Monthly Update March 2019

Key Headlines

Research, Development, Innovation and Energy  Our ambitions to decarbonise the have been presented at a summit in Birmingham.  Work to develop detailed plans for Hydrogen refuelling stations is underway.  Work is underway with Cluster, advising Government on the deployment of CCS at scale in the 2030’s.  The Local Energy Hub project is receiving additional support from Government to develop community energy projects. New projects are continuing to be identified across the 6 Local Enterprise Partnerships involved.

Education, Employment and Skills  To date 1,144 participants are currently engaged with Tees Valley Routes to Work, with 97 supported into employment.

Transport & Infrastructure  An eight week public consultation on the New Tees Crossing proposal was launched at the Riverside Stadium on the 13th March.  The new Parkgate pedestrian and cyclist bridge, which links Darlington station with the growing Central Park Enterprise Zone site, was officially opened on the 12th March.

Culture  The first Enjoy Tees Valley Mini Guide has been printed and will be displayed in leaflet racks across Tees Valley and within a 2-3 hour drive time of Tees Valley in time for Easter.  Zest Theatre is developing their regional wide Project ‘Youthquake’; they have completed their first week at the Centre for Excellence in Creative Arts in Hartlepool.

Investment  The Tees Valley Local Assurance Framework was approved by Cabinet on 15th March. This sets out the framework for how projects and programmes will be prioritised, appraised, approved, signed off and delivered, and is available on our website  Initial discussions are under way with our 5 partner Local Authorities to develop and accelerate their five key priority projects as identified in our 10 Year Investment Plan. We are also working with the Authorities to develop the overall Indigenous Growth (Place) Programme and to release some early funding under this programme to enable the Authorities to develop their local programmes.

Governance and Communication  A meeting of the Cabinet took place on 15th March where items considered and approved included: o Treasury Management Strategy 2019/20 o Scrutiny study: Diversity in the Tees Valley Combined Authority Membership o Tees Valley Assurance Framework o Compulsory purchase of land by South Tees Development Corporation A full set of papers for the meeting can be viewed here  A media/stakeholder event was organised to announce the purchase of Durham Tees Valley Airport and the announcement of its new operator, Stobart Group. We achieved prominent and extensive media coverage.  We launched a consultation on a new Tees Crossing to 70 stakeholders and members of the public at the Riverside. The event was delivered in partnership with Transport for the North which used it to launch its Strategic Transport Plan. An additional five separate public drop-in sessions, which were held across the region, exceeded expectations with 1,247 attendees. We also created a “virtual consultation room” online, generating 3,400 visits to date. Consultation materials have been set up in Stockton Library and we will continue to promote the consultation through the media and digital communications channels until it concludes on 17th May.  Attended MIPIM Cannes on behalf of the STDC, with very positive discussions held with a range of investment intermediaries and stakeholders. A series of follow-up meetings have been arranged for early April.

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Updates

Education, Employment and Skills Routes to Work The Tees Valley Routes to Work (RTW) Pilot is progressing well in relation to supporting long-term unemployed Tees Valley residents into, or closer to, sustainable employment. At present, 1,144 participants are engaged with the programme and to date, 97 have been supported into employment.

Stage 2 of the RTW evaluation is being progressed and aims to establish a mechanism for understanding the impact on lives, services and public sector funding, as well as understand the participant groups in order to effectively evaluate the Pilot and to help inform future policy and investment.

Apprenticeships National Apprenticeship Week 2019 (4th – 8th March) The Combined Authority and the North East Apprenticeship Ambassador Network, in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses, hosted two opportunities for Tees Valley businesses.

Employer breakfasts, delivered by Nifco, Lotte and Sabic, who have a track record in apprenticeships, were held in Darlington and Stockton. The events provided attendees with the opportunity to hear first-hand about the benefits that apprentices can bring to their business; the process involved in finding, recruiting and managing an apprentice, the support available and grants to help them financially. Approximately 20 businesses attended. Alongside these events were opportunities for schools, parents and pupils to attend evening sessions with the employers.

In addition, multiple events were held in schools across Tees Valley to promote apprenticeships as an option for young people.

Media collated from these events will be made available on the Tees Valley Careers.com website.

The Combined Authority are currently working with the Learning & Work Institute, to design and create an Employer Toolkit. The toolkit will contain relevant information on apprenticeships, what they are, funding available, employing process and the employer levy, containing links to organisations who will be able to provide further information and bespoke support to employers.

Further information will be provided once the toolkit is complete. In the meantime, information regarding financial support is currently available from the Combined Authority to local employers who wish to recruit an apprentice. The information can be found here.

Post-16 Review of post-16 qualifications at Level 3 and below in

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The Department for Education are seeking views on the principles that should guide their review of post-16 qualifications at Level 3 and below.

The consultation is the first stage of the Government’s review of post-16 Level 3 and below qualifications (excluding T Levels, A Levels and GCSEs). It asks for views on the high level principles and outlines proposals for the removal of funding approval for unreformed qualifications. The consultation will run for 12 weeks – closing date 09:00 on 10th June 2019 and can be found here.

The response to this consultation and second stage of the review will follow later in 2019.

Adult Education The Commissioning Process for the Adult Education Budget is on-going, Budget (AEB) with 52 Delivery Plans received and being appraised.

It is intended to issue indicative funding awards to providers in April 2019, with final funding awards intended to be issued to providers in June 2019, subject to Cabinet approval in May 2019.

Careers National Careers Week 2019 National Careers Week took place 4th-8th March, coinciding with National Apprenticeship Week. Many of the Tees Valley schools and colleges worked in collaboration with the Combined Authority’s Careers Team and hosted events including mock interviews, career talks and assemblies.

TeesValley Careers.com The TeesValleyCareers.com showcase event, which took place on 6th March at the Riverside Stadium, showcased the revamped teesvalleycareers.com website as well as updating the careers funding offer for schools and colleges to use to help improve performance against Gatsby benchmarks. The event was attended by 105 delegates, primarily newly engaged businesses and schools. Pupils from four schools presented at the event, highlighting the positive impact that the employer engagement had made to their preparation for work.

The Teesvalleycareers.com co-ordinators are working to target 1,000 businesses from all sectors and of all sizes to work with schools and colleges. To date, there are 300 businesses engaged. If you would like to get involved in this work and are interested in becoming a Business Enterprise Adviser, please contact us on the following email address: [email protected]

Tees Valley Enterprise Co-ordinators The Tees Valley Enterprise Coordinators continue to work with all 70 11-19 Education establishments in the Tees Valley. These include Secondary Schools, Special Schools, Sixth Forms and Further Education Colleges.

Of these Education Establishments, 47 have a Business Enterprise Adviser working directly with the Careers Lead in the establishment. We are keen to recruit a further 20 Enterprise Advisers to develop meaningful encounters with employers for all students. 4

Overall, the Tees Valley schools have improved their performance by more than 50% across all 8 benchmarks in the three months since December 2018.

Educational Support The Combined Authority’s Careers Team continues to offer professional development sessions for educational establishments. A Careers Hub workshop on Benchmark 5 ‘Encounters with Employers’, delivered in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, took place on Thursday 28th March.

Careers Hub Following the submission of a the Combined Authority bid to the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) in February, for the extension of the current Tees Valley Careers Hub, the team attended the CEC interview in London on 14th March. If successful, the extension will enable the Combined Authority to extend the Careers Hub to include a total of 60 Educational Establishments in Tees Valley.

Skills Advisory The Combined Authority is working with the Department for Education’s Panels (SAPs) Skills Advisory Panels Programme Team and Sopra Steria on a “Data Discovery” research project, to help inform future data requirements. Initial findings from the data discovery will be presented to local areas in the near future.

European Social ESFA ESF Procurement Round 2 (Procurement of Contracts April 2019 Fund to July 2021) The procurement process for the new ESF programme of skills funding, match funded by ESFA via the opt-in arrangement, has completed. Initial tripartite meetings involving ESFA and the Combined Authority with the successful providers for the Tees Valley LEP area have taken place. Delivery under these contracts is due to start from 1st April 2019.

Direct Bid Open Calls Work is underway to develop Direct Bid Open Calls with a view to committing the remaining unallocated Tees Valley ESF funding. Through these Open Calls, Tees Valley will look to commit £17.6m ESF funding across three Investment Priorities:

• Investment Priority 1.1 - Access to Employment for Jobseekers and Inactive People. • Investment Priority 2.1 - Enhancing Equal Access to Lifelong Learning. • Investment Priority 2.2 - Improving the labour market relevance of education and training systems.

Open Call applicants are required to bring forward their own match funding (40%) in order to draw down the ESF element. The Combined Authority is working with DWP, the Managing Authority, to develop the calls and agree a timetable to launch the calls, which is anticipated to be throughout Spring and early Summer 2019. 5

Transport & Infrastructure New Tees Crossing Providing a New Tees Crossing over the is one of the Combined Public Authority’s main transport priorities for the region, aiming to reduce Consultation congestion at peak times on the A19 Trunk Road. The new crossing is essential to facilitate growth, boost access to Enterprise Zones and strategically important sites. Transport for the North is supporting and endorsing the project.

During a launch event at the Riverside Stadium on the 13th March, an eight week consultation period began, capturing the views of local businesses and the public on the new crossing of the River Tees. The crossing is to be built in the vicinity of the existing A19 viaduct, improving journey times and access to strategic sites, unlocking development potential and supporting economic growth of the region.

A series of public consultation events were held at the following times and locations:  Saturday March 16th 10am-2pm – Castlegate Centre, Stockton-On- Tees.  Tuesday March 19th 2pm – 6pm – Redcar Heart Leisure Centre, Redcar.  Thursday March 21st 10am – 2pm – Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, Hartlepool.  Saturday March 23rd 10am – 2pm – Hillstreet Centre, .

All public consultation material can also be viewed in a Virtual Consultation room which has been specially created for the project here.

Parkgate Bridge The new Parkgate Bridge was officially opened on 12th March to pedestrians and cyclists. The 36 metre bridge, which connects Darlington train station with Central Park, crosses the busy Parkgate in a single span, providing quicker and safer access for pedestrians and cyclists between the two sites.

As well as putting the new bridge in place, the area alongside the railway line has been opened up and landscaped with trees and shrubs to create a pleasant, clean and tidy walking route to the station. The project has been funded jointly by the Combined Authority and Darlington Borough Council, delivered as part of the Sustainable Access to Employment programme.

Putting the bridge in place provides safer access from the station to the growing business, education and housing developments on the Central Park Enterprise Zone site. It also provides a continuous and safe walking and cycling route from Haughton Road to the train station.

The existing bridge into the station will also be adapted so that bicycles can be more easily moved up and down the steps. This work will be carried out soon by London North Eastern Railway (LNER).

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Beyond this, a key part of the Darlington Station Masterplan is a significant upgrade and development of the Eastern side of the station, this is a key first step in delivering that vision.

Culture Destination Middlesbrough Football Club are hosting an Enjoy Tees Valley dedicated Marketing game on the 30th March, in celebration of the region. The game will feature Enjoy Tees Valley branding, with Tourism Businesses given the opportunity to showcase their product in the stadium’s fanzone.

Stand space has been confirmed for Enjoy Tees Valley at the Great Yorkshire Show in July. In the coming weeks, Tourism Industry partners will be approached offering the opportunity to showcase their product to the 130,000+ visitors expected to attend the event.

The Enjoy Tees Valley team attended the British Travel & Tourism Show at the NEC on the 20th-21st March, to showcase the region to the travel trade.

The Enjoy Tees Valley team attended Fiets en Wandelbeurs in Ghent & Utrecht in February & March to showcase the area’s Cycling and Walking routes to potential Dutch and Belgian holiday makers. Initial feedback from the shows is very strong. Full report expected next month.

Great Place Tees The monitoring and claims process for January-March 2019 is now Valley underway. Agreement in principle to extend the Great Place Tees Valley programme to end of September 2020, to allow summer carnival activity and events to take place.

Additional communications and advocacy support has been procured, to ensure that the programme builds a compelling story of Tees Valley heritage and culture. will continue to lead the evaluation process, conducting conversations and interviews with participants throughout the year.

Recent project highlight activity includes:

Creative Hartlepool - launch of The ConTemporary: a new creative space for Hartlepool. Empty Shop recently began a residency in Hartlepool’s historic Church Street, following the recent £1.1m Townscape Heritage redevelopment. They will be creating a host of new projects, programmes and platforms - central to which is The ConTemporary, a pop-up gallery and events space. https://emptyshop.org/events/

Kicking off this programme is Generation Dystopia, a mixed media exhibition by the second year Fine Art students. The students have been working with Creative Hartlepool for the past two weeks to revitalise a formerly derelict office block. The exhibition is guest curated by Pineapple Black’s Bobby Benjamin and features sculpture, painting, prints, photography and much more. 7

The launch event was held Thursday 14th March and was well attended by a mix of students, lecturers and parents, as well as the local creative community.

Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council: Steel Gala Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council have commissioned Tees Valley Arts to work with a community- led steering group (including Women of Steel and the Corus Club) to stage a re-imagined Steel Gala in August 2019. New artist’s commissions will explore the social and community history of the Gala. Stella Hall (Festival of Thrift) will be working with the steering group to support artistic vision and develop a sustainability plan for the Gala in the future.

Capacity Building The Big Conversation  Work is underway to prepare for a September 2019 launch of The Big Conversation.  A ‘Big Conversation’ brand identity is being developed and appropriate website resource is being established.  Conversations continue, and are being brokered, with key partners to ensure wide-reach, shared ownership and maximum impact.  Zest Theatre has been commissioned to develop their new show, Youthquake, with young people in Tees Valley. The company recently completed a week-long residency at CECA in Hartlepool as part of the Research & Development process, engaging over 100 young people in creative workshops to capture their thoughts, ideas, experiences and hopes for the future. Zest will deliver R&D residencies in each of the remaining four boroughs between April – June, engaging with 100 young people in each area. 20 young people from each of the five boroughs will form a local cast, performing alongside the professional company when Youthquake returns in January 2020. The show will tour to five partner-venues in each area, performing to audiences of up to 4000 people across Tees Valley and sharing the voices of young people from the region. A Tees-Valley-based Assistant Director focusing on Movement has been appointed by the company to work throughout the project.

Sector Analysis & Baseline Study An Invitation to Quote has been developed to enable the commissioning of a project to analyse the economic impact and potential for growth of the Culture & Visitor sectors in Tees Valley. The study will provide baseline analysis and insights to the hard cultural and visitor infrastructure in the region; the capacity of ‘soft’ infrastructure, and some core high-level recommendations for future intervention. The findings of this study will contribute to the LIS.

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Investment Apprenticeship Apprenticeship Support for Employer Grants: Support for Employer  To date we have received 339 applications, of which 226 are Grants: eligible for funding.  47 are from priority sector companies eligible for the £2,500 grant, 179 are from small employers who are eligible for the smaller grant.  76 applications were ineligible for support - main reasons are age of apprentice, number of Company employees for Grant B, length of trading.  We have 10 applications pending further information being received.  27 employers withdrew their applications as the apprentices have left, prior to the 13 week stage.

The New Apprenticeship Support for Employers Grant The grant is available for Apprentices starting their Apprenticeship from 30th November 2018.The scheme provides an initial grant for each level, with an additional payment for companies which progress their Apprentice through their Apprenticeship, from Level 3 upwards. Further information on the scheme is available on the Combined Authority website.

To date we have received 31 applications, of which 22 are eligible for funding  13 are for Grant A (all for £2,000).  9 are for Grant B.  No progression grant applications.  We have 5 applications pending further information being received.  3 employers have withdrawn their application as the apprentices have left prior to the 13 week stage.  1 application is ineligible for support.

Governance & Communication Communication Media & Communication Statistics Activity this month Media: Media Releases issued: 9 Media hits/article: 507 Tone of coverage: 95.3% positive or neutral AVE: £1.11million Reach: 116.08million

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Websites: TVCA STDC Website hits 6.9k 1.3k Page views 24.9k 4.3k New visitors 5.8k 1.2k

Twitter: TVCA Tweets 45 Impressions 69.5k New Followers 111↑ (7,347)

LinkedIn: TVCA STDC Impressions 69.4k 8.8k New followers 248↑ (4,219) 57↑ (949) New likes 808 99

Media coverage highlights:  A media/stakeholder event organised to announce the new Airport operator, Stobart Group. It achieved two front pages, prominent piece on BBC Look North, ITV Tyne Tees, Made in Teesside, Hartlepool TV, BBC Tees, TFM, Global Radio and other online outlets.  SSI CPO announcement, achieved leads in both regional newspapers, as well as broadcast on Look North, BBC Tees, TFM/Magic and online outlets.  New Tees Crossing consultation launch was extensively covered in both regional newspapers, BBC Look North and BBC Tees and industry publications, with follow-up interest by BBC Tees and Zetland FM, resulting in significant turnout at the local consultation events and via the online portal.

Releases included:  Tees Valley Nets National Tennis Competition  The Sky’s The Limit For Local Travel Agent After Apprenticeship  Tees Valley Mayor Praises Local Energy Firm  Businesses Urged To Sign Up To Tees Valley’s Biggest Industry Event  Plans for New Tees Crossing Unveiled  Stobart Group Announced As New Partner As Airport Returns To Public Ownership 10

 SSI Compulsory Purchase to Commence This Month  Major Study: Northern Powerhouse Chemicals Sector Could Grow By £20billion  Development Corporation Hosts UK2070 Commission

Stakeholder engagement:  Hosted the UK2070 Commission, a 30-strong influential group set up to explore the nature and depth of regional inequalities in the UK, focusing on infrastructure improvements. Marketing collateral prepared and positive feedback received from the group.  Met the Communications and Marketing Manager at NEPIC to discuss ways of Talking Up Tees Valley through the new collateral.  Presented the Talking Up Tees Valley narrative and initiative to the Communications lead at NOF Energy and looked at partnership opportunities for maximising exposure of the scheme.  Talking Up Tees Valley video now playing at Hartlepool Train Station and in PD Ports’ offices.  Attended the launch event of The Northern School of Art and discussed developing a Learn narrative for Talking Up Tees Valley.  Mayoral visits supported during February include: Teesside Money Branch, Utility Alliance, Thomas Cook Apprentice visit, Taylor Rose.  Organising a Tees Engineering Network event to be held Friday 4th April in Hartlepool with Catapult and Venator speaking. Registration opened, with more than 100 business representatives signed up to attend.

Communications & Marketing:  Developed the marketing collateral and arranged a VIP event to launch a consultation on the new Tees Crossing. It was held on 13th March with 70 people in attendance. A series of public drop in events have been held across the region with very high numbers visiting and engaging with the consultation process. In total 1,247 people have attended, including: Stockton (359); Redcar (38); Hartlepool (235); Middlesbrough (615). A virtual consultation room has been running online with 3,400 visits to date. Consultation materials have been set up in Stockton Library and we continue to promote the consultation through social media until 17th May when it will end.  Organised and facilitated the second Tees Valley Combined Authority Team Away Morning to present the values of the Combined Authority to staff and update them on progress and next steps.  Developed new marketing collateral and attended MIPIM Cannes on behalf of the STDC. Very positive discussions were held with a range of investment intermediaries and stakeholders. A series of follow up meetings have been arranged for early April.

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 Supporting the Skills Team with their annual event which will take place on 2nd July at Teesside University. Invites have been issued for schools, training providers and businesses.  Preparations are under way for the annual Tees Valley Business Summit which will take place on 4th July at Teesside University. Invitations to exhibit have been issued. Local businesses and stakeholders are being invited to take seminar spots. So far 57 exhibitors have signed up, with two incubator companies.  Continuing work closely with the South Tees Development Corporation to refresh sections of the Master Plan to reflect changing conditions, e.g. securing £29.5million for the Adult Education Budget, acquisition of the airport and Tata land.

Digital and Social Media:  New website for TeesValleyCareers.com launched on Monday 4th March, on time and budget. Received very positive feedback from schools and business in the Tees Valley.  Working on a social media plan for purdah to ensure we can maintain regular posting and engagement across our digital channels.  Continue to develop the new Tees Valley Combined Authority corporate website: www.teesvalley-ca.gov.uk

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