term commitment to Sheffield. We will develop this initiative with businesses and will aim to provide interventions that meet their specific needs including top level mentoring, access to funding opportunities, international master-classes, and innovation and collaboration focused networking.

Driving up productivity and competitiveness We want Sheffield businesses to have all the tools they need to be able to drive up productivity and competitiveness. At city level, the prosperity gap analysis shows that we already lag in this area. We have identified three key areas where the city will act to ensure that the right support is in place to enable businesses to compete: innovation, international trade and sustainability.

• Innovation Innovation is about constantly striving to improve and differentiate products, processes or services to gain competitive, commercial advantage. For some businesses that can mean researching and developing the application of cutting edge science and technology. For others it is about finding new and better ways to run processes, deliver services, reduce costs and improve customer service.

Sheffield is already a leading innovator in some areas. The challenge is to extend this capacity throughout the business base. The collaborative model at the heart of the Advanced Manufacturing Park and the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing is recognised as world class. The public sector, business and university expertise have worked in partnership to create an unrivalled asset for the Sheffield City Region and the UK, translating theoretical research and academic expertise into a competitive, commercial edge, a proposition which attracts global companies into Sheffield.

We want to ensure that this model of collaboration is embedded within our local business base, not only by connecting more local businesses into the Advanced Manufacturing Park directly, but through its application across other sectors, including nuclear technology, healthcare technology, creative and digital industries and renewable energy.

We will also develop with partners an ‘open innovation’ model to drive innovative capacity in our SMEs. This simply means innovating in partnership, involving and co-operating with people outside of the business – such as suppliers, customers,

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end users, universities, to co-develop and implement ideas. This model can work well for SMEs as it is not dependant on scale or large investments. Our approach will be to work with the LEP to establish a ‘collaborative community’ for our SMEs to access and use the developing open innovation model to foster a culture of continual improvement and invention in our business base.

• International trade International trade creates significant economic benefits, making businesses more competitive and drawing economic value into the city through exports. We will be more ambitious in our international work, maximising opportunities for international trade as a key priority to generate jobs and growth and to enhance the city’s position and competitiveness in the global market place. We will focus on developing international relationships at city level which yield economic benefit. Building on current relationships within Europe and China, we will seek to develop economic and trade relationships with expanding market economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and other parts of China. We will also explore new trade opportunities that businesses tell us are important to them, and that support the growth of our high value sectors. International Trade Partnership To increase the number of exporters across Sheffield City Region, we need to work in partnership with a focus on the right type of business support, improving the regulatory environment, increasing access to trade finance and helping businesses to develop their business strategies to take up opportunities in trade and export. We will create a city partnership for international trade, comprising Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, UK Trade and Industry, HMRC, Creative Sheffield and South Yorkshire International Trade Forum to deliver a stronger, cohesive and complementary offer to businesses. Working in this way will enable us to deliver a powerful combination of support from events and awareness raising, advice and training, trade delegations and grant funding. Through this partnership we will encourage more businesses to engage in international trade. We will increase awareness and capacity of businesses to take up trade opportunities and provide market intelligence to help companies identify the best markets and countries to trade with. We will work to overcome the barriers businesses face when establishing international trading relationships.

• Sustainability Sustainability is about the long-term maintenance of our economy and the responsible management of our resources. It is about balancing the objectives of improving GVA, securing inward investment and growing our businesses with reducing our carbon emissions across the city region and managing the risks associated with rising energy prices and diminishing natural resources. At present, about 50% of the city’s carbon emissions come from business and industry. In addition, 13% of city-scale gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to leave the local economy every year through payment of energy bills and this is expected to grow significantly by 20225. This makes a compelling argument for businesses to

5 The Economics of Low Carbon Cities, Centre for Low Carbon Futures, January 2012

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pursue ‘green growth’ by maximising their resource efficiency to reduce energy consumption and waste production and therefore their overall costs. The shift to this evolving business culture will bring with it changes in regulation, domestic and business consumer preferences, the pricing of raw materials and markets, all of which will impact on businesses. To remain competitive, we need to raise awareness of these issues, support companies to understand their needs and find the right solutions for developing sustainable business practices. We will support the opportunities this creates for collaboration between businesses, universities and research establishments to invest in and exploit current and future technology to develop real solutions to support the transition to a green economy.

The Sheffield City Region Low Carbon Sector Group is leading the work to develop a sustainable and competitive future for our businesses. It brings together leading experts across the city region from the private, public, academic and voluntary sectors, and is focused on assisting businesses to understand and take up the opportunities presented by an efficient, lean, collaborative and profitable green economy.

Attracting and embedding inward investment Attracting businesses into Sheffield from elsewhere brings clear benefits in terms of jobs and adds to the pipeline of businesses in Sheffield. It can also enhance the city’s profile and assets and create supply chain opportunities. To maximise these benefits for Sheffield we will adopt a targeted approach to inward investment to attract businesses with a genuine fit with the city’s supply chains, sectors and skills offer. In partnership with the Local Enterprise Partnership, Sheffield is investing in a new inward investment team to proactively target inward investment in high value sectors important in the city region. This proactive resource will be tasked with lead generation and will work with investment teams in local authority areas to ensure that these leads and enquiries are converted into new businesses and jobs for the Sheffield City Region. We will also continue to promote Sheffield and identify investment opportunities through our well developed networks of intermediaries such as location consultants, property agents, lawyers, accountants and professional service providers. We will proactively sell and utilise the benefits of the Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone to bring in new companies focused on manufacturing and technology. This is a major initiative with significant benefits to business, including capital allowance for investment in plant and machinery. We will maximise the inward investment potential of the Enterprise Zone to deliver a step change in the number of businesses moving into the city.

A final crucial component when bringing new businesses to the city is support to integrate them as part of the city. We will build long term relationships with investors to encouraging them to stay and reinvest here. We will provide information and advice on accommodation, potential finance and funding sources, recruitment and training and any information about living and doing business in the city.

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5.25.25.25.2 WorldWorldWorldWorld----class, highclass, highclass, highclass, high----tech sectors tech sectors tech sectors tech sectors What we want to achieve World-class, high-tech sectors built on Sheffield’s distinctive economic strengths that will transform and sustain the city’s long term competitiveness. The challenge Sheffield has fewer businesses in higher value, higher skilled sectors than other major UK cities, which is likely to suppress the level of GVA being produced in Sheffield and weaken our economic competitiveness nationally and internationally. Realising growth opportunities across high value sectors is about stimulating demand and growth not only within these sectors but across a wider range of complementary economic activity. For example, niche markets like food production, crafts and sports connect into high value sectors and are important to the city’s profile and cultural offer. Service sectors such as retail, leisure, tourism and hospitality provide many job opportunities and benefit from spending power earned in other parts of the economy. The city has a real opportunity to increase productivity, economic value and jobs by realising the growth potential of high value sectors in Sheffield. Priority Actions We have identified five high value sectors based on a mix of existing as well as emerging sectoral strengths and growth opportunities:

• Advanced manufacturing and materials (AMM)

• Business, professional and financial services (BPFS)

• Creative and digital industries (CDI)

• Energy, environmental and low carbon industries (EELC)

• Healthcare technologies (HTech) Our focus on these sectors forms part of a broader strategy designed to encourage growth across the whole private sector economy, in particular small and medium sized businesses, to deliver ‘more and better businesses’ for Sheffield. These activities are complementary, both seeking to drive enterprise and growth across the business base to ensure that Sheffield has a productive, competitive and growing economy that generates jobs. Our approach focuses on accelerating growth in the five high value sectors by:

• Building sector profile and leadership

• Delivering tailored sector support packages

• Championing game-changing sector initiatives

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Building sector profile and leadership It is important to recognise that although the five high value sectors draw on a set of underpinning strengths (innovation, design solutions, and precision manufacturing) they each have a distinct ecology and are at different stages of development. We know that most major cities are pursuing growth in similar or related sectors so our approach is to showcase Sheffield’s distinctive strengths in each sector to differentiate our offer from other cities and highlight where we have a competitive edge. Working with partners we have profiled each sector (see appendix B) and articulated the distinctive make-up, strengths, challenges which we need to respond to in order to take each one and our economy to the next level. Our objectives for each sector are summarised in the table below: Sector Objective

Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

To ensure that Sheffield City Region is recognised as one of the top five high value manufacturing regions in Europe by 2020 and one of the top ten in the world by 2025.

Business, professional and financial services

To capture the growth potential of the business, professional and financial service sector by focusing on the development and marketing of our distinctive strengths, backed by the quality of life and place Sheffield has to offer.

Creative and digital industries

To nurture the economic, cultural and social drivers of the creative and digital industries sector to deliver a triple bottom line of benefits: increased competitiveness, widespread creativity and a community of home grown talent.

Energy, environmental and low carbon industries

To build a low carbon economy and reduce carbon emissions across Sheffield City Region by helping businesses to exploit opportunities to develop sustainable technologies that respond to market demand and meet future needs.

Healthcare technologies

To establish Sheffield City Region as one of the premier locations for healthcare technology specialising in the development, production and commercialisation of innovative healthcare solutions.

We will work across the city region boundaries, recognising that businesses in these sectors are often clustered across the wider city region. We will engage with existing networks and support the Local Enterprise Partnership sector groups. Within these groups we will work collaboratively with businesses, universities and the public sector to identify the key strategic initiatives and underpinning support that will accelerate growth and deliver our core objectives for each sector.

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Delivering tailored sector support packages Recognising their growth potential, we will deliver a package of support across our high value sectors based around five key sector interventions:

• Innovation and collaboration

• Trade and export

• Investment

• Business environment

• Skills Our approach will be to deliver specific and distinctive support that responds to the needs of businesses within each sector alongside developing the enabling conditions for the wider sector to develop and grow. Each package of support will be designed to enhance and accelerate the cluster benefits within and across our high value sectors, ensuring that the key connections with other businesses, supply chains, universities and support agencies are well developed, facilitating collaboration, innovation and growth.

Accelerating Growth – Key Sector Interventions

Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

Business, Professional and Financial

Services

Creative and Digital

Industries

Energy, Environmental

and Low Carbon Industries

Healthcare Technologies

Innovation and collaboration Stimulating productive networking within and across the high value sectors, bringing businesses,

public sector agencies, universities, research establishments and private sector organisations together to encourage collaboration and innovation.

Trade and export

Exploring potential trade opportunities and key partners (countries or companies) which align to our high value sectors. Encouraging and supporting companies to take up these trade

opportunities and develop export markets nationally and internationally.

Investment Securing more investment in our high value sectors by brokering access to finance support for indigenous firms with growth plans and targeting new inward investment projects which can act

as a catalyst for local growth, unlocking sector opportunities or strengthening our leadership position. Maximising the benefits of the SCR Enterprise Zone.

Business environment

Understanding and seeking to deliver the business environment and infrastructure which will underpin growth in the high value sectors and improve the dynamism of the economy.

Skills

Influencing and working with education, colleges, universities and the wider skills sector to ensure that our high value sectors have the young people, training provision and talent they need to grow. Connecting employers to training, apprenticeship and internship provision in the city.

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Championing game-changing sector initiatives What we mean by championing game changing initiatives is the support for the delivery of strategic investment opportunities that are of significant size and scale to accelerate growth locally, and improve Sheffield’s global position and profile in our key sectors. In some sectors where we have developed long standing relationships, these game-changing initiatives may already be identified. Where that is the case we will focus our efforts on ensuring that these projects are delivered. For other sectors we will work collaboratively with businesses and key partners to identify and develop these opportunities. We will also seek to identify actions which enable us to cross-fertilise the underpinning capabilities and technologies of our high value sectors including innovation, design solutions and precision manufacturing where Sheffield has particular strengths. This could provide fertile ground, opening opportunities in new markets across key sectors. Digital Innovation – ‘Cloud City’ Led by our leading private sector entrepreneurs, we are working to create ‘Cloud City Sheffield’, which has the potential to make a dramatic impact on the city region’s economy. Cloud City Sheffield will make Sheffield City Region the laboratory in which new public sector solutions, developed collaboratively with private sector and academic expertise, are trialled to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public services. We will capitalise on the existing superfast broadband infrastructure in the sub-region along with our land, power and green energy resources, and look to lever major private sector investment to develop the next generation of green data centres needed to deliver the Government’s Cloud Strategy.

NAMRC Centre for Procurement We are seeking to develop a National Centre for Procurement based around Sheffield City Region’s Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. This would co-produce with Government a ‘roadmap’ for growing the nuclear advanced manufacturing supply chain. Our aim is to boost growth in the emergent nuclear advanced manufacturing market in the UK by linking demand for complex manufacturing products to innovators in the advanced manufacturing and nuclear supply chain. Working with Government and industry from major multinationals like Rolls-Royce, Boeing, British Aerospace, Westinghouse and Areva, to locally based manufacturers such as Sheffield Forgemasters, and a wide network of local and national SMEs, we can drive UK exports, create high quality jobs and secure a world-leading future for UK manufacturing and energy infrastructure.

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Innovation Centre for Healthcare Technologies Led by the city’s universities, key healthcare institutions and leading companies we will work to develop an Innovation Centre for Healthcare Technologies. Building on the success and experience of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), this centre would enable companies to trial innovations in partnership with expert institutions and NHS Trusts, helping them to develop innovative healthcare solutions and bring them to market quickly and efficiently.

The Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone The Enterprise Zone will accelerate the development of modern manufacturing and technology businesses in the Sheffield City Region, already one of the largest concentrations of advanced engineering and manufacturing in the UK. It will support growth in related technology based sectors, including energy, environmental and low carbon industries, creative and digital industries and healthcare technologies. The Sheffield Enterprise Zone is focused on the Lower Don Valley near J33/34 of the M1. It is the most central and largest site of a number of connected sites in the city region, together comprising approximately 145 hectares. It includes development sites at Tinsley Park, the Europa Link, the AMP/Waverley and Templeborough. All businesses will benefit from a simplified planning regime and superfast broadband, with key areas eligible for enhanced capital allowances and business rate relief. By 2020 the zone is expected to create over 7,000 additional jobs in areas of the Sheffield-Rotherham economic corridor eligible for business rate relief, and over 8,400 jobs in the city region in total.

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5555....3333 A A A A skilledskilledskilledskilled and productive workforce and productive workforce and productive workforce and productive workforce What we want to achieve A skilled and productive workforce providing the right skills to meet business needs and support growth. The challenge Sheffield’s skills profile has improved significantly since 2005 and now outperforms the national average and most Core Cities. However, there are a number of challenges which need to be addressed to ensure this improvement continues and translates into long term competitiveness and economic growth. We need to improve school leavers’ performance (where we under-perform in comparison to other Core Cities) to ensure that our young people are employable and that the economy has a new generation of talent. But we cannot stop there. As 70% of the existing workforce is already employed in businesses, we need to work with skills providers and businesses to up-skill the current workforce and ensure businesses have staff with the intermediate and technical skills needed to prevent skills gaps and to support growth.

Analysis also shows that Sheffield’s highly skilled population is not sufficiently penetrating the private sector. Sheffield benefits from two highly reputable universities that together produce 12,000 graduates annually in a wide range of disciplines. However, too may of these graduates are not utilised by the city’s SME’s. We need to connect the city’s greatest economic assets, our businesses and our highly skilled people, to ensure that our improving skills profile is exploited to full effect in our economy.

We also need to respond to the clear messages from business, that the skills system is a barrier, rather than a driver of business growth. This poses a real problem, as in order to meet the challenges outlined we need businesses to engage in skills in a deeper way than ever before. We need to work with businesses to build trust, and track record, so businesses can influence the skills system to deliver the type and level of skills they need. Priority Actions Skills are a vital component of delivering the city’s economic vision and are an essential building block for growth, driving both productivity and participation. They are fundamental to businesses and to people and their careers. So it is vital that Sheffield produces, attracts, retains and utilises skilled people. We will be robust and forthright in our decision making and actions to ensure that the skills system delivers what it right for Sheffield’s businesses and people by focusing on:

• Nurturing young talent to build a skills base for the future

• Up-skilling the current workforce

• Cultivating and utilising high level skills

• Developing a business focused skills system

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Nurturing young talent to build a skills base for the future The city’s young people in schools, colleges and universities form much of Sheffield’s future workforce. To ensure that this workforce grows in strength we need to ensure that a pipeline of young people is breathing new talent into the workforce. To achieve this we need educational attainment to improve more rapidly in the city and we need to connect schools, colleges and universities with employers to ensure that the education system is producing young people with the right specialist skills for the economy, and the right employability and transferable skills which employers value. Employers are clear that they need people who are ready for work and who can perform in the workplace. At one level that is about basic employability skills – numeracy, literacy, the ability to turn up on time and get on with the job. At another level, it is about the transferable skills, such as showing initiative, good interpersonal skills, the ability to learn, creativity, team working and good customer service skills that make employees productive and successful in the workplace. We will strengthen the relationship between schools and the world of work by embedding employability and transferable skills in all learning programmes at all ages. We will nurture employability and transferable skills alongside learning for formal qualifications by embedding real world learning experiences and business projects as part of the curriculum. We will facilitate and encourage local businesses to support the design and delivery of the curriculum so that they have the confidence that school leavers are well-equipped for working life. The Made in Sheffield Curriculum The ‘Made in Sheffield’ initiative focuses on developing a bespoke curriculum for key sectors in Sheffield by forging a partnership of employers, schools and colleges that will collaborate to reshape learning and skills for young people. The initiative will better equip young people with the numeracy, literacy, employability and transferable skills needed in work. It combines a focus on the science and technology knowledge needed in engineering and manufacturing with the employability and transferable skills that are valuable in any sphere of work. A partnership of the Cutler’s Company, schools and the city council are working with prominent manufacturers are to strengthen the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths, setting challenges that require a cross-curricular approach and offering mentorship to learners to enable young people demonstrate that they have acquired and applied the broad range of skills that employers will need. We will focus on developing this model within the manufacturing sector and then seek to roll it out across other key growth sector in Sheffield.

Up-skilling the current workforce The degree to which workforce training takes place, is led, resourced and delivered or managed by employers, will determine Sheffield’s success in building a highly skilled and productive workforce. It is essential that businesses have a sufficient supply of employees equipped with the intermediate skills they need to replace an ageing workplace and to facilitate growth and expansion opportunities with in business. For example, a skills gap is developing at technician level as an ageing workforce retires in the SCR manufacturing industry. For example, we already know that 580 apprenticeships are required from major manufacturing businesses located in the Sheffield City Region in the next 3 years.

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Success will require employers to invest more in workforce training, developing a better qualified workforce, through the expansion of the high quality apprenticeship and the up-skilling of the existing workforce. This issue is of particular importance for the city’s SME base whose ability to grow will underpin the future resilience of the economy. However if this is our requirement of employers, we need to respond to their concerns about the current skills system. We need to simplify the skills system to ensure that businesses, particularly SMEs, can engage with training opportunities and we need to work with skills providers to ensure they that are more responsive to business needs, delivering the right skills, at the right level to enable employers to investing in training. To achieve this we will put in place new collaborative arrangements to forge partnerships between skills providers and businesses, such that employers can be confident that they call upon high quality training of a type and in a place that merits their investment in more apprentices and adult training, whilst providers can be assured that businesses will plan for apprenticeships and workforce training in the volumes that allows them to justify new investment in staff, qualifications and infrastructure. Illustrating our commitment and ambition in this area we will deliver in partnership:

• a new University Technical College (UTC) – To be launched in September 2013 the UTC is designed for 14-19 year olds who wish to specialise in engineering and creative and digital industries with a curriculum designed jointly by employers, the Sheffield College, the two universities and local schools

• an Apprenticeship and Skills Hub – At city region level, the hub will provide a

brokerage service to work with SMEs to help them employ an additional 4,000 apprentices and invest in the up-skilling of 2,000 adult employees by 2015

Cultivating and utilising high level skills In addition to improving the basic and intermediate skills which increase employability and support business growth, we must cultivate and utilise higher level skills to drive competitiveness and growth in the business base. Sheffield has made significant progress since 2005, increasing the percentage people with high level skills (NVQ level 4 or above) from 25.2% to 33%. However we need to ensure that this improvement is converted into a real competitive advantage for our local businesses and results in higher productivity and growth in the economy. To ensure Sheffield is competitive in the global economy, has growing, high performing SMEs and is at the forefront of our high value sectors we will better connect our highly skilled people into our business base. We will do this by improving graduate utilisation in our SMEs and developing leadership and management skills within the business base. • Improving graduate utilisation in our SMEs Graduates represent some of the city’s most highly skilled people in the economy and yet are increasingly becoming unemployed or underemployed and are often overlooked by businesses, particularly SMEs.

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This poses a real threat the economic growth. In today’s weak labour market, graduates are often taking low paid, lower skilled jobs. This not only displaces other people further down the skills ladder (creating further unemployment), but it also under utilises the skills of graduates as a highly skilled resource to drive business and economic growth. Our research has shown that there are real barriers and concerns from both businesses and graduates which we will need to address to create new graduate level opportunities. Currently, SMEs are not considered as the ‘normal’ route for graduate jobs (despite they fact they represent 95% of the business base in Sheffield) and graduates do not know how to access SME jobs. Furthermore, SMEs can be weary of taking on graduates, often because they feel they cannot offer the time or structured training programmes graduates need to make the transition from university into the world of work. We will champion a new approach where businesses, universities, and key partners come together to co-create a programme of activity to overcome these barriers.

Develop a ‘Graduate Guarantee’ programme of activity We will co-design, with businesses and our Universities, a new programme of activity to better connect graduates into the local business base, particularly SMEs. We will ensure that small and medium sized business can access the graduate talent that can support growth and that graduates have more employment opportunities at a time where youth unemployment is high and rising. This programme will seek to build the foundation of a functioning SME market for graduate level jobs in Sheffield, where business needs and graduate skills are matched and fully utilised in the pursuit of business growth.

• Strengthening leadership and management skills Skills surveys in Sheffield have repeatedly revealed that businesses see a need to develop the leadership and strategic management skills of their most senior managers. In today’s economic environment business leaders and managers are faced with a range of challenges and opportunities; innovation, technological change, globalisation, recession, financial uncertainly being but a few, and the decisions and actions they take in response will shape the companies ability compete, survive and grow. In turn this will ultimately determine the success and resilience of the economy.

We will work proactively to encourage businesses to recognise leadership and management training as a critical tool in improving business performance, productivity and growth. We will make good use of the assets within our universities, particularly the city’s business schools, and the newly developed Sheffield City Region Leadership Programme. In addition we will identify new ways to help SMEs improve their leadership and management capacity, and explore how networking and mentoring from high performing companies can support other local businesses with growth ambitions.

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Developing a business focused skills system We want Sheffield to be a leading city in the way it works with business, a city where businesses invest in skills, where education and skills providers are responsive to employer needs and where skills improvement translate into growth. Establishing a business focused skills system is integral to deliver this, and is a pre requisite to meeting our ambitions and delivering against all of the priority actions outlined above. To meet all of the outlined skills challenges we need businesses to be at the heart of the skills system, we need them to be willing to invest their time and resources into a range of activities such as; developing curriculum with school, investing in workforce development and training apprentices, taking on graduates and improving leadership and management skills. If businesses are to take these necessary steps they need to trust that they can engage and influence and skills system to deliver the type and level of skills they need, and have confidence that their investment will deliver real change. We will work to build this trust and remove the widespread lack of confidence in the skills system. The education and skills system is vital to ensuring that the right type and level of skills are developed and applicable in the world of work and it involves a complex framework of agencies and mechanisms that determine what is delivered. However, it is heavily weighted towards the learning preferences of individuals, and needs to change to better reflect business needs and future economic requirements. In the past, colleges and other providers have been reluctant to invest in the infrastructure, staff and qualifications needed to do this because they have not had the strategic relationship with the business community to identify the type, level and volumes driving their training needs.

We will overcome this issue by creating new a partnership, where skills providers and businesses can work together to build stronger, more business facing training programmes. The SCR Skills and Employment Partnership This new partnership will reform the skills system in a way which gives businesses confidence to invest in workforce development and so the commitment to the provider community to change their provision to meet that need. It will be created by and accountable to the LEP. It will have an employer majority but includes representation from local authorities, the SCR Executive Team, the SCR provider network, the SFA and the National Apprenticeship Service. The partnership will oversee the delivery of a three-year SCR Skills for growth and Employment Plan, which will set the direction for the deployment of training budgets, agree skills priorities for the SCR and oversee progress against stretching targets.

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5.45.45.45.4 An unrivalled quality of placeAn unrivalled quality of placeAn unrivalled quality of placeAn unrivalled quality of place What we want to achieve An unrivalled quality of place with the right infrastructure and environment to support the city’s competitiveness and enable businesses to run efficiently and grow. The challenge Transport and energy underpin economic growth by connecting businesses to markets and people to workplaces, and powering our economy, businesses and homes. To sustain and safeguard Sheffield’s future growth, we need to reform the city’s energy supply, water, waste and flood management systems to ensure that the city region is resilient to the impacts of climate change. Having the right buildings, land, digital infrastructure and quality city centre is critical to attracting new investment and supporting indigenous businesses to grow and expand into new markets. Maintaining our neighbourhoods and open spaces as well as a strong culture, leisure and sport offer is an essential element of a thriving city that offers an exceptional quality of life. In challenging economic times, support for medium and large-scale infrastructure projects can be more difficult to justify so we need to find a balance between long-term investment to promote growth and exclusively focusing on short-term savings. A pause in this type of investment could put future growth and the city’s overall competitiveness at risk. Sheffield’s local infrastructure and environment needs to be fit-for-purpose to enable the city’s businesses to grow and improve their productivity through investment in projects that:

• create routes to market as well as jobs

• release potential for regeneration

• enhance quality of life and equal opportunities

• provide solutions to local energy generation

• reduce carbon emissions. Priority actions To meet these challenges, private, public, education and community sector partners need to work together to understand existing and future infrastructure needs, co-ordinate activities to make the most of new funding streams and ensure that projects provide a return on investment as well as value for money. To create a competitive advantage for Sheffield and the wider city region the focus should be on:

• Strengthening the city’s infrastructure

• Ensuring that Sheffield is well-connected

• Harnessing the potential of the city’s physical assets

• Building a sustainable low carbon city. Strengthening the city’s infrastructure Improving and strengthening the city’s supporting infrastructure for energy, telecommunications, water, waste and flood resilience will underpin a stronger, more sustainable and balanced local economy.

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We are planning a major programme of infrastructure investments within the Sheffield-Rotherham Don Valley area including a new combined heat and power network supplied from the new biomass power station at Blackburn Meadows, as well as river enhancements and a comprehensive flood defence system. Sheffield already has superfast digital infrastructure with the first phase of the Digital Region project rolling out superfast broadband connectivity to 80% of South Yorkshire with future phases planned to increase coverage to 97%, making it ideal to test new models of delivering services such as tele-medicine and e-government. In order to support new physical infrastructure improvements and to make Sheffield more business friendly, we need cultivate a highly competitive and enabling planning regime by adopting a ‘can do’ approach to processing applications quickly and smoothly. In addition, we need to promote the advantages of the current planning reforms to potential investors, for example, the incentive for businesses to relocate created by the local development order covering the Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone. Ensuring that Sheffield is well-connected An efficient and well-connected transport system is vital to supporting business growth and development in Sheffield and across the wider city region. Current levels of congestion in Sheffield are manageable when compared with other UK cities however, making the right investment decisions now will ensure that congestion does not act as a constraint on growth in future. We need to capitalise on our recent successes in securing funding for a set of integrated transport projects that will see key development sites and employment locations across Sheffield City Region linked by fast, efficient and sustainable public transport links. These include: • A deal with Government to guarantee 10 years of transport funding for Sheffield City

Region allowing more flexibility in how the money is used as well as enabling longer-term planning for the needs of Sheffield City Region.

• Electrification of the Midland Mainline from Sheffield through to London by 2019 which will enable faster, more reliable and greener rail travel as well as boosting capacity for passengers and freight.

• Investment in the completion of the ‘Northern Hub’ cluster of rail enhancements and capacity upgrades which will see faster journey times between Sheffield and Manchester as well as to Hull, Newcastle and the North East.

• Improved access and journey times between Sheffield and Robin Hood Airport through the Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme (FARRS) which will act as a gateway to the Sheffield City Region.

• The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme improving links between Sheffield and Rotherham and access to important regeneration and employment sites. The BRT North route is expected to enable development opportunities that will bring in over £200m of investment into the local economy.

• The £58 million, Department for Transport backed pilot scheme to run a revolutionary ‘Tram Train’ on the rail and tram networks between Sheffield and Rotherham centres, improving connections across Sheffield City Region and making journeys easier and more convenient.

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• A ground-breaking Sheffield Bus Agreement with bus operators that will see many passengers paying lower fares for journeys as well as a more flexible and convenient network supported by investment of £8 million from Government over the next five years.

In the longer term, a key priority is making the case to Government to ensure that Sheffield is confirmed as a station location on the national High Speed Rail network. This forms part of the wider integrated transport developments across Sheffield City Region and the package of comprehensive local connections outlined above are essential to maximising the economic benefits from High Speed Rail. High Speed Rail Partners across Sheffield City Region including businesses, the Local Enterprise Partnership and the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive support the proposals for the full ‘Y-shaped national High Speed Rail (HSR) network. A station located in Sheffield would reduce journey times to London to 75 minutes and provide faster rail journeys to other city centres in the UK, for example, 25 minutes to Leeds. This would open up access to wider markets and support growth of businesses across Sheffield City Region as well as creating regeneration and job opportunities around the station site. In addition it would release capacity on the conventional rail network for new commuter, regional and freight services as well as providing a greener alternative to domestic aviation and car journeys. In addition to the first phase of the HSR network between London and Birmingham, the northern part of the network must be delivered otherwise the full economic benefits are unlikely to be realised.

Harnessing the potential of the city’s physical assets • City centre Significant investment over the past ten years has transformed Sheffield’s city centre and provides the city with a stronger foundation for economic growth. We need to maintain this momentum to continue to improve our retail offer in particular. The new Moor Markets development started on site in June 2012 and is due to be open for trading by the end of 2013. Longer term, securing completion of a New Retail Quarter will expand the scale and quality of our mainstream retail offer as well as providing mixed-use space to grow a new generation of independent retailers and support other creative activities. Elsewhere in the city centre, the creation of the ‘Steel Route’ from The Moor to Victoria Quays and Wicker, the redevelopment of the Central Library and Graves Art Gallery and the continued improvement of the Cultural Industries Quarter will enhance the attractiveness of the city centre for both residents and visitors. • Sites and premises Sheffield’s portfolio of fit-for-purpose sites and premises provides opportunities for businesses to expand and grow. It includes small scale ‘incubator’ provision for new businesses to large scale developments sites, many of them in and around the new Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone. Vacancy rates and relatively low costs suggest that there is not a general lack of commercial property in the city6. However, some small and medium sized firms report difficulties in finding the right workspace.

6 Advancing Ambitions: Creating a sustainable economic future for Sheffield, Centre for Cities, 2011

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The availability of grade ‘A’ office space within the city centre needs to be improved where this responds to private sector demand, particularly in the business, professional and financial services sector, to ensure that the commercial offer matches the exemplary public realm in the area. We are looking to enhance provision in a new Central Business District, the Riverside Business District as well as key sites around Sheffield station. • Quality housing, neighbourhoods and open spaces Key to enhancing Sheffield’s quality of life so that it remains attractive to businesses and people as a location of choice is ensuring that the quality of our housing, neighbourhoods and open spaces is preserved and enhanced. In terms of housing provision, our short-term priorities will be housing growth and the quality, affordability and suitability of the city’s housing stock. We have a major opportunity through the new Local Housing Company that will build 2,300 homes over 15 years as well as providing long-term business opportunities and additional jobs. A new housing strategy will be developed in 2012 and will focus on the quality and range of homes, the quality of neighbourhoods and enabling people to live independently. We want to ensure that people live in attractive neighbourhoods that are safe, clean and sustainable, and have well-managed and maintained green spaces. We need to identify and develop opportunities to manage areas through community leadership and engagement so that our communities become assets and create social benefits for our residents.

• Culture Culture is a vital part of the city’s identity and a central element of the city’s national and international reputation. Sheffield’s cultural credentials are impressive with an annual investment of over £35m, the largest theatre complex outside London, the largest independent cinema in the UK, networks of artists and creative entrepreneurs, significant investment in our creative workspaces, and a wide-ranging programme of local, national and international events. To ensure that Sheffield successfully competes with other major cities as a hub for culture and creativity, more can be done to unlock the potential of the city’s creative and cultural assets. Positioning the city as a major cultural player demands investment and with more support, we could draw far greater returns back to the city in terms of increased employment, independent business growth, talent attraction and retention and tourism development. Through repositioning the cultural offer within the economic strategy, we can begin to address challenges such as the national inequality of investment in the city’s cultural assets. Sheffield’s cultural buzz Renowned for its extraordinary artist studio scene as well as a national programme of major theatre productions, exhibitions and festivals, Sheffield’s annual cultural calendar drives tourism, develops talent in the city and profiles Sheffield as a creative place. Tramlines, Doc/Fest, Off the Shelf, The Children's Media Conference and Art Sheffield have all doubled, trebled or quadrupled in visitors and national press profile across the last five years. Venues such as Sheffield Theatres, Millennium Gallery and Site Gallery produce annual programmes which develop talent, aspiration and ensure Sheffield is perceived as a leading national centre for cultural production. Through regeneration of industrial or ‘works’ buildings across the city, over 330 studios are situated within a ten-minute walk of Sheffield’s train station, providing the city with the most urban concentration of artistic practice outside of London. ‘The buzz from Sheffield’s art scene has echoed around the rest of the region.’ The Guardian, Saturday 30 December 2011

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Building a sustainable, low carbon city To remain competitive in the future, Sheffield needs to become more resilient to energy price variations, develop alternative sources of energy supply and make more efficient use of natural resources. There are many options for lowering carbon emissions and helping businesses and people to reduce their energy bills but these are often associated with higher levels of risk and uncertainty about their effectiveness which can be a major barrier to taking action. However, without action, the city is vulnerable as it largely depends on national energy generation. The cost of building a sustainable, low-carbon city needs to be managed through a partnership approach and an efficient mix of interventions. This could include a review of regulation, procurement procedures and asset management; voluntary agreements between local authorities, businesses and other agencies; financial incentives; improved information provision for businesses and the general public, for example, the potential benefits of the Government Green Deal on reducing energy bills as well as advice on accessing financial support to deliver interventions that will help to reduce carbon emissions We need to set out our future requirements and targets for reducing carbon emissions across the city in a way that achieves a balance between economic growth and reducing carbon emissions and saving energy. This should include a commitment to ‘Energy Made In Sheffield: developing local solutions that meet the needs of businesses and citizens without creating additional burdens; maintaining the security and performance of our water and sewerage systems while reducing their environmental impacts; improving our recycling rates; moving towards a zero-waste economy; and investing in low-carbon transport and buildings. ‘Energy Made In Sheffield’ Sheffield’s energy systems are largely centralised and reliant on imported fossil fuels. The majority of our homes use gas as the main source of heating and our transport systems are almost wholly dependent on oil. Our dependence on national energy generation and infrastructure makes the city’s businesses and residents more vulnerable to rising fuel costs and shortages in the future. A strong private-public partnership approach is key to Sheffield’s ambition to be the first decentralised energy city in the UK. Our aim is to generate our own ‘Energy Made In Sheffield’ derived from low-carbon sources and offset our carbon emissions to help the city meets is carbon reduction targets. We need to capitalise on the opportunities created by new, renewable technologies to develop the right skills and create jobs in energy, environmental and low carbon industries, ensure the reliability of the city’s energy supply, and help people to change the way they use energy to reduce fuel bills and tackle fuel poverty

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5.5.5.5.5555 An inclusive economyAn inclusive economyAn inclusive economyAn inclusive economy What we want to achieve An inclusive economy that supports people to achieve their full potential and take part in the economic and social life of the city. The challenge Overall deprivation levels in Sheffield compare favourably to other cities, with around 34% of Sheffield’s population living in areas of high deprivation, compared to over 50% of the populations of Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Nottingham. However this still means that almost one quarter of households – approximately 58,500 households - are living in poverty. Moreover the gap between the worst off and best off people across Sheffield has increased. The recession has seen large increases in job seeker allowance claimants (from around 8,000 to over 18,000), with young people aged 16-24 being particularly affected. This is in addition to the significant number of people who are long term unemployed (48,000), claiming incapacity benefits / employment support allowance, lone parent income support. Given this higher level of unemployment and squeezing of income due to the recent recession the risk of ingrained poverty and inequality is heightened. However, poverty is not just about jobs. It is also about education and skills, financial capability and health. We know that there are areas across the city where people are affected, some more than others, by these aspects of deprivation. Priority actions We want an economy which provides opportunities for everyone to participate in the social and economic life of the city. High levels of deprivation and inequality can cost Sheffield future economic growth and stability. To illustrate how important this is to the economy, if we closed the gap in employment rates7 and income between Sheffield and national average, we could close the prosperity gap of £1.63billion by £1billion. We will ensure that Sheffield achieves economic success for local people, as well as economic growth by integrating a clear approach to tackling poverty and inequality into this economic strategy. We will do this by:

• Connecting people to training and jobs

• Tackling the root causes of poverty

• Promoting fairness and equality

• Building a resilient local economy

7 Closing the gap to the national average employment rate would mean the creation of over 17,000 jobs

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Connecting people to training and jobs Providing opportunities for unemployed and workless people to work, primarily demands more jobs, however jobs alone will not be enough. Individuals who have been out of the labour market for a significant amount of time will have complex barriers to work and as such we also need to equip them with the skills and confidence they need to access job opportunities.

Connecting local people to jobs is one of the main ways in which we can ensure that everyone in the city benefits from economic growth, as work can improve people’s life chances, increase their incomes and help to lift people out of poverty.

Even when basic factors are in place to support people into work, things like lack of recent or relevant work experience, physical or mental health issues, low skills levels, and the cost or lack of realistic travel and childcare options can significantly affect their chances of employment. For example, evidence shows that 60% of long term claimants have no formal qualifications, and that around 10,000 people are out of work due to mental health conditions. We also need to work with national contractors for the Governments Work Programme in Sheffield to ensure that the support is fit for purpose and meeting local needs. Sheffield’s Employment Strategy The city’s new employment strategy, and the Employment and Skills Task Force set up to deliver it, will drive action to address barriers to employment. It focuses on six priority areas for action:

• Improving employer involvement in developing initiatives to tackle worklessness and to

dispel myths about recruiting people who are not in work.

• Harnessing economic development and business growth initiatives, connecting people to

opportunities that arise from major developments, inward investments and large scale

public sector contracts.

• Removing and managing health barriers to work, tackling the main health conditions which

are causing worklessness and sickness in Sheffield and preventing newly unemployed

people becoming long term unemployed due to developing health conditions.

• Providing skills for work and progression through an integrated approach to employment

and skills and tackling the low skills levels of many benefits claimants.

• Supporting vulnerable groups and workless families, improving their work opportunities and

life chances and tackling labour market disadvantage.

• Increasing work and progression opportunities for young people, through creating more

apprenticeship, training, work experience and job opportunities.

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Tackling the root causes of poverty Connecting people to work is one of the most powerful ways to increase people’s incomes and life chances. However, we also need to equip people with the life skills and support which improve the chances of securing their career / employment aspirations, and build resilience, helping people to cope if their circumstances changes. We will focus on the removing the barriers which trap people in poverty, like financial exclusion, distress and debt as well as tackling the wider route cause of poverty – child poverty and early years development and educational attainment. • Improving people’s financial capability

We will invest in improving people’s financial capability and ensure that everyone is able to access appropriate financial services (banking, affordable and responsible credit). To do this we will work with organisations such as the Credit Union, and look at innovative forms of financial support; as well as ensure that people are able to access advice and debt services when they need them.

National changes to the benefits system will impact on the financial position of individuals. Incremental changes to key benefits leading the introduction of Universal Credit will impact on people’s ability to meet their rent liabilities, affect their choice of and access to affordable housing and could increase indebtedness amongst a cohort of customers who are already financially vulnerable. We need to ensure that these changes do not deepen financial distress and inequality in Sheffield, by working in partnership across Sheffield City Council, Jobcentre Plus and the local third sector advice network to provide timely benefits advice and support.

• Early years development and educational attainment

Evidence8 has demonstrated the crucial importance of early years development and education attainment in improving child poverty, and outcomes for children and young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

We know that the life chances of children are often pre-determined. In pure education terms, we know that by the age of 7 the life chances of children are beginning to diverge and continue to widen as children progress through school and college. For the city’s young people and the future success of the Sheffield economy, we need to make significant improvements in education. Our education system must ensure that every child and young person is literate, articulate and confident, and that recovery programmes are in place where this is not the case. The city’s attainment levels need to improve, not only to the national average but to compete with other cities. The cost of not delivering this will not only act as a break on economic growth, but potentially undermine the life chance of our young people.

8http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110120090128/http:/povertyreview.independent.gov.uk/me

dia/20254/poverty-report.pdf

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Promoting fairness and equality We know that there are communities of interest which are more likely to be unemployed and trapped in poverty, and have more barriers to overcome to enable them to reach their potential. For example, people with low skill levels, lone parents, individuals who have suffered from domestic abuse or substance misuse, people from ethnic minorities, migrants, ex-offenders, homeless individuals, people with physical disabilities or sensory impairments and those with learning disabilities or mental health conditions often have multiple and more complex needs, that without the targeted support they need can become excluded, unable to participate fully in the social and economic life of the city. To take the city forward in this important area, Sheffield established a Fairness Commission to consider the nature, extent and impact of major inequalities on the City of Sheffield, making recommendation for tackling them. The findings of the Commission will inform the short and long term measures that are required to reduce economic and environmental inequalities in Sheffield. We will respond to these recommendations where there are highlighted economic impacts and relationships. Building a resilient local economy To be a resilient and inclusive city, we need to go further than supporting individuals, and take responsibility for shaping the conditions and environment in the wider economy and in our communities to ensure that everyone in Sheffield can have a good quality of life. Communities with high concentrations of deprivation often have multiple and interconnected barriers that can make it more difficult for people to succeed in education and employment, and participate in social and economic life of the city. We want Sheffield to be a city that has successful places and sustainable communities with access to high quality housing, local services, shops, and jobs, as well as having excellent parks, streets and other physical infrastructure. The decisions that are made on a range of issues in the city have the potential to affect spatial and community based inequalities and to help to connect people to work. For example, how neighbourhoods are planned and regenerated, the strength of the voluntary and community sector, the location of economic investment and initiatives to connect people to it will all have an impact on the local economy. We will seek to deliver the right number of desirable homes in the right places to cater for people’s needs, ensuring that there is a mix of housing that reflects the needs and aspirations of the local community. We want local communities to thrive, and will support local businesses in our communities and social enterprises as they are a key part of our fabric of city and an important source of jobs and wider economic benefit for the district and local centres around Sheffield.

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5.65.65.65.6 AnAnAnAn enhanced reputation enhanced reputation enhanced reputation enhanced reputation What we want to achieve An enhanced reputation locally, nationally and internationally with Sheffield known as a creative, inventive, energetic city that is a great place to live, work, invest and visit. The challenge Sheffield is competing on a global scale to capture a bigger share of external markets, increase its level of investment and business relocations, attract and retain skilled and talented people, encourage business and leisure visitors to the city, and host major events, conferences and conventions. As one of the UK’s major cities, we are looking to enhance our reputation and build relationships with key decision-makers and influencers, particularly within Government. This is critical to challenging out-dated perceptions of Sheffield and ensuring that there is an understanding of what the city has to offer the UK and international economy at the most senior level of decision-making. The city’s marketing efforts need to be coherent and co-ordinated across different partners so that there is a strong, memorable and consistent story being told about Sheffield to our target audiences. Priority actions Our approach is targeted towards three key audiences:

• Trade – To maximise Sheffield's potential as a leading UK business destination by enhancing our reputation as a location for domestic and international investors, particularly within our world-class, high-tech sectors, and by targeting opportunities within emerging domestic and foreign markets.

• Talent – To raise Sheffield’s profile as an attractive option for skilled and talented individuals by developing an enterprising culture that drives growth in our business base and provides opportunities in our high-tech sectors.

• Tourism – To build on our strong cultural, sporting and events offer and our distinctive urban-rural location to attract more UK and international visitors into Sheffield to boost the city’s visitor economy.

Building on our distinctive strengths, the focus of activity should be on:

• Developing and marketing Sheffield’s distinctive brand

• Enhancing the city’s reputation for doing business

• Raising the profile of the city’s assets Developing and marketing Sheffield’s distinctive brand The strength of the ‘Sheffield’ city brand plays a vital role in challenging out-dated perceptions of the city as well as competing with other cities nationally and internationally by helping to promote Sheffield and wider city region in a way that persuades people to live, work and invest here. The brand has a distinctive visual look and is underpinned by values – ‘authentic and independent’ – that reflect the city’s reputation for getting things done as well as its creative and inventive spirit.

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The Sheffield city brand sits alongside the internationally recognised ‘Made In Sheffield’ mark of quality on the city’s manufactured products which acts as a symbol of the city’s ongoing commitment to quality and excellence. The challenge now is for partners across the city to build on these powerful brands and work together in a co-ordinated way to present a coherent set of messages about Sheffield nationally and internationally that boost the city’s presence in target markets and secure new opportunities for businesses and people. Sheffield’s broad programme of city marketing activities including our major events and festivals requires new models of financial support to be sustained and grow, including sponsorship opportunities, income generation that is driven by return on investment, as well as tapping into businesses’ commitment to corporate social responsibility. An over-arching city branding, marketing and communications campaign is needed to promote Sheffield at a global level to our three target audiences, led by Marketing Sheffield in collaboration with key partners across the city including businesses and business networks, the universities and the hospitality sector.

Enhancing the city’s reputation for doing business Sheffield and the wider city region has a strong offer for businesses looking to locate and grow but more can be done to attract UK and international investors to the city and support our indigenous firms to access new opportunities in emerging markets. Partners in the city need to work together to raise the city’s profile among key decision-makers in target markets, sectors and firms, build confidence in the city as a place where businesses can succeed, thrive and grow, enhance Sheffield’s reputation as a good place to do business. .

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Two major trade events now from part of the city’s annual calendar, attracting key target audiences to the city. The Global Manufacturing Festival, organised by the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Marketing Sheffield, is aimed at businesses operating in the high technology, high quality, export-led manufacturing supply chains. The event positions Sheffield City Region at the heart of the UK supply chain in advanced manufacturing and materials, as well as connecting businesses in the city region to high value export markets in aerospace, oil and gas, automotive and nuclear in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

GlobalGlobalGlobalGlobal

Manufacturing Manufacturing Manufacturing Manufacturing

Festival: Festival: Festival: Festival: Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield The UK is a trading nation that needs to meet the future challenges of an international world. Manufacturing is about making things across many sectors like engineering, food, digital, software, aerospace, power generators and medical, and Sheffield City Region has a distinctive strength and competitive advantage in this area. The Global Manufacturing Festival is organised by the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an award winning business support body representing over 2,300 businesses in Sheffield, and Marketing Sheffield. The first event was held in 2011 and attracted around 2,000 delegates across 8 major events including: • Global Manufacturing Convention which addressed the key issues relating to the nuclear

sector, emerging markets, the UK skills strategy and the growth of advanced manufacturing • ‘Get Up To Speed’ Skills and Education Show aimed at inspiring the next generation of

manufacturers and engineers • Made In Sheffield awards which drew together a gathering of more than 300 business

leaders to recognise the achievements of businesses and individuals that have done the most to embody South Yorkshire's tradition for craftsmanship and bolster the city region's international reputation.

The success of the first event is now being repeated year on year, attracting high-level speakers from leading global companies including EDF, Siemens, Smith & Nephew, Tata Steel, Boeing, Rolls Royce and Westinghouse as well as from world-leading markets like China.

MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival is the UK’s premier festival for enterprise and entrepreneurship. Supported by partners including Business, Innovation and Skills and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the festival provides a place for discussion on innovative approaches to the cultural challenges of making the UK more enterprising, providing funding and mentoring for start ups, and creating the right environment for high growth companies to go global. It provides an opportunity for the exchange of ideas to inspire the next generation of business leaders as well as putting Sheffield on the map as a place that is creative, innovative and forward-thinking. These events are now an important element of promoting Sheffield as a good place to business as well as having a direct impact on the city’s economy in terms of attracting decision-makers and visitors into the city.

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Raising the profile of the city’s assets Sheffield’s ability to attract new investment, retain and develop talented, skilled and creative people is critical to the growth and development of the city’s businesses and wider economy. The city’s distinctive assets including its exceptional quality of life, vibrant culture, leisure and sporting offer, outstanding open spaces, relatively low cost living and strong sense of community are all pivotal factors in creating a compelling offer for investors, businesses, talented people and visitors, as well as supporting a good quality of life for the city’s residents. The experience of the city centre is vital as this is often the first part of the city that people encounter and is likely to influence their decision about whether to invest, work or study here. The improvement of Sheffield city centre continues with plans to develop the high-street, independent and market retail offer, as well as increasing provision of grade ‘A’ office space. The award-winning Sheffield station presents a welcoming gateway to the city for those arriving by rail, and our quality public realm spaces are well-used by residents as well as providing the back-drop to many of the city’s outdoor events. Sheffield is already a very popular destination for students and the annual cohort of around 60,000 students and 12,000 graduates represent a resource to promote the city. There is untapped potential in terms of our cultural, leisure and sporting assets which, with increased investment and support, could draw far greater returns back to the city in terms of increased employment, independent business growth, talent attraction and retention and tourism development. In terms of the city’s visitor economy, there are also opportunities for the city’s partners to work more closely together to attract greater numbers of UK and overseas visitors to the city by promoting Sheffield as a destination for business and leisure tourism, conferences and major events. To capitalise on our distinctive urban/rural location and range of quality assets, the city is building relationships with international and national bodies such as Visit Britain and Visit England, and strengthening working relationships with local tourism bodies such as Visit Peak District and Welcome to Yorkshire. The hospitality sector has a key role to play in particular to improve the quality, range and choice of activities and accommodation on offer in the city and surrounding area to help boost year-round occupancy in our hotels and raise hotel room yields to compete with cities of comparable size.

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6666.... Responding to the consultationResponding to the consultationResponding to the consultationResponding to the consultation The consultation is open from Wednesday 19th September and will close on the Friday 19th October 2012. The questions below are intended to provide a focus for your comments.

Section 1 – The vision for Sheffield’s economy 1. Do you agree with the outlined vision for the Sheffield economy? (pg3) Section 3 – A strategy for economic growth 2. Do you agree with our focus on delivering a bigger economy, better businesses and faster

private sector growth for Sheffield? (pg5) 3. Is the set of economic performance measures – our core economic outcomes and

progress measures, helpful and comprehensive? (pg11) Section 4 – The scale of the challenge 4. Do you agree with the analysis of Sheffield’s economy, and the key economic challenges

and messages identified? Section 5 – Sheffield’s economic objectives 5. We identify six economic objectives (the things we want to achieve for the city). Do you

think that these economic objectives address the economic challenges we have highlighted?

6. Are there other aspects of the economy you think we should be focusing on? 7. Do you have any comments on the priority actions outlined under each of the economic

objectives? 8. In the strategy we recognise the importance of the city’s businesses in driving economic

growth. Do we identify the right priority actions to help businesses grow? 9. Are the five high value sectors identified the right ones to focus on in Sheffield? If not,

what sectors do you think are missing? 10. Do you have any other comments on the draft economic strategy?

Responses to the questions, along with any other comments, can be sent:

• By email to: diana.buckley@sheffield.gov.uk

• By telephone: 0114 2232378

• In writing to: SHEFFIELD ECONOMIC MASTERPLAN c/o Economic Strategy Team, Creative Sheffield First Floor, Fountain Precinct Balm Green Sheffield S1 2JA

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Appendix A Key economic challenges

Building on the prosperity gap analysis in section 4.2, we have drawn on more detailed data to identify where Sheffield should focus its economic efforts. • Private sector job growth

Pre-recession Sheffield’s job growth has been strong with jobs in the city increasing by 22% between 1995 and 2008. The expansion of the public sector has been a key part of this growth with over half (52%) of the jobs created in the public sector. Although the public sector is an important part of most large cities growth stories, in Sheffield growth has been more dependent on the public sector. For example, although private sector growth was strong through 2000-2005 (led by strong growth in business and financial services as well as growth in retail, real estate and software consultancy services), private sector employment then fell by an average of 2% per year between 2006 and 2008 even before the recession hit. Given reducing public sector resources and the need to build economic resilience, we need to rebalance growth towards the private sector.

• More business and growing businesses Sheffield has experienced growth in its business stock over the last ten years, particularly throughout the period 2000-2005 (corresponding to strong employment growth highlighted above). However, businesses density remains low at 289.83 per 10,000 population and compares poorly against the Core Cities average of 325.44 and 413.75 nationally. This will limit the scope for growth and employment creation as there are not enough local businesses creating output and jobs. Furthermore, the level of start ups in Sheffield is comparatively low and too few of the businesses who are starting up are then growing to increase their turnover or create significant employment9. As Sheffield is primarily a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) economy, ensuring that the city’s starts ups and small businesses grow is a clear future priority to create employment for local people.

• More productive businesses

The prosperity gap analysis highlights that the productivity of our sectors and businesses is the main area where we lag behind other cities in terms of competitiveness. Sheffield’s productivity (measured by GVA per worker) is £39,330 compared with Core Cities and national averages of £41,440 and £46,840 respectively. Further analysis shows that we need to focus on the interventions that drive productivity and competitiveness such as innovation, international trade, investment and skills, and that these are all areas for improvement:

o Sheffield is 27th of 64 cities in registering patents – This in an indication of innovation and is low given the expertise in the city’s universities

o More than half of Sheffield companies conduct at least 80% of their business in the city itself10.

9 2009 data – Based on start up analysis at sole trader, PAYE and VAT registration levels

10 Sheffield – Future skills and employer demand research study, Ecotec, 2010

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• Moving to a knowledge based economy Sheffield’s sector profile illustrates that Sheffield has fewer businesses in higher value, higher skilled sectors in comparison to other cites11, which is likely to suppress the level of GVA being produced in Sheffield. It highlights that in comparison to other cities, Sheffield has a lower density of business, financial and professional services. Realising our potential in this sector could provide a key driver in closing the prosperity gap. Sheffield also has strengths in other high value sectors, namely: advanced manufacturing and materials, creative and digital industries, healthcare technologies and energy, environmental and low carbon industries. A recent report by Centre for Cities12 highlights that although these high value sectors may not be mass job creators, they are important in terms of their contribution to the city’s productivity and add significant value to the economy. The report also recognises the importance and pre-eminence of advanced manufacturing in Sheffield City Region, and highlights that this strength underpins the development of our other high value sectors. Figure 4 illustrates the importance of high value sectors in adding value to the economy. In terms of the wider city economy, we also are clear that support for the city’s high value sectors forms part of a broader strategy designed to encourage growth and improve productivity across the whole of the private sector. Figure 4 – High value sectors are an important way to add value to the economy

• Utilising the city’s skills

Sheffield’s skills profile has improved significantly since 2005 and now exceeds the national averages and outperforms most core cities at level 2, 3 and 4. For example, 33% of Sheffield’s working age population is now qualified to NVQ level 4 or above and 67.8% at NVQ level 2 or above, compared to 31.1% and 37% nationally.

11

Based on Business Register and Employment Survey, 2010 12

Advancing Ambitions: Creating a sustainable economic future for Sheffield, Centre for Cities, 2011

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In spite of this progress a number of challenges remain which need to be addressed

to ensure improvements in the skills profile continue and moreover that these

improvements translate into long term competitiveness and economic growth.

Firstly, the number of pupils gaining 5+ GCSEs at grade A*-C including English and maths is low (49%) compared to a national average (58%). As such, Sheffield has moved from being the 3rd best Core City on this indicator in 2006/7 to the 7th best (of 8) in 2010/11. At a time when the skills levels required for many occupations continues to rise, this could preclude many young people from well paid work, and if not addressed will ultimately undermine the strength of the future workforce.

Secondly, there is growing evidence that more intermediate and technical level 3 skills are needed in the labour market, and this is the section in the skills profile where improvements have been static (16.6% in 2005, 16.5% in 2010). Apprenticeships are also a good example of this skills level and data shows a significant decrease in apprenticeships from 2005 – 2012. Workplace training is an important part of increasing skills at this level as well over 70% of the 2020 workforce is already in work. Skills providers need to be more responsive to business needs in delivering the right skills at level 3 and more employers investing in training Sheffield to ensure that skills shortages do not develop that could undermine business competitiveness and restrain growth.

Skills Profile 2010

13.4 49600

6.3 234003.9 14500

12.5 46200

14.4 53300

16.5 61200

33.0 122300

Level 4Level 3Level 2Level 1apprenticesotherno quals

Skills Profile 2005

15.3 50800

8.7 29000

6.5 21500

14.7 48700

13.1 43400

16.6 55100

25.2 83700

Level 4Level 3Level 2Level 1apprenticesotherno quals

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Thirdly, Sheffield also needs ensure that the progress in the skills profile translates into long term economic growth. As yet, the city is not seeing the higher levels of GVA, productivity and incomes which normally accompany such improvements in the skills profile. This could be due to time a lag – skills levels increased sharply between 2005 and 2011, and it may take some time for the economy to adapt and utilise these extra skills, especially during a period of economic downturn and recession. However, the major factor is likely to relate to differential take up of high level skills in the public and private sectors.

Sheffield’s private sector has a lower density of jobs utilising high level skills than

other cities and is more dependent on the public sector for high skill employment

opportunities13. Sheffield benefits from two highly reputable universities that,

together, produce 12,000 graduates annually in a wide range of disciplines but too

may fail to be utilised by the city’s private sector. This is an indication that the added

value of higher skills in terms of competitiveness and productivity is not being

exploited to full effect in some parts of our economy.

Finally, the city needs to respond to the clear messages intensifying from business , they tell us that:

o Education does not produce young people with the full skills set needed for working life.

o It is getting harder to recruit people with the technical and vocational skills they need.

o The employability and transferable skills that breed success in the workplace are underdeveloped.

o the skills systems is a barrier, rather than a driver of business growth, The skills system can be impenetrable, bureaucratic and inflexible and a more integrated and business led skills system is needed.

• Connecting people to growth

The employment rate in Sheffield is 65.7%, the third highest of the eight Core Cities in England. However, it still lags significantly behind national average of 70.3%. In Sheffield there are 48,000 people claiming out of work benefits in Sheffield. Of these:

o Over 18,000 are claiming Job Seekers Allowance o 24,600 are claiming Incapacity Benefit or Employment Support Allowance o 5,600 lone parents are claiming work related income support.

Providing opportunities for unemployed and workless people to work, primarily demands more jobs, however jobs alone will not be enough. Individuals who have been out of the labour market for a significant amount of time will have complex barriers to work and as such we also need to equip them with the skills and confidence they need to access job opportunities.

13

46% of high skilled jobs13

in Sheffield are in the public sector, this is much higher than other cities and nationally where it is 36%. The ratio of high skilled jobs to low skilled jobs in the private sector is one of the lowest across the Core Cities at 1.06, compared to the national average 1.25

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We also need to ensure that those who face a labour market disadvantage, for example, low skilled people, lone parents, individuals who have suffered from domestic abuse or substance misuse, people from ethnic minorities, migrants, ex-offenders, homeless individuals, people with physical disabilities or sensory impairments and those with learning disabilities or mental health conditions have the targeted support they need to have equal access to job opportunities14. Connecting local people to jobs is one of the main ways in which we can ensure that everyone in the city benefits from economic growth, as work can improve people’s life chances, increase their incomes and help to lift people out of poverty. To illustrate how important this is to the economy, if we closed the gap in employment rates15 and income between Sheffield and national average, we could close the prosperity gap of £1.63billion by £1billion.

• Creating the conditions for growth Businesses tell us that having the right city infrastructure and environment is integral to creating the conditions for economic growth. Sheffield’s city infrastructure includes transport, housing, buildings, development land and digital infrastructure, and increasingly extends to factors such as energy supply and resilience to climate change, for example, risk of flooding. In challenging economic times, support for medium and large-scale infrastructure projects can be more difficult to justify but it is important that we find a balance between long-term investment to promote growth and focusing on short-term savings. A pause in this type of investment now could put future growth and the city’s overall competitiveness at risk. The following evidence identifies critical areas for action that would provide the city with a resilient infrastructure that supports growth:

o An extra 495,000 trips per day on highways in the Sheffield City Region means that without preventative measures such a rise would significantly worsen congestion and increase carbon emissions by 12%-17%.

o Growth in rail patronage by 4% per annum to 2026 and by 7%-9% at peak times and continual growth in the use of Sheffield Supertram could present future capacity challenges.

o Lack of office space in general is not a widespread barrier to business growth but there may be future shortages in particular areas, including grade A city centre office space which is key to underpinning expansion of Sheffield business, financial and professional services.

o Sheffield’s carbon emissions fell from 7.3 to 5.7 tonnes per capita between 2005 and 2009. Reductions were lowest for road transport (7.5%) and steepest for industry and commerce (25%). The latter now accounts for 45% of all emissions which has potential future implications as we seek to build on our manufacturing strengths, particularly in the Lower Don Valley.

o The Sheffield Energy and Water Infrastructure Study highlights the importance of environmental assets and resilience (including ‘green infrastructure’) and identifies specific physical infrastructure challenges to long term development.

14

Sheffield’s Employment Strategy 2012 15 Closing the gap to the national average employment rate would mean the creation of over 17,000 jobs

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o New housing completions have fallen sharply from a peak of nearly 3,000 per year to just over 900 in 2010/11. House prices have remained fairly static in the last two years, but house sales have fallen significantly.

• The city’s profile

Sheffield is competing on a global scale to increase its level of investment and business relocations, attract and retain skilled and talented people, encourage business and leisure visitors to the city, and host major cultural, sporting events, conferences and conventions. If the city is to achieve higher levels of economic growth, we need to capture a bigger share of external markets. To do this we need to develop, invest in and promote a strong set of city products including quality infrastructure and environment, a vibrant cultural, retail and city centre offer, and a skilled and talented workforce. These are all pivotal factors in creating a compelling offer for investors, businesses, talent and visitors, as well as supporting a good quality of life for the city’s residents.

A priority in the first Economic Masterplan was to develop a coherent brand identity for the city and a co-ordinated marketing effort across all stakeholders. Marketing Sheffield has led this activity on behalf of the city, and we now have a strong ‘Sheffield’ brand that has a distinctive visual look, and is underpinned by values that reflect the city’s character – ‘authentic and independent’. The challenge now is for partners across the city to work together to champion and utilise the brand, to promote messages nationally and internationally that make Sheffield distinct from competing cities, and boost the city’s presence in target markets. As one of the UK’s major cities, we are also looking to enhance our reputation among key decision-makers and influencers, particularly within Government, and a number of our events are now attracting interest and support from Ministers and senior officials. This is critical to challenging out-dated perceptions of Sheffield and ensuring that there is an understanding of what the city has to offer the wider UK economy at the most senior level of decision-making.

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Appendix B Sector profiles

Advanced manufacturing and materials (AMM) Building on our global reputation Sheffield is well-known internationally for engineering and manufacturing excellence. Our history and culture of innovation and pioneering engineering has been fundamental to the development of the Sheffield City Region’s modern manufacturing economy. The AMM sector in the Sheffield City Region is built around supply chains serving many international market sectors. We have specialist and multi-disciplinary expertise in areas including advanced casting, forging, machining, joining, coating and fabrication of special steel, nickel and titanium alloy products. Our companies, across the Sheffield City Region specialise in providing unique engineered solutions where high levels of precision, quality and reliability are paramount, and supply demanding international markets such as aerospace and defence, power generation and supply, automotive, medical and oil and gas. These strengths have attracted many world-leading manufacturing and engineering companies and enabled the city region to secure major investment in world leading research and development facilities at the Advanced Manufacturing Park, including:

• The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (AMRC) – A world-class centre for advanced machining and materials research for aerospace and other high-value manufacturing sectors

• The Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC) – A joint initiative dedicated to supporting the UK civil nuclear manufacturing industry

• The AMRC Composite Centre – A state-of-the-art facility for advanced composite manufacturing research and development

• TWI (The Welding Institute) – The world leading centre of excellence in friction stir welding and laser deposition technology

• Castings Technology International (CTI) – The world's leading provider of technology, expertise and services to the cast metals sector and global supply chain

Growth in this sector will bring considerable benefits to Sheffield’s economy, including increased GVA, productivity and innovation. Whilst this will not necessarily correspond to more jobs as overall employment in manufacturing is forecast to fall, this does not mean that there is no demand for new skills and jobs in the sector. Many manufacturers have aging workforces, which creates replacement demand. Furthermore key developments like the Advanced Manufacturing Park and the Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone will act as a catalyst to bring in new firms and stimulate growth Manufacturers are well represented in Sheffield with a range of organisations and networks bringing the sector together. This has allowed the sector to establish the ‘Modern Manufacturing Forum’ which is leading on the sectors growth strategy across Sheffield City Region. We will support the forum’s objective for the Sheffield City Region to be recognised as one of the top five premier high value manufacturing regions in Europe in by 2020 and one of the top ten in the world by 2025.

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Business, professional and financial services (BPFS) Capturing growth potential by focusing on development and marketing our distinctive strengths The BPFS sector comprises a wide range of activities, including accountancy, legal, financial services and telecommunications and has been a driver of growth for the UK economy. In Sheffield we have experienced significant growth in the sector, particularly from 2000-2005. This growth started from a low base and saw the city catching up as part of the city’s wider economic restructuring. BPFS plays an integral role in creating the environment for the economy generally, serving local people and businesses in other sectors as well as being significant in its own right. Attracting and building strong companies, that go further than serving the local population, focusing on national and international markets can be a powerful tool to bring investment, jobs and economic growth into the city region. Sheffield has seen some success in this area, attracting large scale investments and establishing a reputation for providing a high quality business environment and skills base for shared service centres, business process outsourcing and contact centres. For example, Sheffield is currently home to blue chip companies (Aviva, Capita Group, Virgin Media, BT, DSGI, PWC, HSBC, Sky, HBOS and Carillion) and a growing number of national and local companies with international reach (Bond Bryan, Lambert Smith Hampton, Barber Harrison Platt, PKF, Grant Thornton, Nabarro). These companies have shared service centres, contact centres and business process outsourcing centres, across a range of specialisms in Sheffield including sales and customer services, pensions and life administration, accountancy and finance and IT development and service support. There is also a strong legal sector within the city, with many local firms operating at an international level including DLA Piper, Irwin Mitchell, Hill Dickinson, HLW Keeble Hawson and Taylor & Emmet LLP. Although Sheffield has a good base of firms in this sector, given the city’s size and population, the scale of the sector is still below the national average. As Sheffield is not a regional capital, we must seek to capture the growth potential of this sector through the focused development and marketing of our distinctive strengths in the BPFS sector, backed by the quality of life and place Sheffield has to offer. Currently Sheffield has no city-wide BPFS forum to lead, promote and advise on the strategic plans for the sector to enable it to reach its growth potential. Furthermore BPFS is not represented at city region level within the Local Enterprise Partnership’s sector groups. As such we will focus on building sector strength and leadership by creating a BPFS leadership forum. We know that connectivity, a high quality business environment including Grade A office space and securing major inward investment projects will be crucial to enable the sector to grow. We will use the BPFS leadership forum to help develop a strategic plan to see the sector capture its growth potential, leading the development of new project ideas and adding weight to our existing plans to create a city centre business district and to ensure Sheffield is connected to major UK initiatives that are key to the sector’s growth including the construction of a national High Speed Rail network.

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Creative and digital industries (CDI) Achieving the triple bottom line of competitiveness, creativity and community Significant growth in recent years means Sheffield has a developing cluster of creative and digital companies, characterised by an abundance of high performing home-grown businesses, micro start-ups and freelancers, combined with key inward investment from international market leaders. A vibrant CDI sector is also crucial to the creativity and cultural diversity of the city, which has a positive impact on the city’s image and feeds related industries in culture, tourism and leisure. The sector has the potential to grow in size, diversity and productivity, building from its strengths in design, creativity and digital technology. Two interdependent markets have developed:

• a ‘digitally focused’ market, based on software, interactive media, IT services

• a ‘creatively focused’ market, including design, publishing, arts, crafts and architecture.

Each market has its own distinctive features with connections between them rooted in how creative content is communicated through hardware and software platforms. There is real growth potential in the CDI sector in its own right, but also as a driver for innovation, creativity and productivity across the broader business base. In order to reach its potential the CDI sector will need to grow, attract and connect with large, aggregator firms, as well as harness the talents of the many micro and independent companies and freelancers who add zest, variety and innovation to the city and its character. This means nurturing the economic, more scalable parts of the CDI sector and the rich cultural and social elements which are critical for maintaining and developing the mix and vibrancy of CDI firms in Sheffield. Getting this right means that our CDI sector will thrive, delivering a triple bottom line of benefits: increased competitiveness, widespread creativity, and an engaged community of home-grown talent, which is essential to the vitality of the sector.

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Energy, environmental and low carbon and industries (EELC) Building a low carbon economy that responds to market demand and meets future needs As countries, regions and cities recognise the need for and move towards a green economy, this will have an impact on demand for goods and services that help manage risk from rising fuel costs, increase resilience to the effects of climate change, improve energy security and save money through improved resource and energy efficiency. There are opportunities for growth in conventional green sectors including renewable energy generation, recycling and waste management as well as other sectors as they develop greener alternatives, for example, transport (low emission vehicles) and construction (retrofitting buildings). Across Sheffield City Region, the sector comprises over 300 companies with a collective market value of around £1.6 million and employing over 12,000 people. Our challenge is to build a low carbon economy and reduce carbon emissions across the city region by identifying the sub-sectors that will grow as a result of market and legislative drivers over the next 20 years, and expand their presence in the city region by helping businesses to exploit opportunities to develop sustainable technologies that respond to market demand and meet future needs. Our potential in this area is enhanced by our particular expertise in the AMM sector where there are specific opportunities to develop new products that form part of the supply chains for sub-sectors like nuclear, wind and tidal power and geothermal. To gain competitive advantage and remain competitive against other cities investing in this area requires shared responsibility. There is a growing network across the city region’s businesses, local authorities, universities and research institutes focused on facilitating economic growth in this sector. Achieving our aims means a collective focus on:

• identifying opportunities in current and future green technology aimed at low carbon energy, clean fuels, waste management, water saving and environmental conservation

• helping companies across the broad business based to become more lean and efficient by adapting to a shift to low-carbon energy systems

• developing the right skills to support companies to develop more eco-efficient solutions and business practices – this includes generic skills to support the management of energy and other resources which are relevant to all businesses, as well as specific scientific and technical skills to support the design, application and operation of new technologies.

The scale of the challenge should not be under-estimated and action in this area requires commitment, investment and the right delivery mechanisms The transition to this evolving business culture requires leadership from our local businesses, innovators, academics and politicians, and a shift in thinking that recognises climate change and constraints in natural resources as important economic drivers for change, the impetus for new business models and the route to creating cost-effective solutions that meet market and consumer demand.

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Healthcare technologies (HTech) Developing, producing and commercialising innovative healthcare solutions Sheffield and the surrounding city region has growing expertise in healthcare technologies, led by cutting edge research within Sheffield’s universities and strong company brands such as B.Braun, Swann Morton and JRI as well as a growing number of local supply chain businesses. Although most cities boast healthcare sectors, future development and success will not be determined by place or sector size but by the ability to accelerate innovation to provide healthcare solutions to unmet and emerging clinical needs driven by a growing and ageing population. This is where we have distinctive strengths and where we need to focus our efforts to build our reputation in this field. SCR is at the centre of developments in user-centred healthcare solutions. By connecting our strengths in research and development, human-centred design, rapid prototyping, precision manufacturing and assistive technologies, to our businesses’ ability to produce, quality assure and distribute new products, we can establish Sheffield City Region as one of the premier locations for healthcare technology specialising in the development, production and commercialisation of innovative healthcare solutions. Our strengths in this sector are amplified further through their strong connections to our AMM sector, for example, materials, coatings, engineering assistive surgery, medical and orthopaedic devices, and CDI sector in fields such as three dimensional printing and tele-medicine.

To unlock the sector’s growth potential we will work to connect the expertise in the city’s universities and leading companies into the growing cluster of local firms serving the healthcare market, to the city region’s healthcare providers and teaching hospital networks and to other related strengths in advanced manufacturing, materials technology and digital design. Key to our ambition for this sector is the development of an Innovation Centre for Healthcare Technologies led by the city’s universities, key healthcare institutions and leading companies. Building on the success and experience of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), this centre would enable companies to trial innovations in partnership with expert institutions and NHS Trusts, helping them to develop solutions and bring them to market.