28 August 2020

Unlocking Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire’s Recovery Plan, 2020

Foreword

Over recent months, we have all become more aware of our vulnerabilities and fragilities. We have also become far more alert to the interconnections that shape much of what we do – whether we ‘normally’ notice those interdependencies or not.

COVID-19 was anticipated by no one. It has thrown many aspects of our social and economic life into disarray. Across Hertfordshire, businesses have had to navigate severe disruption; individuals have seen jobs (or the immediate prospect of jobs) disappear; and households have been put under enormous pressure. COVID-19 has been a public health crisis, the likes of which none of us have seen previously. But the extent of economic dislocation must not be forgotten. Within this, the ambitions of many within the ‘class of 2020’ have been dealt a particular blow.

Yet like most crises, the pandemic has also shown what we can achieve if we work together. We have seen countless examples of Hertfordshire’s businesses pivoting their operations to produce whatever has been needed. We have seen the extent to which individuals and businesses have innovated and adapted to new circumstances and new ways of working. We have also seen communities coming together like never before.

Looking ahead, we need to plan a good economic recovery for Hertfordshire. We must harness the lessons of the pandemic and use our assets well – most immediately to create new jobs, but also to define a trajectory for recovery and growth that reflects our wider ambitions. In this endeavour, we need to work with our local partners – our local authorities (including through the Hertfordshire Growth Board), our university and further education colleges, and our businesses and communities.

But recognising levels of interconnectedness, we also need to work with partners from outside Hertfordshire. This must

include our neighbouring local enterprise partnerships, and I am delighted that the southern LEPs are increasingly working together under the banner of Catalyst South. We must work with those that are further afield as we seek to advance a Five-Point Recovery Plan for across the LEP Network. In delivering our Recovery Plan, we must also work with central government, recognising that although the crisis is a national and international one, it takes particular forms in Hertfordshire and it needs effective and good local solutions.

The next period will continue to be very uncertain. At this moment in time, the future path of COVID-19 is simply unknown and its full socio-economic consequences are impossible to anticipate. In addition, the next six months will be critical ones in relation to the process of EU transition. We must be alert to the opportunities and challenges that this will present.

Hertfordshire has the assets and ambition to succeed. This Economic Recovery Plan marks a moment in our response – we have done a lot already, but there is still much to be done. In working together to ‘unlock Hertfordshire’, the possibilities and responsibilities are crucially important – both for local businesses, individuals and communities, and for the UK as a whole.

Mark Bretton Chair, Hertfordshire LEP Chair, LEP Network

August 2020

Contents

Executive Summary ...... i COVID-19 and Hertfordshire ...... 1 The task of recovery ...... 4 Strategic journeys ...... 7 Hertfordshire’s Economic Recovery Plan ...... 9 Three Economic Recovery Packages ...... 10 Two Transformational Programmes...... 20 Delivering our Economic Recovery Plan ...... 24 Measuring progress ...... 26

Annex A: Summary of key actions and commitments ...... A-1 Annex B: District profiles ...... B-1

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Executive Summary around main three Delivery Packages. These are short/medium-term in focus and they work alongside interventions put The COVID-19 pandemic has brought in place by government, whilst also using unprecedented economic upheaval to creatively other levers available to us. Hertfordshire. Many businesses are under significant financial pressure. For To ensure that progress continues to those within town centres, the challenges be made towards the longer-term have been particularly acute. The visitor aspirations set out in our draft Local economy has also been affected Industrial Strategy, two substantially. Transformational Programmes will also be advanced. As a result, on current estimates, the claimant count could rise to perhaps In progressing these different elements, 60,000. For the first time in a generation, Hertfordshire LEP will work closely with Hertfordshire is likely to have a real other partners, particularly the unemployment problem. Its young Hertfordshire Growth Board and an people are likely to bear the brunt, and emerging grouping of LEPs in the south the ‘class of 2020’ will be severely of England (Catalyst South). affected. Hertfordshire LEP Board will oversee the Hertfordshire’s Economic Recovery delivery of the Economic Recovery Plan Plan has been developed in response. It and it will monitor its progress closely. recognises that Hertfordshire has both The situation is very uncertain: a second assets and opportunities, and it seeks to spike in the pandemic could require rapid use these as the foundations for renewed changes to be made and the process of growth. It focuses particularly on EU transition is also generating Hertfordshire’s businesses (be they uncertainty. Hence this Plan is, and will private, public or third sector, including remain, a live one. We intend to review it social enterprises) and on the people who in the autumn and early in the New Year. ought to be working for them. Our Economic Recovery Plan is structured Hertfordshire’s Economic Recovery Plan, August 2020

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COVID-19 and Emergency responses

Hertfordshire The pandemic has also led to acute economic turbulence. Livelihoods across Hertfordshire have been severely COVID-19 is an ongoing public health affected. tragedy. By early July 2020, well over 1,000 Hertfordshire residents had lost Hertfordshire LEP has sought to their lives and the total number of cases help businesses navigate the was upwards of 4,000. immediate economic crisis.

During the height of lockdown, Particularly through the Growth Hub, Hertfordshire’s businesses went out of firms have been signposted to the raft of their way to help. For example: measures put in place by government – from the Coronavirus Job Retention  Warner Bros Studios Leavesden Scheme to the Coronavirus Business and Golden Tours (coach company) Interruption Loan Scheme and the offered Harry Potter-branded buses Bounce Back Loan Scheme. as free transport for NHS staff between Watford General, St Albans In parallel, Hertfordshire LEP has City and Hemel Hempstead hospitals. launched a £3.28m package of measures to help mitigate the immediate  Aztek Logistics (Letchworth) impacts of the pandemic; this includes delivered 60-tonnes of specialist Crowdfund Hertfordshire; Hertfordshire flooring to the NHS Nightingale Business Expansion Grant; and the Hospitals at NEC (Birmingham) and Volunteer Business Support Scheme ExCel Centre (London) (and is in addition to longer term ventures such as the Hertfordshire SME Growth  Stevenage Football Club supported Loan Scheme). those in need with food and medicine delivery, community services, and a Over recent weeks, Hertfordshire LEP community kitchen, which provided has received a £16.8m allocation from sandwiches to staff at Lister Hospital the Getting Building Fund for investment and to vulnerable locals. in local, shovel-ready infrastructure projects. Five major projects will create  BioProducts Laboratory (Elstree) over 1,500 jobs and unlock over 12,100 pooled expertise with CSL Behring, sq. m. of commercial space within the Takeda, Octapharma, Biotest and the county. This will include new studio space pharmaceutical group LFB to to help cement South West accelerate the development of a Hertfordshire’s importance to the UK’s potential COVID-19 hyperimmune film and TV industry; new state-of-the-art therapy. R&D and training facilities to boost the life sciences corridor between Stevenage

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and Welwyn Hatfield and strengthen the Its purpose is to chart a clear route skills pipeline; and over 5,100 sq. m. of through the short-medium term economic business incubation and grow-on floor effects of the pandemic and define space in both South West and South East actions in response. It aims to accelerate Hertfordshire. recovery over the next 6-18 months. But it will also position Hertfordshire for A Plan for recovery sustained and good economic growth in the years thereafter. This Plan builds on the emergency measures which were taken at both local and national levels.

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COVID-19 in Hertfordshire: economic perspectives, summer 2020

163,000 employments 52,600 claims furloughed made under the Self Employment in July 2020 – a take-up rate of 28% Income Support Scheme – a take-up rate of 76% (HMRC CJRS Statistics, July 2020) (HMRC SEISS Statistics, July 2020)

23,656 loans offered £193m grants paid (with a value of £968m) through local authority under either Coronavirus Business Small Business Grants Fund scheme Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) or or Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) to firms Business Grants Fund in Hertfordshire’s parliamentary constituencies (Data from BEIS, Coronavirus grant funding - local authority payments to SMEs, (Data from British Business Bank, 27th July 2020) 2nd August 2020)

Hertfordshire’s claimant count was 38,090 in July 2020 (compared to 12,710 in July 2019) – almost double the level seen at the height of the financial crisis and close to those of the early 1990s

(ONS claimant count data, July 2020)

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The task of recovery Treasury’s comparison of independent forecasts from June 2020 distils an ‘average’ view that GDP will fall by about Understanding the scale of the 9% in 2020 and the unemployment rate economic shock… will be about 8% nationally by Q4 2020.

Data published by ONS suggests that in Given its sectoral mix and locational and July 2020, the claimant count in other assets, Hertfordshire might expect Hertfordshire (among those aged 16+) to fare better than the average – but not was 38,090; a year earlier (July 2019), it substantially so; the shock will be was 12,710. Consistent with this three- significant. On current estimates, the fold increase, the claimant count rate claimant count could rise to perhaps increased from 1.7% to 5.2% over the 60,000. For the first time in a generation, same period. Put another way, the scale Hertfordshire is likely to have a real of unemployment in Hertfordshire in June unemployment problem. Its young 2020 was similar to that which a year people are likely to bear the brunt. earlier had characterised the Black Country and North East LEP areas. Hertfordshire’s economic assets

In making these observations, it is However, Hertfordshire has significant important to recognise that the full economic assets. Despite the scale and economic effects of the pandemic have depth of the economic shock, the yet to be seen; so far, they have been county’s ‘economic fundamentals’ are substantially cushioned by government. strong:

In July 2020, 163,000 of Hertfordshire’s  Hertfordshire has outstanding working residents were furloughed, ‘people assets’ and although there equivalent to 28% of all “employments”). are variations across the county, This picture was very similar to the overall its working age population is national average. Within Hertfordshire, well-qualified. In addition, if more of the incidence of furlough was highest in those who ‘normally’ work in central Broxbourne and Hertsmere, and lowest London find themselves working from in St Albans. In addition, some 52,600 their Hertfordshire homes, the self-employed people (76% of the total) county’s human capital could were claiming self-employment income effectively increase further; support. Hertfordshire is home to large numbers of entrepreneurs and These schemes will gradually be business leaders. withdrawn, and economic forecasters are divided in their assessment of the effects.  Hertfordshire continues to have a Whilst there is uncertainty surrounding dynamic knowledge economy, the shape and duration of recession, the underpinned by corporate research fact of it is without challenge. HM and development but increasingly

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given fresh expression through small construction and civil engineering and innovative, investment-backed sector; and increasingly, the journey businesses, particularly in the domain towards smart and sustainable of cell and gene therapy where construction is being accelerated Hertfordshire’s asset base is second through the activities of Hertfordshire to none. Late in 2019, Stevenage IQ (see below). Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) was identified by government as a Life  The University of Hertfordshire is at Sciences Opportunity Zone, reflecting the heart of an emerging the significance of GlaxoSmithKline, infrastructure for innovation and and the success of both the Cell and commercialisation. This includes an Gene Therapy Catapult and SBC in established Innovation Centre and an building a world-class advanced active Hertfordshire Science therapies cluster. Partnership (with Hertfordshire LEP and supported by SBC and RoCRE  Hertfordshire’s creative industries Rothamsted). It also includes highly are vibrant, especially in relation to specialist provision that has been film and TV. Established studios developed to reflect local strengths (such as Warner Bros at Leavesden and opportunities (e.g. the Asceptic and the BBC studios at Elstree) are Manufacturing course was set up to attracting new investment to the address skills gaps in the county; and the breadth and depth of manufacture of cell and gene expertise in south west Hertfordshire therapies). The University has over is growing. 25,000 students and it has world class research specialisms, notably in  Hertfordshire has substantial advanced engineering, gaming and strengths in advanced engineering software. and manufacturing. This sector has a lineage to the likes of British In addition, Hertfordshire has many of the Aerospace in Hatfield but now is benefits that come with proximity to – but substantially broader with a very also some separateness from – both a strong IT component. Its footprint major world city and a series of extends north and west, into international gateways (Stansted Airport, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Luton Airport, Heathrow Airport, and (via Luton. London St Pancras) Eurostar). At least for now, the effects of the pandemic have  With a major research competence at been especially challenging for these BRE in Watford and also a strong gateway sectors and functions (not least cadre of major businesses (including aviation), but looking ahead, the benefits Willmott Dixon in Letchworth Garden of international connectivity will City, Skanska in Rickmansworth and eventually re-appear. London too will VolkerFitzpatrick in Hoddesdon), remain a global powerhouse despite the Hertfordshire has a significant

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pandemic. For Hertfordshire, proximity to which to draw. It needs to use these London brings major opportunities. assets well in charting a route towards economic recovery and in providing a Whilst the pandemic has led to a foundation for sustained future substantial economic shock, growth. Hertfordshire has important assets on

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Strategic journeys have emphasised further the huge significance of digital technologies. This commitment is reflected in the Economic This is an Economic Recovery Plan (and Recovery Plan. a live document); it is not a Strategy. In other words, it is action-focused and the Two other cross-cutting commitments commitments it describes are either were also sharpened through the LIS substantially underway or imminent. consultation: economic growth in Hertfordshire needs to be more inclusive However, our Economic Recovery Plan is and we need urgently to respond to the nested within key strategic statements for climate emergency. In charting a route Hertfordshire. It is informed by them and through the economic shock, these will contribute towards them albeit in themes continue to be centre-stage. circumstances that could not possibly have been anticipated. Hertfordshire Growth Board

Local Industrial Strategy Whilst refining the LIS, Hertfordshire LEP has been fully engaged in a conversation Prior to the pandemic, Hertfordshire was with Hertfordshire County Council and at the point of finalising its Local with the ten districts and boroughs, Industrial Strategy (LIS). through the Hertfordshire Growth Board. This was – and is – in the throes Building directly on the earlier Strategic of negotiating a wide-ranging Growth Economic Plan (SEP), the LIS had been Deal with government. Many of the developed over preceding months with themes of the LIS are now being substantial business, stakeholder and advanced through this route – including, partner input. It also benefited from a full for example, the commitment to public consultation in summer 2019. Hertfordshire’s Science Corridor and to regenerating New Towns, both old and The LIS was/is intended to be of medium- new. term currency. Consistent with the UK Industrial Strategy White Paper, it set out Catalyst South a series of strategic themes through which productivity improvements would In parallel, Hertfordshire LEP has been in be won and the full potential of active dialogue with other local enterprise Hertfordshire’s assets realised. partnerships across the south of England. This reflects strong At the heart of the draft LIS was a commonality of interest defined, in the commitment to ‘digital foundations, main, through strong relationships with frontiers and futures’, recognising the London. cross-cutting importance of what has been described as the fourth industrial revolution. The events of recent months

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Together, the six LEP areas1 have a both Catalyst South and the Hertfordshire population of around 11 million people; Growth Board are important ventures. they account for about 5.8 million jobs; Both are consistent with the direction of and they are home to half a million travel signalled by the draft LIS, which enterprises. Their economic output sums itself owes much to the earlier SEP. to more than £300m – on a par with some countries elsewhere in Europe. They COVID-19 has not changed any of this: therefore represent a significant part of the overarching vision and the the UK economy and in driving forward destination for economic growth in economic recovery, their economic Hertfordshire – which was set out in the muscle is critical. draft LIS – remain in place. The scale of the shock is such that short-term Short-term recovery; long-term ameliorative actions will be necessary. ambition However, the actions set out in this Recovery Plan need to be seen as With a White Paper on English recovery stepping stones in this longer-term and devolution expected in the autumn, journey.

1 SELEP, Enterprise M3, Coast to Capital, Thames Valley Berkshire, Solent and Hertfordshire

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Hertfordshire’s To ensure that progress is made towards Economic Recovery the longer-term aspirations set out in the draft LIS (and previously the SEP), two Plan Transformational Programmes will be also advanced.

Hertfordshire’s Economic Recovery Plan These are: is structured around main three Delivery Packages.  Equipping Hertfordshire’s places for mid-21st Century working and These are focused on: living

 Enterprise and Innovation;  Connecting Hertfordshire for mid- 21st Century working and living  Skills and Creativity; and Across both transformational  International Trade and Investment programmes, Hertfordshire LEP will work alongside other partners to ensure that These are concerned with Hertfordshire’s progress is made. In particular, the businesses and workforce (both existing intention is that many of these broader and future). They are, in other words, commitments should be advanced directed to the immediate engine room of through the emerging Growth Deal which economic recovery and growth. They are is being negotiated through the targeted at the core of value creation – Hertfordshire Growth Board. and with the importance of digital futures, inclusivity and clean growth firmly in view.

Figure 1: Hertfordshire’s Economic Recovery Plan, August 2020

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Three Economic Many have risen to the immediate Recovery Packages challenge of the pandemic and pivoted their experience and expertise to deliver exactly what the UK has needed. Others have continued to press ahead with At the heart of our Economic Recovery pioneering endeavours in, for example, Plan are three main Packages which are drug discovery; space science; and focused directly on Hertfordshire’s sustainable construction. businesses and its people.

As we look ahead, we need to use this Recovery Package 1: spirit of enterprise and innovation. We Enterprise and Innovation need to work with our businesses both to navigate the immediate situation and Hertfordshire’s 65,000 enterprises – move quickly towards recovery and many of them small – are key to renewed growth. economic recovery. Hertfordshire Growth Hub and Over recent months, most have been support for enterprise under significant financial pressure as expenditure has been delayed or Much of our immediate response is being cancelled and supply chains have been advanced through the Hertfordshire dislocated. For businesses within town Growth Hub which is funded by powered centres, the challenges have been by the LEP. particularly acute; and the wider visitor economy has also been affected Launched in 2014, the LEP pulled substantially. Across the board, together an innovative funding package businesses (be they private, public or to make the Growth Hub possible. third sector, including social enterprises) Currently it is delivered by Exemplas, – and their staff – have been challenged University of Hertfordshire and by varying combinations of remote and/or Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce. Its socially distanced working, furlough, the mission is to create a thriving small need to juggle responsibilities (e.g. home business community across schooling), and the challenge of fewer Hertfordshire through the provision of migrant workers, particularly in some locally tailored support and advice which critical but more routine functions. In connects businesses with the right summary, most firms have been under experts2. pressure. To date, the Growth Hub has supported Yet Hertfordshire’s businesses are around 4,500 businesses (including among the most innovative and social enterprises) across the county. An entrepreneurial anywhere in the world. independent evaluation found that the

2 Note that the Hertfordshire Growth Hub is the aim of further developing initiatives to benefit the collaborating closely with the Director of the Centre for Third Sector in Hertfordshire Social Enterprise at the University of Hertfordshire with

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support was widely valued and that it was In both cases, these are initially interest helping businesses to grow. free, but eventually the capital has to be repaid. Some are using the finance to Over recent months, Hertfordshire LEP back applications to the Business and the Growth Hub have had a central Expansion Grant Scheme. This in turn role in relation to a £3.28m COVID-19 should mean that there is alignment and business support package which was an incentive to invest in capital. created to deal with the immediate economic effects of the pandemic. It Looking ahead, the Growth Hub will includes: continue to play a central role in supporting our businesses as they drive  the Hertfordshire Business forward economic recovery. We will also Expansion Grant Scheme (BEGS) work closely with Hertfordshire which is funded through the Community Foundation, a county-wide European Regional Development grant making charity, to ensure that the Fund (ERDF) and provides grants to VCSE (voluntary, community and social SMEs for capital expenditure of £10k- enterprise) sector is aware of the £100k. The design of this Scheme available support. has been flexed in order to reflect the current business climate. Various initiatives will support this longer- term recovery process. A key one is the  the Volunteer Business Support Hertfordshire SME Growth Loan Scheme (delivered by University of Scheme. Working with Finance South Hertfordshire alongside the Growth East, a Special Purpose Vehicle has Hub) in which small and micro been set up and a fund manager businesses receive coaching and appointed to establish a fund on mentoring. evergreen principles. The fund will provide debt finance in the range £200k  Crowdfund Hertfordshire which is to £500k for high growth SMEs unable to being delivered with Visit Herts and is secure finance from traditional sources. supporting adaptation and innovation across small and micro businesses In addition to the various interventions (including social enterprises) in linked to access to finance, we are tourism, leisure, hospitality, retail, arts augmenting other forms of business and culture. support:

Many firms in Hertfordshire3 have  We are in the process of introducing benefitted from two national loan a Peer Network programme. The schemes (the Coronavirus Business rationale for this is that businesses Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and learn most from those they trust, the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)). hence the aim is to put them amongst

3 Currently approaching 24,000 firms have been offered loans

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their peers within a facilitated action (Hertfordshire IQ), the county’s learning style environment. The Enterprise Zone. Its purpose is to provide objective is both to help businesses a sustainable place for innovative and stabilise in the current COVID-19 green businesses to grow and a hub of challenged commercial environment employment opportunities for the local and complement the on-going community. productivity agenda. The Hertfordshire IQ ‘offer’ comprises  We are exploring options in relation to commercial space and a supporting leadership and management. This package of benefits to attract inward may include working through the investment from two key sectors; recently-announced national Small construction and agritech. Over time, it Business Leadership Programme. will deliver three million square feet of Separately, we are looking at new commercial space across seven opportunities to work with the sites in south west Hertfordshire. This University of Hertfordshire and/or will help to accommodate Hertfordshire’s Cranfield University to deliver a growth businesses and stem any ‘Re-ignite SME Growth’ programme. potential loss of enterprise and talent, as well as attracting new companies to the Finally, our intention is to put in place a area. package of support to encourage new business start-ups. We have identified Hertfordshire IQ is targeted to deliver two main strands as a priority: support for 8,000 new jobs across the designated technology and/or innovation-focused sites, many of which will be highly skilled, entrepreneurs, and support for those who and a further 2,000 jobs across the wider are considering self-employment (instead Hemel Garden Communities of employment). Within both, we would development. In delivering these jobs, like to target this at younger Hertfordshire IQ is also working with local entrepreneurs, recognising that they will education and skills partners to ensure be disproportionately affected by the that local people are well-placed to pandemic and yet they are crucial to the benefit. future of Hertfordshire’s economy. As well as providing tax breaks to Drawing together these different relocating businesses, Hertfordshire IQ elements – and with a view to a wider offers opportunities for companies to look at the process of enterprise across collaborate with key anchor institutions Hertfordshire, we intend to develop an (notably BRE Group, Rothamsted Enterprise Strategy for the county. Research and the University of Hertfordshire). Specifically, it is Hertfordshire IQ encouraging business start-up, incubation and growth through Another core element of our response is investment in new innovation centres on Hertfordshire Innovation Quarter Rothamsted Research and BRE

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campuses. The proposed Open private sector which have taken the form Innovation Hub at BRE has very recently of ‘virtual round tables’ during lockdown. secured support from the Getting Building Fund. Examples include:

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC),  In relation to the visitor economy, is of crucial importance county-wide to we are working closely with Visit help alleviate the housing crisis. With its Herts to support businesses which construction industry focus and wider have been very severely affected. In objectives, Hertfordshire IQ is working addition to the crowdfunding scheme with a consortium of housing providers. which is linked to the Growth Hub, The aim is to develop an offsite Visit Herts is doing much to raise the manufacturing hub for the county. This profile of the visitor economy. will help accelerate the delivery of Working through Exemplas and with housing and provide new employment support from Visit Herts, our intention and innovation opportunities for the smart is to direct part of Hertfordshire’s construction sector. share of ERDF underspend to business development activities in Looking forward, we intend to roll-out the this sector, possibly in association model to other locations and for different with the University of Hertfordshire. sectors, encouraging businesses to invest, locate, innovate and grow within  Across film and TV, we are working Hertfordshire. closely with Sky to advance plans for a major new studio complex at We also intend to work closely with Elstree. In addition, we are investing Hertfordshire County Council and other in Elstree Film Studios through the partners in relation to cross-cutting Getting Building Fund; with new issues relating to sustainability. BRE and funding, we will create two new Rothamsted Research are key partners 18,000 sq. ft. studios with workshops and the early progress of Hertfordshire and offices. IQ, focused on envirotech, is important. There is more to be done and the  Hertfordshire’s cell and gene publication of the Sustainable therapy cluster, located in and Hertfordshire Strategy 2020 is a key around GSK’s major campus in milestone in this context. Stevenage, is a long-term commitment, and with partners, we Sector-specific responses have already achieved a great deal. Our intention is to put in place further We are, in addition, developing a range of provision of different forms – focusing sector-specific initiatives to propel on both innovation space and Hertfordshire’s economy forward. These commercial manufacturing and are based on conversations with the move-on space. We are also committed to working with partners to

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ensure that requisite infrastructure Hertfordshire’s ‘class of 2020’ needs to investments are made. Most be recognised as particularly vulnerable immediately – with new support from to the direct and indirect effects of the the Getting Building Fund – we will pandemic. put in place measures focused on the range of workforce skills that is Older workers are also being forced to needed by a fast-growing cluster. reconsider their assumptions about work. Many will need to seek new and different  In relation to advanced engineering, jobs, and to apply their skills in new ways particularly space science, we have for different employers – all of which already invested in the provision of signals upheaval, anxiety and STEM skills. Looking ahead, we uncertainty. Within this context, lower intend to further the concept of a skilled adults are especially vulnerable; north-south science corridor, linking experience from previous recessions major centres at Hatfield, Stevenage suggests that they are likely to become and Letchworth. less employable and employers may be less willing to hold onto them, resulting in  Hertfordshire’s construction sector increased unemployment. will also be critical in driving forward recovery and longer-term growth. As Our educational institutions are affected noted above, Hertfordshire IQ (with a too – including our schools, the four focus on innovation in the sector and further education colleges in the development of offsite Hertfordshire and the University of manufacturing) is a critical element of Hertfordshire. All are facing funding this, connecting growth of the smart uncertainties and profound challenges to construction sector with delivery of ‘normal’ approaches to teaching and the Garden Towns at Hemel learning. Hempstead and Gilston through sustainable offsite methods. In relation to skills and creativity, a third crucial constituency is our population of Recovery Package 2: Skills businesses and other employers. The and Creativity extent to which they have the confidence to recruit and invest in their staff (through (re-)training) is critical to unlocking The pandemic has had a major impact on recovery. Some sectors are more likely individuals and households, and on to see job losses than others, and the students, workers and communities. crisis may well accelerate underlying For younger adults, the challenges are trends which are leading to shifting skills especially acute; new graduates are needs in the economy, and in some struggling to find job opportunities while cases to automation. businesses may have less immediate In seeking to accelerate economic capacity and inclination to take on recovery, our people matter hugely. apprentices and other school leavers.

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We need to respond effectively. We portal for employers to seek the talent need to match people with job they need opportunities, equip them with the skills to thrive in the future, and give Kickstart employers the confidence to recruit and use those skills well. We intend to work alongside the government’s £2bn Kickstart The task is substantial, but we are programme, making it as relevant and working with partners to define and accessible as possible to businesses in deliver our response. In this context, the Hertfordshire. oversight role that is being provided by the Skills Advisory Panel (SAP) – which The programme is designed to provide links businesses, providers and learners skills and work experience for – is critical. disadvantaged young jobseekers. The intention is that they should benefit from Our intention is to work with Hertfordshire a subsidised job for six months which County Council, the Department for Work should then assist them (through the and Pensions (DWP) and our SAP to skills and experience they have acquired) revise the Hertfordshire Skills Strategy in securing long-term unsubsidised (and publish it by March 2021). This will employment. The initial subsidised job be accompanied by an updated Labour will need to be additional and paid at or Market Review 2020/2021 taking into the above minimum wage. account the impact of COVID-19. The programme is a national one, but our Beyond this, our immediate response is intention is to make it as relevant as divided into two strands – one focusing possible for employers in Hertfordshire. on young people and the second which is Specifically, we want smaller businesses targeted at those aged 24+. from all sectors to consider engaging with it, as well as the larger ones. Young people To this end, we intend to: We will use the tools available to us to provide substantive support to young  work alongside organisations like people. Within this, Hertfordshire Hertfordshire Chamber of Opportunities Portal (HOP) will play a Commerce, FSB, ICAEW, key role. Hertfordshire LEP has Hertfordshire Community developed this over the last year and it Foundation, Growth Hub and Visit provides a window on the job and training Herts to build awareness of, and links opportunities that are available across into, the national Kickstart the county. It is a critical source of programme information which is freely available to all  secure funding (from remaining our young people and provides an easy European monies) to add skills/workforce advice to the Growth

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Hub’s business support packages, find work in England the opportunity and provide signposting to Kickstart. to study targeted high value level 2 and 3 courses throughout 2020-21; Other priorities for young people this is expected to include qualifications in ICT and construction As well as working alongside Kickstart, (both of which link to areas of skills we will: gaps and shortages identified before the pandemic)  support apprenticeships, recognising the long-term importance  work with the University of of this pathway and the need to Hertfordshire (including through the ensure that it is well and appropriately Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal) to used, despite the challenges linked to ensure that graduating students are the pandemic. Working with the aware of the opportunities that exist in national Redundancy Support Hertfordshire, both now and in the Service for Apprentices (ReSSA), we future. It is important, for example, will seek to enable any apprentices that graduates in digital animation are who have been made redundant to fully aware of the opportunities that connect to new opportunities. Using exist within Hertfordshire. our networks, we will make more employers aware of the enhanced Older workers (aged 24+) incentives (from government) to take on apprentices during the remainder We intend to support older workers, of 2020. We will also support the on- particularly those that are needing to find going work of the Apprenticeship a new job in a different field. We also Ambassador Network. want to support those that are having to work for longer than they had been  seek to increase careers provision planning due to limited pension provision. in schools across Hertfordshire by creating a third Careers Hub (in To these ends, we will: addition to the two that already exist), thereby ensuring that the whole  work alongside national schemes county benefits from enhanced such as the National Careers provision. Evidence suggests that Service (NCS) to ensure that people modest investment over and above in Hertfordshire aged 24+ benefit the established Enterprise Advisers fully. In Hertfordshire, the NCS is Network is delivering significant being delivered by Futures and it is benefits. seeking to help those affected by COVID-19 to get back into work and  work with our Further Education training. Colleges to make full use of the classroom-based offer (allowing 18 to 19 year olds who are struggling to

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 advance the ESF Response to Recovery Package 3: Redundancy programme which is International Trade and being delivered by Serco. Investment

 maximise the opportunities for Our third recovery package is focused on sector-based work academies, securing new investment for drawing on a national programme Hertfordshire. This is important in terms which is receiving additional funding of re-igniting growth and it is critical if the from DWP. These aim to provide recovery is to be sustained and short-term training to equip people sustainable. It is also essential if facing redundancy to work in jobs in Hertfordshire is to be prepared for the sectors which are seeking to recruit. opportunities and risks linked to the process of Brexit.  support various workforce development programmes, including, Hertfordshire has businesses, clusters for example the ESF-funded skills and sectors that compete with the best in support in the workforce (SSW) the world. These are of great interest to which is designed to upskill those in international investors. Despite the employment within SMEs, including dislocation caused by the pandemic, we in relation to digital skills and higher need to recognise our assets and level qualifications. achievements in these terms, and build on them. We will consult with relevant stakeholders and use the Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal to provide a focus for Life sciences, particularly cell and the above services, delivering a gene therapy coordinated offer under the banner One example is life sciences. Located ‘Employer Recovery Hub’. within the recently-designated Life In relation to older workers – and Sciences Opportunity Zone, the Cell and consistent with the key themes from our Gene Therapy Catapult Advanced LIS – we are also concerned particularly Manufacturing Centre sits at the heart of with the need to increase our digital a growing cluster. It is a unique facility skills. These are relevant at all levels – which takes therapies from laboratories from basic digital literacy through to to clinical trials and beyond. Some of its advanced coding and data analytics. early occupants are internationally Working with our colleges and University owned and many are involved in clinical of Hertfordshire, and with major trials in different parts of the world. It is a employers, digital skills will be an on- global hub linking investors, going priority. entrepreneurs and outstanding scientists; international connections are at the core of its business.

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This is all in addition to the activities of in 2022. Once complete, it will include GSK – with which it is collocated. GSK production offices, a set construction has two major research centres within its workshop, a screening cinema and state- global research portfolio in Hertfordshire: of-the-art post-production and digital Medicines Research Centre in facilities. Stevenage, and the David Jack Research centre in Ware. It has also entered into This new investment really is a key a joint venture with Google (i.e. Alphabet) catalyst for economic growth in and established a bioelectronics joint Hertfordshire, in a sector in which the venture, Galvani Bioelectronics, in county is already ‘on the global map’. Stevenage. GSK attracts the brightest and best research scientists from around Smart and sustainable construction the world to work in Hertfordshire. It is a truly global business and its Hertfordshire In relation to international investment, the operations are a key part of it. growing opportunities linked to smart and sustainable construction must also be flagged. As set out above, Film and TV Hertfordshire IQ is leading the way in this A second example is film and TV. context, providing opportunities for Warner Bros’ studios at Leavesden and innovation and learning, as well as linking the BBC studios at Elstree are known the possibilities of offsite construction to internationally as outstanding facilities; major new developments (e.g. at Hemel and the output from them entertains and Garden Communities and at Gilston) educates audiences around the world. which will be central to Hertfordshire’s wider growth narrative for decades to However, it is also important to recognise come. the extent to which international investment has also followed. Harnessing these assets

Owned by the American conglomerate, Looking ahead, it is crucial that Comcast, Sky announced in December Hertfordshire’s international credentials 2019 that it is intending to invest in are recognised and nurtured, particularly building a major TV and film studio at as the process of EU transition moves Elstree. This will generate an additional forward. £3 billion of production investment in the UK’s creative economy over the first five This means that despite the uncertainties years of operation, from Sky, surrounding the pandemic, inward NBCUniversal and other producers. It investment needs to be encouraged and will also create over 2,000 jobs locally. all aspects of international trade supported. In parallel, we also need to Hertsmere District Council gave planning ensure that Hertfordshire’s residents are consent to the 32-acre development in able to benefit from the investment that is July 2020. The new facility is due to open secured; putting in place appropriate

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provision for skills, training and workforce Within this mix, we need to emphasise development is therefore also critical. our unique attributes. We have aspirations to establish a High Potential Using Hertfordshire’s major sites Opportunity area around Stevenage in well relation to cell and gene therapy. There are also significant opportunities in the A critical element of our response is film and TV cluster in south west defined around our major sites and Hertfordshire. We will also highlight the employment areas. Across depth of our labour market and the Hertfordshire, these include Park Plaza benefits of a location at the heart of the West and North, Gunnels Wood Road, wider ‘Golden Triangle’. Hatfield Business Park, Watford/Croxley Business Park and Hertfordshire IQ. Over the months ahead, we intend to advance international place marketing Recognising that a substantial amount of activities alongside partners within employment land has been lost over Catalyst South. Through the recent years (often through Permitted development of clear sectoral and Development Rights), these are crucial technology-based propositions, we will assets for Hertfordshire’s long term reach out to potential investors from economic well-being. They need to be a around the world and ensure that they are focus for the growth of key sectors and fully aware of what Hertfordshire has to clusters, and a critical element of our offer. inward investment marketing. Hertfordshire trading Marketing and promoting internationally Hertfordshire In a similar vein, we want to encourage For many international inward investment more of our own businesses to trade decisions, proximity to London is internationally – uncertainties linked both essential. Hertfordshire can provide this, to the pandemic and Brexit/EU Transition and it is an asset that is also shared by notwithstanding. In the long term, this is our partners in Catalyst South. For this crucial for economic growth and we have reason, we intend to advance our to find new ways of doing business international marketing and positioning globally. Our Growth Hub will be part of efforts in concert with others across the the response at a local level, but we also south of England: there is little to be expect to take forward this commitment gained by competing and much to be with partners across Catalyst South. achieved through collaborating, both with each other and with the Department for International Trade (DIT).

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Two Transformational Stevenage

Programmes We are committed to early and significant progress in relation to the regeneration of Stevenage. Alongside our three main Packages for Economic Recovery, we intend to We have supported the formation of advance two Transformational Stevenage Development Board which is Programmes. currently overseeing the development of a Town Investment Plan (TIP) proposal to These involve many different partners, Government. This is likely to include a and in some cases, the LEP’s role is range of projects – ranging from relatively small, working in support of developing the station gateway to others. These Transformational providing managed workspace in a town Programmes tend to be longer-term centre enterprise facility. The Town Deal ventures – but in all cases, it will be bid is expected to be submitted in the important that early progress is made. early autumn and funding decisions will follow shortly thereafter. Transformational Programme 1: Equipping Hertfordshire’s This is all part of a wider regeneration places for mid-21st Century programme for Stevenage Central. One- living and working third of the town centre is currently being redeveloped by Mace, at a cost of £350m, to provide some 3,500 new Town centres and town-level homes together with employment, retail, economies hospitality, leisure and co-ordinated Across Hertfordshire, lockdown has pubic service uses set within high quality, added substantial further pressure to vibrant public spaces. To date, some town centre economies which were £30m of public investment has been already under threat. These were facing made to lever in private investment. Over structural change prior to the pandemic, the next 20 years, a further £650m will be principally because of changing shopping invested by the private sector in the town habits. This process has been centre, strengthened by corresponding accelerated and intensified as leisure and business investment in Gunnels Wood hospitality sectors have also seen Road, one of the largest employment significant disruption. areas in the county (and linking directly to our plans for sector growth, particularly in Across Hertfordshire, we need a relation to cell and gene therapy (and proactive but differentiated approach to wider life sciences) and advanced the regeneration of our towns in general manufacturing and engineering). and town centres in particular.

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Other town-level regeneration  Watford – with major private and schemes public sector investment in the town centre including new retail, new high We are also supporting the development quality public realm and ambitions to of regeneration schemes across many redevelop Watford Station. other towns. These include:  Welwyn Garden City – through  Bishops Stortford – with a major new private sector residential regeneration scheme for a key part of and employment space investment the town centre to create a new arts next to the station coupled with complex, driving housing, proposals to replace worn out parking employment and hospitality/leisure and under-used space with new opportunities. mixed-use developments.

 Hatfield – with carefully targeted In advancing these schemes, we are redevelopment interventions to keen to ensure that towns’ economies create new housing and employment also evolve. In practice, many elements in place of surface level car parking. of our Economic Recovery Packages (described earlier) will be delivered in our  Hemel Hempstead – through the towns and we want to ensure that there is implementation of long term plans to a strong level of ‘join up’ across the introduce new housing into the town different elements. centre together with new college space, improved retail, leisure and Every town in Hertfordshire is public realm, all set within the context different. Every one of them needs of designation of the town as a both to recover in the short-term Garden Community and long-term whilst also repositioning itself for plans to create some 20,000 new longer term economic resilience and homes. well-being. Hertfordshire LEP will be a key partner in this journey.  St Albans – through Council-led initiatives to replace ‘brutalist’ 1960s Building sustainable communities buildings with high quality residential, employment and arts space which is Within Hertfordshire, we are committed to more appropriate to an historic city significant housing growth over the years centre. ahead. Major schemes include:

 Waltham Cross – with public realm  Harlow and Gilston Garden Town – improvements to create Queen which spans the boundary between Eleanor Square, paving the way for Hertfordshire and Essex, and more comprehensive improvements includes provision for 10,000 linking Waltham Cross station to dwellings in East Hertfordshire proposed major employment uses on the M25/A10.

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 Hemel Garden Communities – Transformational Programme which will deliver around 11,000 2: Connecting Hertfordshire dwellings to the north and east of for mid-21st Century living Hemel Hempstead. and working We intend to work with our partners to Our second Transformational ensure three wider outcomes linked to Programme is concerned with different both schemes. First, we need to build aspects of connectivity. The pandemic enterprising communities – where has demonstrated both the vulnerabilities economic activity is ‘designed in’, linked to connectivity but also the consistent with the aspirations and possibilities, particularly linked to digital expectations of mid-21st Century living solutions. As we seek to chart an and working. Second, we need to ensure economic future that is more resource these major developments are exemplary efficient, we need to build on the progress in environmental terms, and here the that has been made – recognising that read-across to the pioneering work led different forms of connectivity have a role through Hertfordshire IQ is important; to play, and also that new (and potentially Modern Methods of Construction / offsite better and fairer) economic and social manufacturing can be linked to a relationships can be defined in the genuinely green recovery. Thirdly, our process. In working towards these new developments must be digitally outcomes, digital skills will be a exemplary, with high quality prerequisite. infrastructures and the expectation of new and innovative digital solutions. Building our digital infrastructure Both schemes are long term ventures It is critical that we continue to invest in and progress on both has been slowed and grow our digital infrastructure. temporarily by the pandemic. But both need to be recognised as major Working with partners, our intention is to opportunities – not least in relation to deliver ubiquitous high speed digital our construction sector (and the connectivity over full fibre and 4G and 5G employment pathways this can mobile across Hertfordshire. This will potentially provide) – and as catalysts mean that bandwidth is no longer a for economic growth in the short- barrier for individual households, medium as well as the long term. communities, businesses and places. It ought to open up many new opportunities based on consistently excellent digital connectivity.

These outcomes are achievable if the market is encouraged to work better. This in turn needs partners across the county to work together with businesses

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and providers. There are many steps we the M25 – are invariably poor. We can collectively take – including, for consider these to be important in relation example, by making public sector to Hertfordshire’s longer-term growth buildings and other assets available for ambitions. infrastructure to support 5G roll-out; and seeking to upskill local people to be able Working with Hertfordshire County to use the infrastructure better (whether Council and other partners through the the issue is basic digital literacy or Growth Board, we want to advance an advanced skills linking to Artificial accessible and affordable east-west Intelligence). system, using new and emerging Mass Rapid Transit technologies. It will also Re-defining orbital connectivity embrace active and sustainable travel.

Hertfordshire’s radial routes – both rail Although this is a long-term venture, it and road – are congested and in need of should support economic growth, investment, but they provide good improve the environment and benefit connectivity within and beyond the both new and existing communities. It is county. therefore a priority for economic recovery and longer-term growth. It is being The same cannot be said of our east- advanced under the auspices of the west links which – with the exception of Hertfordshire Growth Board.

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Delivering our subject to local lockdowns). We are Economic Recovery planning for this possibility. Plan There is also substantial uncertainty surrounding the process of EU Transition – and much may change on that front Our Economic Recovery Plan must now within a few weeks. In anticipation, we be delivered with urgency. We have put have set up a Brexit Readiness Group in place various arrangements to ensure consisting of key local stakeholders this happens. which will support our businesses.

Role of the LEP Board To be able to react quickly, we will build our intelligence gathering and reporting The delivery of our Economic Recovery capacity, sharing data, intelligence and Plan will be overseen by the main Board analysis by building long standing of Hertfordshire LEP. stakeholder engagement activities with partners in the private and public sector. A regular progress update will be This has the potential to shape how we provided to the Board (monthly in relation work with, and shape, our responses to to the three Economic Recovery the emerging economic crisis. Packages; and bi-monthly across the two Transformation Programmes). We In addition, we intend to continue to work intend to publish highlights from these through two broader ventures which are progress updates in the form of a Red- concerned partly about delivery and Amber-Green (RAG) assessment. partly about gathering ‘real-time’ intelligence and insight as circumstances Resilience cell change.

In addition, Hertfordshire LEP will Working with individual local continue to work closely with local authority districts authority partners in its Resilience Cell. This will provide broader levels of We will work with individual local authority accountability and a wider basis for districts and boroughs to understand how reporting. the economic effects of the crisis are working through locally, and to ensure Real-time delivery and intelligence that our Recovery Plan is reaching relevant businesses and communities in We are very aware that circumstances an appropriate form. are changing very quickly and this Plan – drafted in summer 2020 – could quickly This process is starting with Broxbourne be overtaken by events, particularly if and Welwyn Hatfield, but we intend to roll there is a second spike in COVID-19 it out. (and/or if specific local economies are

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Working with key sectors Working with partners beyond Hertfordshire In parallel, we will continue to work closely with our key sectors. This Catalyst South includes a rolling programme of sector round-tables. During lockdown, these We intend to continue to work closely with have involved virtual meetings with the other southern LEPs within Catalyst businesses to identify key issues and to South. This is an important vehicle for a define appropriate responses. Over dialogue with central government which recent weeks, we have had virtual will be critical over the months ahead. meetings with the film and TV sector, and with construction businesses. More LEP Network discussions of this nature will take place in the summer and autumn. Finally, we intend to work actively with the wider LEP Network. This brings together 38 local enterprise partnerships across England. It has defined a five-point plan for economic recovery which highlights the unique role that LEPs need to play.

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Measuring progress general currency and they are likely to be important in shaping ‘real time’ delivery.

We will monitor and evaluate the delivery Understanding how Hertfordshire is of our Economic Recovery Plan. changing

Monitoring In parallel, we will keep a close eye on the key economic indicators for Hertfordshire We will chart progress in relation to the – charting what is happening as the delivery of the commitments set out in various government schemes are this Plan. We will keep key delivery gradually wound down and the full effects milestones under close review, and of the recession become clearer. formulate a clear risk register linked to them. We will monitor closely the spend This will include gathering evidence on and outputs linked to our commitments. claimant counts and redundancy data. Any delays in delivery will be We will pay particular attention to investigated. evidence surrounding the ‘Class of 2020’. We will also want to understand what is These monitoring data will provide the happening at a local level – in individual basis of monthly update reports to our towns across Hertfordshire. Evidence Board and other stakeholders. and data relating to town centre activity will be especially important. We will also Evaluation gather evidence on business investment and investor confidence (including in We intend to put in place an intelligent relation to the uptake of commercial and proportionate approach to property; recruitment activity, etc.). evaluation, consistent with the speed at which the Economic Recovery Plan In time, we may want to investigate more needs to be delivered. It will be multi- formally the relationship between specific faceted, with some elements designed at interventions and the outcomes we are the micro level and others concerned with seeing across Hertfordshire. However the wider Hertfordshire economy. we need to recognise also that robust evaluations – in which we can be Micro perspectives confident about causality – take time and resource. We will ‘design in’ the evidence We will stay close to individual projects, and data that these require but in both to understand any challenges practice, given the speed with which surrounding delivery but also to gather conditions are changing, this part of the immediate feedback around what is exercise may need to be reserved ‘for working well and less well. We recognise later’. that these insights may well have more

A-1

Annex A: Summary of key actions and commitments

RECOVERY PACKAGE 1: ENTERPRISE AND INNOVATION Reporting within the LEP: Enterprise and Innovation Programme Board, Enterprise Zone Partnership Board, LEP Board

Action Milestones and next steps RAG Comments on progress

 Work with the Growth Hub 3 months (by end Dec 2020): to deliver the emergency  Pilot business support COVID19 business support schemes, the Volunteer package, including Business Support Scheme and Hertfordshire Business Crowdfund Hertfordshire to Expansion Grant Scheme; have completed delivery the Volunteer Business Support Scheme; and 6 months (by end March 2021): Crowdfund Hertfordshire  Initial evaluations of the Volunteer Business Support Scheme and Crowdfund Hertfordshire completed by end of 20/21 FY, to inform considerations on extending the activity.  12 BEGS Awards and £1m of grants offered 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  15 BEGS Awards and £1.5m grants offered

 Work closely with 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Hertfordshire Community  Working protocols and Foundation to ensure the arrangements in place for VCSE (voluntary, community Hertfordshire Community and social enterprise) sector Foundation to represent the is aware of the available VCSE and to be the LEP and support Growth Hub’s primary contact, to ensure that the sector is aware of and connected to the business support available in Hertfordshire

 Deliver wider initiatives 3 months (by end Dec 2020): linked to access to finance,  Appoint fund manager, notably Hertfordshire SME establish Special Purpose Growth Loan Scheme Vehicle (Hertfordshire Loan Management Ltd) and appoint

A-2

Steering Group by Christmas 2020  Initial Investment into HLML  Marketing Programme developed & agreed by LEP, Growth Hub & FSE CIC for launch Jan 2021 6 months (by end March 2021):  First steering Group Meeting held  Two deals agreed at Credit Committee by March 31 2021  Marketing Programme commenced and forward programme for 2021 developed. 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  £1.5m total of deals approved at Credit Committee  £1m of these deals drawn against fund  Number of jobs created/ safeguarded 35 p.a.  Second Steering Group meeting held

 Consolidate support for 3 months (by end Dec 2020): business start-ups,  First year of the “Get focusing especially on (a) Enterprising” programme technology and knowledge- completed, providing pathway based start-ups; and (b) support to connect growth those considering self- potential early stage employment/micro-business businesses, with mainstream starts instead of employment business support services accessed via the Hertfordshire Growth Hub.  Design start-up grant programme for people under threat of or being made redundant  “Being your own boss” programme established (effectively training scheme for people looking to become independent traders”)  Design of Digital transformation business support programme complete 6 months (by end March 2021):

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 Consideration of “Get Enterprising” programme content and delivery, for adaptation purposes by the end of 20/21 FY  Launch Digital transformation business support programme

 Deliver key business 3 months (by end Dec 2020): support packages, tailoring  Peer Network Programme to national schemes like the be mobilised and operational in Peer Network Programme Hertfordshire and Small Business Leadership Programme to 6 months (by end March 2021): Hertfordshire  Peer Network national pilot, inclusive of Hertfordshire delivery, completed by March 2021. Hertfordshire survey data provided by this milestone, for consideration within the national evaluation of this pilot programme

 Develop an Enterprise 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Strategy for Hertfordshire,  Compile evidence base and reflecting changing begin drafting Enterprise circumstances but also strategy taking into account underlying issues linked to 6 months (by end March 2021): the process of enterprise across the county  Draft strategy approved by LEP board and launched

 Continue to advance 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Hertfordshire IQ,  Investment from offsite highlighting (in the context of manufacturing sector Recovery Package 1) those confirmed elements linked to enterprise and innovation, and in  Completion of the Russell relation to the construction Building on Rothamsted sector. This includes the Campus proposed Open Innovation Hub at BRE which will be 6 months (by end March 2021): supported through the  BRE Open Innovation Hub Getting Building Fund under construction 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Maylands sites investment campaign launched, targeting future occupiers for 4 of the Herts IQ sites on Maylands

 Work with Visit Herts to 3 months (by end Dec 2020): support the visitor  Visit Herts to have delivered economy, to ensure four ‘Recovery Strategy

A-4

businesses can be Working Groups by Christmas connected to a business 2020, engaging with support package of businesses in different sub- assistance, that can respond sectors of the Visitor Economy to their challenges and meet (Food & Drink; Indoor their requirements Attractions; Accommodation; and Meeting & Events). This will result in an understanding of the challenges and concerns of businesses after re-opening and where additional support is required.  Dedicated 100% revenue grants for use by visitor economy businesses, as provision made available via the ERDF Get Growing project delivered through the Growth Hub, to be fully allocated by Christmas 2020 6 months (by end March 2021):  Visit Herts, working with the LEP and Hertfordshire Growth, by the end of 20/21 FY to have established a portfolio of business support services that can be presented to business as equipped and available to support the challenges of the sector.

 Advance actions to support 3 months (by end Dec 2020): the film and TV sector,  Getting Building Fund bid including investment in approved Elstree Film Studios through the Getting Building Fund 6 months (by end March 2021): and working closely with Sky to advance plans for a major  Getting building fund contract new studio complex at issued Elstree 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Work begins on construction of Getting Building fund project

 Accelerate the growth of the 3 months (by end Dec 2020): cell and gene therapy  Getting Building Fund bid for cluster, most immediately C&G Integration Lab approved through the Getting Building Fund, but also by advancing 6 months (by end March 2021): a longer-term cluster development plan  C&G integration LAB contract issued  First draft of 10-year Cluster Development Plan for Stevenage and North Herts

A-5

 Support the advanced 3 months (by end Dec 2020): manufacturing and  Extension of Manufacturing engineering sector, Growth Programme begins including through STEM skills provision and also with 12 months (by end Sept 2021): a view to longer term priorities  Over £1m of BEGS funding into Manufacturing sector achieved

RECOVERY PACKAGE 2: SKILLS AND CREATIVITY Reporting within the LEP: Skills Advisory Panel, LEP Board

Action Milestones and next steps RAG Comments on progress

 Work with the Skills 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Advisory Panel (SAP) to  Engagement with revise the Hertfordshire stakeholders: host series of 4 Skills Strategy (and publish to 5 summits to inform strategy it by March 2021). development 6 months (by end March 2021):  Working with HCC, DWP and other partners, publish draft Hertfordshire Skills Strategy (3rd edition) 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Publish final draft of strategy; hold Countywide skills summit (in partnership with HCC and DWP)

 Complete a Labour Market 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Review 2020/2021 taking  Publish interim labour market into the account the impact review taking into account of COVID19 immediate impact of COVID19 6 months (by end March 2021):  Draft Skills and Labour Market review 2021 (to accompany Skills and Employment Strategy) 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Review and update skills and employment action plan resulting from review with SAP

A-6

 Promote the role of the 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Hertfordshire  Ensure stakeholders (local Opportunities Portal (HOP) authorities, HGH, FSB, as the major source of enterprise agencies) are intelligence and provide a signposting to HOP for coordinated offer under the employment recovery support banner ‘Employer Recovery Hub’ 6 months (by end March 2021):  Invest in digital marketing and SEO campaign to increase school and resident awareness of HOP 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Increase unique users to 10,000; produce sustainability business plan for HOP

 Promote the government’s 3 months (by end Dec 2020): £2bn Kickstart programme,  Work with DWP to ensure and work with partners to HOP/LEP/HGH has up to date make it as relevant and content to explain Kickstart accessible as possible to programme and correct businesses in Hertfordshire signposting to JCP – bi-weekly promotion across business network 6 months (by end March 2021):  Work with JCP to evaluate impact of Kickstart and incorporate analysis into skills and labour market review 2021 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Final evaluation of Kickstart and assessment of current Hertfordshire 16-24 year old unemployment situation

 Work with the national 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Redundancy Support  Provide local referral routes to Service for Apprentices ESFA to support redundant (ReSSA) to enable apprentices i.e. ESF Skills apprentices who have been Support for Redundancy and made redundant to find new Pathways to Success opportunities programmes. Promote programme to business network and residents via HOP/LEP  Attend monthly meetings with local apprenticeship providers group to understand impact on apprenticeships at a local level 6 months (by end March 2021):

A-7

 Working with ESFA and local apprenticeship providers group, evaluate impact of ReSSA in Hertfordshire and develop case study;  Publish draft Apprenticeship and Technical Education Strategy 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Monitor impact on apprenticeship starts

 Using our networks, make 3 months (by end Dec 2020): more employers aware of  Working with LEP Comms and the enhanced incentives to Hertfordshire Apprenticeship take on apprentices during Provider Network develop the remainder of 2020 marketing campaign, promote via HOP/LEP and HGH 6 months (by end March 2021):  Publish draft Apprenticeship and Technical Education Strategy to inform future apprenticeship provision and promotion 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Review strategy implementation and update action plan

 Support the on-going work of 3 months (by end Dec 2020): the Apprenticeship  Work with AAN to ensure Ambassador Network members have of full understanding of local offer and incentives 6 months (by end March 2021):  Develop two case studies of how Ambassadors have used Apprenticeships to support COVID19 recovery 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Work with AAN to review membership of AAN and Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network to ensure representative of Hertfordshire priority sectors

 Increase careers provision in 3 months (by end Dec 2020): schools across Hertfordshire by creating a third Careers

A-8

Hub (in addition to the two  Ensure current Careers Hub that already exist), ensuring and wider EAN provision is re that the whole county engaged with all Hertfordshire benefits from enhanced schools provision 6 months (by end March 2021):  Establish wave 2 Careers Hub provision and measure impact of wave 1 Careers Hub provision on member schools 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Submit request to Careers & Enterprise Company for a wave 3 Careers Hub in Hertfordshire; Share best practise and provide access to additional workshop etc to all non-Careers Hub schools in Hertfordshire

 Work with our Further 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Education Colleges to make  Liaise with FE Colleges and full use of the classroom- private training providers to based offer (allowing 18 to ensure breadth of classroom- 19 year olds who are based offer is understood and struggling to find work in promoted via HOP and through England the opportunity to school network via study targeted high value CEC/Careers Hubs level 2 and 3 courses throughout 2020-21), 6 months (by end March 2021): focusing especially on qualifications in ICT and  Work with FE and private construction training providers to understand progression opportunities for students undertaking classroom-based offer 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Promote career pathways for this cohort via HOP

 Work with the National 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Careers Service (NCS) to  Ensure NCS enhanced ensure that people in provision is included on HOP Hertfordshire aged 24+ and promoted across partner benefit fully (delivered by networks Futures) 6 months (by end March 2021):  Via the Hertfordshire response to redundancy taskforce, ensure any missing gaps in provision are identified and solutions developed 12 months (by end Sept 2021):

A-9

 Include analysis of NCS provision in 2021 Skill and Labour market review and action plan going forward

 Advance the ESF Response 3 months (by end Dec 2020): to Redundancy programme  Ensure programme is detailed (delivered by Serco) on HOP and promoted across partner network 6 months (by end March 2021):  Via the Hertfordshire response to redundancy taskforce, ensure programme has capacity for the required demand (using interim labour market analysis published in November) 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Updated review of redundancy support required using evidence base

 Maximise the opportunities 3 months (by end Dec 2020): for sector-based work  Work with JCP to develop academies, drawing on the marketing brochure to promote national programme which is SBWA via HOP and partners receiving additional funding from DWP 6 months (by end March 2021):  In partnership with key local stakeholders, i.e. HGH, Chamber, FSB etc, generate referrals for two SBWA 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Provide referrals for a further 4 SBWA and develop case study

 Support workforce 3 months (by end Dec 2020): development programmes,  Liaise with ESFA/DWP MA to including the ESF-funded increase and extend SSW skills support in the budget; Ensure SSW is workforce (SSW) signposted on HOP 6 months (by end March 2021):  Develop skills, re-training and progression hub on HOP for workforce development solutions 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Using evidence base – surveys and data analysis - to ensure Hertfordshire provision base

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meets employers requirements for skills

 Work with the University of 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Hertfordshire to ensure that  Ensure UH Careers graduating students are department is immediately aware of the opportunities aware of LMI and employment that exist in Hertfordshire, opportunities available via both now and in the future HOP and that students understand how to access the portal 6 months (by end March 2021):  Use evidence base to work with UH to ensure class of 2020 graduates with no destination are aware of pathways available 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Establish an MOU with University Careers and Enterprise department to ensure graduating students are aware of career pathways via HOP

 Take steps to increase 3 months (by end Dec 2020): digital skills, particularly in  Undertake digital skills gap relation to older workers assessment as part of interim [Shared with skills analysis (November TRANSFORMATIONAL 2020) PROGRAMME 2: Connecting Hertfordshire 6 months (by end March 2021): for mid-21st Century living and working]  Incorporate Digital Skills working group to include UH, FE, employers and sector representatives and develop draft action plan; align the work of this group with that of the County Digital Infrastructure group 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Assess potential funding streams via existing budgets (i.e. Adult Education, SSW or Flexible Support Fund) and new funding opportunities to support digital skills development

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RECOVERY PACKAGE 3: International Trade and Investment Reporting within the LEP: Enterprise and Innovation Programme Board, Enterprise Zone Partnership Board, LEP Board

Action Milestones and next steps RAG Comments on progress

 Work with partners to ensure 6 months (by end March 2021): that major sites are used  Start development of suite of appropriately in seeking to soft landing packages for key attract international locations investment  Development of Value propositions by place and by sector 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Full set of marketing propositions complete

 Work with partners across 6 months (by end March 2021): Catalyst South to develop  Mapping the area to identify sector and technology sectoral strengths and identify propositions for inward lead LEP responsibilities for investment marketing crafting Propositions purposes  Develop joint market strategy and action plan 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Work towards coordination of resources to create Virtual “Investment Promotion Agency”

 Promote the High Potential 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Opportunity area around  Establish a development team Stevenage in relation to cell to take the HPO work with DIT and gene therapy forward 6 months (by end March 2021):  Value proposition published for the sector in Hertfordshire 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Secure one mobile Foreign Direct Investment in the area

 Promote Hertfordshire IQ 3 months (by end Dec 2020): (and with it smart and  Investment from offsite sustainable construction) in manufacturing sector attracting international confirmed investment (in the context of Recovery Package 3) 6 months (by end March 2021):

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 Post-COVID19 HIQ demand study completed in order to shape inward investment campaigns 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Maylands sites investment campaign launched, targeting future occupiers for four of the Herts IQ sites on Maylands

 Encourage more 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Hertfordshire Businesses to  Hertfordshire LEP joins engage in international regional ESIF trade Internationalisation Fund Project Advisory Group  By end of November, launch and promote ESIF Internationalisation Funds via Hertfordshire Growth Hub to help SME’s grow through international trade.  Eligible SMEs will be able to apply for co-investment funding of between £1,000 and £9,000 towards projects of between around £2,000 and £18,000 in value. The scheme will provide third-party consultancy or other services including participation in trade missions and trade fairs, 6 months (by end March 2021): 6 months (by end March 2021):  First project approvals completed by Scheme operator Capita Business Services 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  20 SMEs supported through the ESIF Internationalisation Fund

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TRANSFORMATIONAL PROGRAMME 1: Equipping Hertfordshire’s places for mid-21st Century living and working Reporting within the LEP: Strategic Infrastructure Programme Board, Enterprise Zone Partnership Board, LEP Board Key external reporting: Growth Board

Action Milestones and next steps RAG Comments on progress

 Support the work of 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Stevenage Development  SDB well established as a Board Board with Stevenage Town Investment Plan signed off 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  SDB Terms of Reference and scope reviewed to reflect Stevenage TIP outcome

 Support the development of 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Stevenage’s Town  Stevenage Town Investment Investment Plan (TIP) Plan submitted to proposal to government, and Government put in place an appropriate Town Deal 6 months (by end March 2021):  Stevenage Town Deal programme agreed with Government 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Minimum 3 Town Deal projects started

 Support ongoing initiatives 3 months (by end Dec 2020): linked to the wider  Stevenage Station MSCP regeneration programme for project approved and started Stevenage Central 6 months (by end March 2021):  Stevenage Bus Interchange project construction underway 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Mace’s SG1 programme started with Phase 1 out of the ground

 Develop an appropriate plan 3 months (by end Dec 2020): for Gunnels Wood Road,  Economic strategy for GWR recognising its crucial commenced potential importance in relation to both the cell and 6 months (by end March 2021): gene therapy cluster and the

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Action Milestones and next steps RAG Comments on progress advanced manufacturing and  Economic strategy and engineering sector delivery plan completed 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Detailed economic case, traffic modelling and for GWR/A502 Roundabout completed

 Work with partners to deliver 3 months (by end Dec 2020): ambitious plans for Hemel  Work with local stakeholders Hempstead, including in to secure a planning context relation to the town centre, that will support delivery Hertfordshire IQ and Hemel Garden Communities 6 months (by end March 2021):  Identify capital funding for M1 J8 construction 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Support TCE to submit East Hemel Hempstead planning application  M1 Junction 8 upgrade design project complete, scheme ready for funding and planning permission

 Continue to advance plans 3 months (by end Dec 2020): for Watford, recognising  Work with WBC to implement particularly the need for Clarendon Road and Station investment in the town Gateway programmes centre and around the station 6 months (by end March 2021):  Work up the transport interchange project 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Work with WBC on Watford Junction regeneration programme

 Support town-level 3 months (by end Dec 2020): regeneration plans in each of  Commission Town Centre Bishops Stortford; St strategy and action plan for Albans; Hatfield; Waltham Herts Cross; and Welwyn Garden City 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Work with local partners to develop and start to implement local regeneration plans for key Herts towns

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Action Milestones and next steps RAG Comments on progress

 Advance Harlow and 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Gilston Garden Town –  Continue to work with HGGT which spans the boundary partners to ensure Herts’ between Hertfordshire and interests are represented, Essex, and includes especially re economic provision for 10,000 opportunities dwellings in East Hertfordshire

 Support the delivery of 3 months (by end Dec 2020): Hemel Garden  Support the newly-appointed Communities, recognising HGC Programme Manager to links to Hertfordshire IQ and accelerate delivery opportunities linked particularly to sustainable 12 months (by end Sept 2021): construction  Support the HGC Board to deliver the garden town’s objectives

TRANSFORMATIONAL PROGRAMME 2: Connecting Hertfordshire for mid- 21st Century living and working Reporting within the LEP: Strategic Infrastructure Programme Board, LEP Board Key external reporting: Growth Board

Action Milestones and next steps RAG Comments on progress

 Working with others, support 3 months (by end Dec 2020): the delivery of ubiquitous  Secure funding through TIP high speed digital for hyperfast connectivity over full fibre broadband/acceleration of 5G and 4G and 5G mobile Stage 1 feasibility pilot for across Hertfordshire Stevenage  Hold a digital roundtable with key stakeholders across Hertfordshire 6 months (by end March 2021):  Commission Stage 1 feasibility pilot for Stevenage  Undertake an analysis of current programmes to identify gaps 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Roll out findings for Stage 1 feasibility pilot across Herts to

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inform investment decision- making  Produce a digital strategy and action plan

 Take steps to increase 3 months (by end Dec 2020): digital skills, particularly in  Undertake digital skills gap relation to older workers assessment as part of interim [Shared with RECOVERY skills analysis (November PACKAGE 2: People and 2020) Creativity] 6 months (by end March 2021):  Incorporate Digital Skills working group to include UH, FE, employers and sector representatives and develop draft action plan; align the work of this group with that of the County Digital Infrastructure group 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Assess potential funding streams via existing budgets (i.e. Adult Education, SSW or Flexible Support Fund) and new funding opportunities to support digital skills development

 Working with Hertfordshire 3 months (by end Dec 2020): County Council and other  Work with Hertfordshire partners through the Growth stakeholders to consult on Board, advance an the potential high level route accessible and affordable for the MRT east-west system, using new and emerging Mass 6 months (by end March 2021): Rapid Transit technologies, and embracing active and  Identify potential for delivery sustainable travel of dedicated bus route in advance of full MRT 12 months (by end Sept 2021):  Agree the high level route for the MRT and its potential economic impact

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Annex B: District profiles

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