Humber Local Enterprise Partnership Annual Review 2019 - 2020
Humber Local Enterprise Partnership Annual Review
Contents
Chair’s Foreword ...... 3 Investment Achieved ...... 4 Highlights of the Year ...... 5 Strategy ...... 7 Clean Growth ...... 8 Employment and Skills ...... 9 Business ...... 12 Infrastructure ...... 16 Governance and Transparency ...... 19 About the Humber LEP ...... 20 Our Board ...... 21 Annual Accounts ...... 22
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Chair’s Foreword
The year has seen a great deal of change at the Humber LEP, but has also brought advancement in our aims and some more brilliant partnership working.
Perhaps the biggest change at the LEP has been a change in leadership. In September, Lord Chris Haskins announced he was set to step down as Chair. I have seen first-hand his unwavering commitment to the Humber region over the years and would personally like to thank him for his tremendous service.
At the end of the year, I became the LEP’s Chair in the interim, having served as the Deputy Chair in previous years, as well having been a Board member since the LEP’s inception in my former capacity as Leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council. I was thrilled to be appointed in this role.
The start of my term as Chair coincided with the arrival of the coronavirus lockdown and subsequent impact on businesses in our region.
I am proud of the LEP’s response to the economic crisis – quickly mobilising the Coronavirus Community Support Hub to help businesses to support the fight against the virus, while creating the Humber Economic Resilience Group to ensure businesses were supported and heard, while the Humber Jobs Fuse programme supported those whose jobs were affected by the pandemic.
Of course, another change for the Humber LEP is the finalisation of the future direction of the LEP. It was confirmed that North and North East Lincolnshire will become sole members of Greater Lincolnshire LEP in from 1 April 2021, as per the Government’s requirements on single LEP membership.
While this was not the preferred option for the Humber LEP, we understand the decision taken, and will be taking steps to build a positive, strong, collaborative relationship with both GLLEP and the authorities on the South Bank as we reform to become the Hull & East Yorkshire LEP on 1 April, which has the best interests of all our businesses and residents at its core.
The gains made in the Humber in recent years will continue, we have a strong foundation from which to build a green and prosperous economic region, supported by the contributions of all our businesses and partners. Stephen Parnaby OBE, Chair
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Investment Achieved
Investment delivered to 31 March 2020: Our investment has directly supported: The LEP has so far secured over £335m of 7,161 new jobs UK Government funding to enable our partners to deliver projects that support our 19,487 properties with reduced flood risk strategy. 1,411 houses completed through the Local Growth Fund
9,219 learners supported through LGF Skills £204m of this has already been invested, Capital leveraging £390m of other public and private sector funding to make a total investment to 42,446 Skills participants supported so far date of £724m in the Humber, excluding further follow-on investment after enabling £11.8m loaned through the Business Loan projects have been completed. Fund
European funding: European Social Fund: £45.6m
The LEP works with Government to set the Other domestic: £95.9m strategy for £104m of European Structural & Investment Funds allocated to our area and European Regional Development Fund: advises how they should be spent. When £55.9m added to match funding, this will be a total Rural Development Programme: £2.141m investment of approximately £173m. 5,872 + new jobs to follow
Humber Business Growth Hub:
15,991 businesses supported by the Growth Hub
Additional £2.8m ERDF funding applied for to expand Growth Hub services in addition to £6.1m existing
3,580 jobs created through our support to business
£116m levered from the private sector
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Highlights of the Year
The Humber LEP has seen a great deal of progress and change across the business year.
Important updates include the appointment of new Chair Stephen Parnaby OBE on the retirement of Lord Haskins, the LEP hosting a landmark Energy and Clean Growth in the Northern Powerhouse Conference, and a successful bid to undertake the first, exploratory phase of a plan to develop an industrial decarbonisation roadmap.
In September, Lord Chris Haskins announced he was set to step down as Chair of the LEP after eight years in the role. A dedicated supporter of the Humber, Lord Haskins used this role to widely promote the region’s interests and ensured the views of Humber businesses were always represented in Government. He was succeeded by our Deputy Chair, Stephen Parnaby OBE, who was appointed Chair on an interim basis.
The Humber LEP achieved the rating of “Exceptional” for delivery in the Government’s annual performance review. Taking place in January, officials commented on the LEP’s “clear decision making with a strong emphasis on value for money and independent external assessment”. They also praised the LEP’s level of spending commitment for programmes such as the Local Growth Fund, which is higher than many other LEPs. The funds were originally secured for the region through competitive bidding by the Humber LEP.
The first ever Energy and Clean Growth in the Northern Powerhouse conference and exhibition attracted over 800 delegates across two days – making it the biggest event of its kind to take place in the UK. Over 130 speakers from across all aspects of the energy sector travelled to Hull for the two day conference on 5 and 6 November– attracting people from all corners of the UK and beyond.
The decarbonisation of the Humber also continued to be our focus. To mark the start of the Energy and Clean Growth Conference we published our Clean Growth White Paper, setting out our vision for a clean economy that not only protects jobs and industry in our region, but also fights climate change. We also published our Energy Strategy in February – setting out how we want to bring the benefits of the Energy Estuary to more communities across the region. (see page 8)
The Humber LEP continued to greatly influence the skills agenda across the region. The Skills Humber event, held with partners Hull City Council, saw over 3,500 young people and their families gather to find out more about their first steps on the careers ladder and employment and training paths in March. Meanwhile, we were successful in bidding for £3.25m in additional funding to provide new employment and skills support in the Humber from the European Social Fund (ESF) National Reserve Fund. (see page 9)
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We continued to invest the Local Growth Fund into infrastructure projects that made a difference in the region – including into several flood mitigation projects that were put to the test by the severe weather events of the year. Work continued on transport infrastructure schemes across the area to improve connectivity, into town centre regeneration and also on developing employment sites and business spaces. (see page 16)
The Humber Business Growth Hub had an active year, with the launch of its ScaleUp Business Development Programme in October 2019, its partnership with The Supply Chain Network in November 2019, and the launch of its Social Enterprise Accelerator in January 2020. The Growth Hub also played a central role in helping Humber businesses prepare for EU exit, and received funding from government to provide a dedicated EU exit support service, in the form of an “EU Exit Business Navigator”, augmented by masterclasses and clinics on key trading issues relating to EU exit. (see page 12)
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Strategy
During 2019/20 the Humber LEP worked with stakeholders across the region to develop a new strategy for the Humber’s growth, to take over from the successful 2014-2020 Strategic Economic Plan.
A prospectus for the Humber Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) was launched at the LEP’s AGM in June 2019, marketing the start of a period of further consultation.
Complementing this, an independent challenge panel of experts from outside the region was recruited to test our thinking and ensure our conclusions were valid. Chaired by Richard Gregory OBE, Senior Advisor to CYBG Plc, it included the former Chief Economist of MakeUK, the Chief Executive of RenewableUK, think tanks the Centre for Cities and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a former senior DECC official and the Chief Executive of the North West Business Leadership Team. The panel’s advice and deliberations added a huge amount of value to the process.
In July 2019 the then Business Secretary accelerated the production of the LIS, partly in response to the then insolvency of British Steel, and as a result an intensive period of work led to an ambitious completed strategy being signed off by Government departments that October.
The General Election called that month for December meant that publication of the strategy was postponed and it was ultimately overtaken by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the work Humber partners did to develop the focus of the next phase of the Humber Estuary’s development lives on and has been updated to form the basis of a new Humber Estuary Plan, due to be launched by the end of 2020.
The Estuary Plan will establish the priorities for continuing the Humber’s journey in clean growth and as the UK’s largest trading estuary for the years ahead – priorities that it is hoped will spur on the region’s economic recovery from Covid-19.
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Clean Growth
The launch of our industrial strategy prospectus in June 2019, which focused on decarbonisation of the region, was followed by our Clean Growth Local White Paper in November the same year.
Meanwhile, our Local Energy Strategy, published in February 2020, focused on how energy-saving solutions could be utilised in more homes and businesses.
The Humber Clean Growth Local White Paper confirmed the region’s ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, which had been proposed in the consultation the LEP launched at its annual business summit in June. Currently the Humber has the highest carbon emissions of any UK industrial cluster.
The Energy Strategy, developed by the LEP and stakeholders, will see a push to deliver cleaner and more diversified energy sources throughout the region, building on the industrial-scale clean energy generation being pioneered in the Energy Estuary.
We also welcomed developments from our partners who are working on creative proposals to decarbonise the Humber. We are currently working with our industry partners on projects such as Zero Carbon Humber, a carbon capture and storage scheme alongside Drax, CATCH, Equinor and National Grid; and Gigastack, an Industrial scale renewable hydrogen project between ITM Power, Ørsted, Phillips 66 Limited and Element Energy.
We also worked with CATCH to develop our successful bid for the first phase of the decarbonisation roadmap complete with £100,000 of funding from Innovate UK.
Alongside this, we worked with partners University of Hull as the construction of the Aura Innovation Centre was completed in October 2019, which was supported by a £4m European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) investment through the Humber European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Programme. The project is a facility focused on proactively promoting and supporting research and innovation in low carbon technologies as well as their adoption through the commercialisation of new and innovative low carbon products and services.
We also worked with the University of Hull creation of the Flood Innovation Centre. Work on the project, which received £1.8m ERDF from the Humber ESIF, began in April 2019 in response to climate change and a desire to drive forward innovative and commercial thinking in the flood resilience sector. The centre will support small and medium-sized businesses to develop new products and services to help with flood resilience.
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Employment and Skills
Close collaboration with a wide range of partners saw the Humber LEP lead on the Humber skills agenda by creating and expanding a number of innovative and far- reaching projects during 2019/2020.
One of these projects was the Humber Skills Gap Analysis. The Humber LEP commissioned the development of a dashboard and a data analysis report through Hatch Regeneris to support the requirements outlined for the development of the newly introduced Skills Advisory Panels, which in the LEP’s case are managed through the Employment and Skills Board (ESB).
The live Dashboard Analytical Tool includes key indicators and statistical information to support local decision-makers and stakeholders to understand the Humber skills environment, drawing on the latest public information from a wide range of employment and skills resources. This data is being used by the Humber LEP ESB to identify existing and future skills gaps and employment priorities relevant to the Humber.
Throughout the year, we used the analysis to take part in data ‘deep dives’ – creating an accurate picture of the skills landscape in the Humber, which informed our employment and skills work at the LEP and the development of future strategy.
We also continued to work in partnership with the Careers and Enterprise Company, with our Employer Enterprise Advisors working at a strategic level with schools to embed excellence in careers advice and activities. We have 56 employers currently partnered with schools to ensure students receive the best quality information, education, advice and guidance to help them make informed decisions on their futures.
Meanwhile, our Careers Hub also went from strength to strength. The Hub had received its latest results from the CEC showing the Hub is operating at 4.9 out of 8 – with the national average being 4.7 out of 8. Out of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks, the Hub is outperforming the national average in six specific areas.
We have now supported a total of 32 institutions achieve the Quality in Careers Standard. As one of only 11 national licensed awarding bodies which can award the Standard, as well as being the only LEP to achieve this licence, we have continued to work with education and training partners to create higher standards in Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance, linking labour market intelligence to young people to help them decide on future career options. In March 2020, our second Skills Humber event, sponsored by the LEP and Hull City Council, saw over 4,000 visitors seeking labour market information to make informed careers choices.
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The LEP was also successful in bidding for an additional £3.25m funding to provide new services across the employment and skills sector in the Humber from the European Social Fund (ESF) National Reserve Fund. Informed by the ESIF Sub Committee, these investments are set to support projects including additional support in the workforce for those aged 50 plus, mental health support for employers, improved digital skills and leadership training.
Meanwhile, our Local Growth Fund allocation was used to support a number of skills projects across the Humber region with a ring-fenced Skills Capital allocation. To the year-end, £8.23m had been allocated to supporting capital investments that enhance the skills offer in the Humber.
Funding commitments in 2019/20 included £0.2m towards the National Skills Centre for Process and Renewable Industries at CATCH, £1.36m for Constructing Future Growth, £0.47m towards the Engineering Future Growth programme at East Riding College, and £0.3m for the Humber Energy Academy.
Our Employment and Skills Board and specialist working groups continued to set ambitious but achievable targets. The creation of the new Economic Inclusion Group, which brings together the former 50+ working group and the Health and Social Care working group, focusses on subjects including long-term unemployment, disabilities, mental health and youth unemployment.
During 2019/20, the ESB was involved in the creation of a one year pilot Local Digital Skills Partnership which has now come to fruition. This partnership will look at short-term priorities for the region to help drive digital confidence and good practice in the business community.
At the end of the 2019/20 year, the impact of the coronavirus had started to affect employment levels in the Humber. As a result of this, the LEP worked with the Education Development Trust, National Careers Service local provider and the Department of Work and Pensions to develop the Humber Jobs Fuse – connecting those who had been made redundant with careers advisors while advertising vacancies for businesses with staff shortages.
It is vital that at this challenging time we work together to deliver the best possible skills and educational training to support people into sustainable work. Case studies
National Skills Centre for Process and Renewable Industries:
Industry membership organisation Catch was supported with £195,750 LGF to support a capital investment programme across the site to expand the existing industrial scale process plant, plus other improvements to the learner experience. It included the installation of a modernised Tank Farm training facility where people can practise working in control rooms and process operations, as well as investing in their Working at Height facilities to allow advance rescue, enhanced first aid and other training courses to be delivered.
The continued investment in the Catch training facilities means that they are well placed to meet identified skills gaps within the high energy using and energy producing sectors.
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Humber Healthcare Academy:
Grimsby Institute for Higher Education continues to grow its Humber Healthcare Academy facilities following an investment of £199,733 from the Local Growth Fund.
Once complete the academy will provide industry standard simulated teaching wards, equipped with innovative digital technology and modern teaching and learning resources, dental suite and clinical laboratories, paving the way for expansion in HE and FE provision. This will enable the Institute to develop and expand training for Nursing, Community and Adult Social Care and Dental Care for new labour market entrants as well as offering CPD for existing practitioners.
Humber Careers Hub:
The Humber region is leading the way in careers education – with a report showing the Humber Careers Hub operating well above the national average. The Humber Careers Hub was one of the initial 20 careers hubs set up by the Government in 2018 in partnership with the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC).
The Hub has 26 schools across the Humber and has built up a network of Careers Leaders in schools and colleges, assisted by Enterprise Advisors from industries across the region. The Hub received its latest results from the CEC showing the Hub is operating at 4.9 out of 8 – with the national average only 4.8 out of 8. Out of eight benchmarks, the hub is outperforming the national average in six areas.
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Business
The Humber LEP provided support to our region’s businesses to help them flourish and grow in the year 2019/20.
The Humber Business Growth Hub went from strength to strength, with almost 3,000 businesses supported by the Hub in the 12-month period.
Overall, 2,972 businesses received either light, medium or high intensity support from the Hub from April 2019 – March 2020, which was an increase of 149 businesses from the year before. In addition, businesses that worked with the Growth Hub in 2019-20 were able to go on to secure £7.1m of private sector investment to enable their growth plans.
The Growth Hub continued to support businesses through its dedicated growth product for SMEs – the #GrowMySME Programme. Over the course of the year, #GrowMySME operated 62 workshops across a range of business topics including access to finance, digital tech adoption, and business growth support, which were attended by 548 businesses overall. #GrowMySME also awarded numerous grants to SMEs to help them pursue growth-related projects, with 76 grants awarded to support businesses with the adoption of advanced digital technology, 28 grants awarded to assist businesses to become more investment ready, and 14 grants awarded to help businesses overcome barriers to growth. These grants totalled £491,600 of funding to Humber SMEs, which in turn unlocked a further £737,398 of private investment in these business growth activities.
The Growth Hub also launched several additional schemes to support our businesses, including the ‘ScaleUp’ Business Development Programme, which was launched in October 2019 and provides bespoke & intensive support to scaleup businesses, as well as the launch of the Humber Social Enterprise Accelerator in January 2019, which aims to support the growth of organisations in the region’s not-for-profit community. Moreover, the Growth Hub entered into partnership with The Supply Chain Network in November 2019, which will enable SMEs throughout the region to access specialist advice and guidance about maximising their business opportunities via increased knowledge and access to supply chains across multiple sectors.
At the end of the LEP’s business year in March 2020, coronavirus and the lockdown had begun to affect businesses across our region, and the Growth Hub pivoted its services to begin supporting SMEs affected
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– including ensuring its ICT for Growth grants were available to businesses needing to move their operations to home working.
Our other support schemes continue to support businesses across the Humber. Our Growing the Humber capital grant programme, managed in conjunction with North East Lincolnshire Council, reached full programme commitment in March 2020.
During 2019/20, the programme allocated £3.69m to projects, with 145 jobs created as a result of investments during the year. Investment from this programme included £400k to Birkdale Manufacturing Ltd in Scunthorpe, which supported relocation to a larger premises to meet increased business demand. The funding aided refurbishment, fit-out costs and additional machinery.
Meanwhile Advanced Plastics in Hull received £200k to support the extension of existing premises, to create additional warehousing capacity that will enable the main factory building to accommodate increased manufacturing activity.
In terms of the Local Growth Fund, part of the Government’s commitment to the Northern Powerhouse, 2019/20 saw the LEP Board commit £1.29m to Phase 3 of @theDock in Hull (which is now nearing completion), and £2.2m to the Humber High Street Challenge Fund.
The LEP’s revolving Business Loan Fund continued to support local businesses, with a £750k loan approved to ResQ to support the company’s move to new premises and increase capacity to fulfil a big new contract, while work also progressed on a multi-storey car park in Hull’s Fruit Market supported with £1.2m from the Business Loan Fund.
Business loans continue to be available via the LEP to support projects and unlock development. At the year end, £11.8m loans had been awarded since start of programme, with £3.4m repaid.
Meanwhile, the Business Development Board continued to meet regularly, supporting the development of key business sectors and the co-ordination of business support, and leading on our business engagement strategy. By year-end, the Board had allocated a cumulative £18m in Local Growth Fund funding to various projects.
In January 2020 eight new members, all prominent figures in the Humber’s business community, joined the Board - taking a role shaping the LEP’s priorities in how best to support the region’s many companies – 98 per cent of which are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The Better Business for All Humber partnership continues to bring together local regulators, economic development practitioners and business organisations to help communicate with and support local SMEs more effectively across the region. Recent examples include how to manage business operations during Covid-19 lockdowns.
The Humber Professionals Group was set up by the Humber LEP during the year to ensure local businesses get the professional support they need to thrive and grow in the region. With representatives from the banking sector, financial institutions, accountants and solicitors, the group provides an invaluable feedback mechanism on current client needs and in turn helps inform future economic, fiscal and legal policy development.
Overseas relationships are vital for the region that features the largest ports by volume in the UK. The Humber LEP has been keen to promote the area for international trade and has been working with the
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Northern Powerhouse’s DIT team to define the offer and promote the inward investment and trade opportunities overseas through initiatives such as the Chemicals High Performance Offer for the Saltend Chemicals Park. Equally, the Humber is actively pursuing the opportunity to develop a Humber Freeport which would add significant value to the local manufacturing and assembly sectors.
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), delivered by British Business Bank with funds earmarked by LEPs, has now invested a total of £21m across more than 45 transactions in the Humber region since 2017.
NPIF, which has been investing, delivering equity finance, debt finance, and microfinance solutions ranging in size from £25,000 to £2m to businesses in the region, works closely with the Humber LEP and Growth Hub.
The total £21m invested includes £8m directly from the Fund itself, along with a further £13m leveraged from the private sector. Recent investments include LiveLead, which received a £250,000 investment from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance. Case studies:
Danish Buildings:
Following a £250k LGF investment, work was substantively completed on Danish Buildings and the adjoining Grade II listed Bayles House. Allenby Commercial converted the buildings into 17 creative business studios which have been successfully let to architects, film-makers, marketing professionals, tattooists, hair stylists and others. Not only has it supported the regeneration of an important building in the Old Town, it has also supported the creation of new office space and enabled start-ups and existing businesses to grow their operations in a city centre location, providing a much-needed boost to Hull’s riverside area.
ScaleUp Programme Launched:
Eleven business leaders representing six SMEs attended the first ‘onboarding’ session of the #GrowMySME ScaleUp Business Development Programme in January. Focusing on ‘Developing a Visionary Strategy’, the session saw businesses from the Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Digital Technology, Telecommunications, Engineering, and Fabrication sectors develop their three-year ‘orbit’ diagrams, which will help them to articulate what their plans are, and how they are going to implement them, in order to create a game-changing strategy to scale-up their business. Emma Waudby, Sales & Marketing Manager of
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Hull-based telecoms company Cobus Ltd said: ”I really enjoyed the first session. It’s been beneficial to take the time away from the office to look at our growth plans and to start to formulate a plan. I’m looking forward to working & developing it more and seeing the results.”
KV Transfix:
A Growing the Humber grant helped the Driffield-based parts company to purchase innovative new equipment, which supported them to become a more successful and competitive business and allowed them to grow as a company.
A £42,000 grant enabled the company to buy in their own laser, which gave them more control over what parts they could create in-house and helped them produce the exact parts they needed. It also helped them provide those parts to their customers in a more cost-effective way.
The company employed six new staff members after receiving the new machinery.
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Infrastructure
From road improvements and housing construction to new flood defences, during 2019/20 the Humber LEP supported our partners to deliver vital infrastructure projects to help the Humber’s economic prospects and unlock future growth.
The LEP’s Growth Deal programme supports infrastructure projects across the Humber, led by local authorities and businesses. £6.65m was committed to new infrastructure projects over the course of the 2019/20 financial year, while existing projects continued to deliver.
This includes funding commitments to projects such as the Brough Relief Road, which received an allocation of £3.26m. This project is an essential piece of infrastructure that links the new Brough South Development with the western side of Brough while also providing a new access for the Humber Enterprise Park Enterprise Zone site.
In Hull, the Development of Priory Park project was allocated £1.44m, which is designed to facilitate the development of the remaining 12 acres of land at Henry Boot Way in West Hull. The funding will facilitate the introduction of highway improvements to mitigate the impact of the predicted development traffic and will minimise the potential accident risk.
The fund also supports the continuation of the regeneration of central Cleethorpes with commitment of £1m funding to maximise employment and retail opportunities from an improved visitor offer. This project will strengthen the role of Cleethorpes town centre as the key driver of the visitor economy in North East Lincolnshire and will support efforts to encourage urban living.
This year also saw the completion of the Delivering Housing Growth 1 programme, sponsored by Hull City Council. This project, funded with £10m from the LEP’s Local Growth Fund allocation, saw the completion of 924 new housing units, with 806 construction jobs and 118 apprenticeships created as part of the project to provide quality and affordable housing across the city.
Significant progress had been made on delivering the Humber Enterprise Zone, the biggest nationally. This has played a key role in delivering the Energy Estuary and has supported large-scale investments into the area. The Enterprise Zones had developed, and continues to develop a pipeline of good quality sites which will contribute to driving the economic growth in the future.
By the end of 2019/20, 43 companies had located on Enterprise Zone sites across the Humber since their inception, creating 1,806 jobs on the sites.
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Progress was also being made on developments on some of the largest Enterprise Zone sites which will help to drive economic recovery post Covid-19. These include:
Development was well progressed on Croda’s £7m distribution facility at Goole Junction 36. Construction is almost complete on the 232,000sq.ft warehouse and office building with fit out due to follow Good progress was being made on the Siemens Mobility Factory and Phase One of the RaisE Innovation and Business Centre. Planning permission has been gained for both projects and detailed design is underway for both. The Innovation Centre was allocated gap funding in the Get Britain Building Fund. At Melton, Humberside police are on site with development of an extension to their existing headquarters, and plans are progressing with the owner of the site to develop a range of spec build units and parkway rail station for the site. Work is progressing well on Arco’s new HQ on the land off Blackfriargate next to C4DI. As part of the South Humber Industrial Investment Programme, infrastructure development continued to provide a new roundabout and road access at the Stallingborough Interchange, alongside new utilities, including a new substation. An anchor tenant was identified for the business park to occupy a 15,500 sqft factory, the first building to be constructed at the site, the delivery of which is supported witha £0.95m LGF investment.
Established in 2014, the Single Conversation Group brings together the four Humber local authorities and a range of statutory agencies and utilities companies involved in planning and development. The group meets to address major projects and developments across the region, with the purpose of working collaboratively to overcome challenges and barriers to delivery of these projects and ensuring that these projects can contribute to the economic development of the Humber area. This group is a unique service provided to businesses currently operating or locating in the Humber area, being the only group of its kind in operation in the UK.
In its five years of activity, the Single Conversation Group has assisted over seventy projects in the Humber.
During 2019/20 the group offered support to Yorkshire Energy Park, cumulating in them successfully gaining planning permission for their development to the north of Saltend Chemicals Park in the East Riding; assisting Siemens Mobility in achieving planning permission for the Goole site of their new factory facility; and offering ongoing assistance to a range of other large scale industrial developers in the region. Case studies:
Holderness Drain:
Work has continued on the Holderness Drain scheme, which has seen investment of £2.14m as part of the River Hull Integrated Catchment Strategy (RHICS); a suite of schemes designed to improve flood resilience across Hull and East Yorkshire. The project covers two sites; East Hull Pumping Station and the Castle Hill flood storage area.
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The scheme will reduce the flood risk to hundreds of properties and large areas of land in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Once complete, the scheme will deliver flood storage areas mixed with environmental improvements, providing greater public access areas with open spaces, woodland and grassland. A network of new paths will connect with the existing routes to increase access and community contact.
A180 South Humber Bank Highway Improvements:
A £2.6m LGF investment supported essential maintenance and improvement works on Moody Lane, Woad Lane and Gilbey Road, key access routes to major employment sites in Grimsby.
Works included reconstruction and resurfacing to improve the condition of the road and footpath along Moody Lane and Woad Lane; creation of an off-road shared foot and cycleway between Gilbey Road roundabout and Woad Lane to link to the existing routes at Estate Road 1 and Gilbey Road; carriage and footway resurfacing on Gilbey Road; and installation of an additional lane on the approach to Westgate roundabout on Moody Lane and street lighting renewal. The scheme will provide a number of benefits for businesses and employees in these areas, including improved local travel to work times and options for safe and sustainable travel by cycling and walking.
Delivering Housing Growth (1):
Phase 1 of Hull’s Delivering Housing Growth scheme is now complete and the scheme has delivered 924 new build homes and 270 empty homes brought back into use across the HU9 and HU6 areas of Hull (Ganstead, Portobello, Southcoates, Maybury, Milldane and Ings).
Hull’s housing-led renewal programme incorporates many private, community sector and registered provider partners to achieve housing improvements across the city and has resulted in 922 construction jobs and 188 apprenticeships being achieved.
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Governance and Transparency
During 2019/20 the Humber LEP continued to uphold its high standards of governance and transparency, with further improvements made.
Governance We are committed to open and transparent recruitment, and attracting the best candidates to add the greatest value to our Board. This year we established a Board member panel to review our recruitment approach and the actions required to ensure a high-performing diverse Board.
As the panel recommended, our Board also appointed its first Equality and Diversity Champion this year.
Our Audit Committee meets regularly and reports to our Board. It reviews the findings of our accountable body’s internal audit team, and the process of external audits undertaken annually on Growth Deal projects to provide assurance to the LEP and accountable body.
The LEP maintains a comprehensive Risk Register, which is reviewed and revised by the Audit Committee, including considering mitigating measures, and reported on to the Board.
We have continued to iteratively improve our Board and sub-board reporting on programmes to ensure accountability for progress and well-informed decision-making by members. We have now extended the custom dashboards we introduced last year to cover outputs as well as spend.
We also continue to use Project Review Meetings and inviting project managers to attend sub-board meetings where issues arise on projects.
Our Board, sub-board and other members are committed to upholding high standards of integrity in line with the Nolan Principles, and our Member Code of Conduct applies to all individuals participating in the LEP structure. The Register of Interests is maintained and the need to declare interests is reinforced at Board and sub-board meetings, with a standard agenda item.
Our Board and sub-boards were actively involved in shaping our Local Industrial Strategy and have ownership of it.
Transparency The LEP Chief Executive and others regularly participate in local authority scrutiny commissions.
During 2019/20 we consulted and engaged widely to shape our Local Industrial Strategy, including publishing a Prospectus at our AGM on 5 June. This was another very well attended event which received excellent feedback from attendees. We also hold a variety of other forums throughout the year for engagement and consultation, and regularly speak at business membership organisations’ committees and events.
For detailed information on projects we have supported, Board papers and other key documents, please see our website at www.humberlep.org/assurance/transparency/
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About the Humber LEP
The Humber LEP is driving growth of the Humber for the benefit of our communities. The strength of our partnership lies in our collaborative approach.
There are many ways to get involved with the LEP:
Come to one of our LEP events for the latest updates and to contribute your ideas. Register for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter @HumberLEP and YouTube. Look out for project or funding calls in our newsletter, on our Twitter @HumberLEP and our website www.humberlep.org Support a young person’s career by becoming an Enterprise Advisor: www.humberlep.org/skills/careers-enterprise-company Get support through our Business Growth Hub at www.humbergrowthhub.org
T: +44 (0) 1482 485260
Twitter: @HumberLEP
W: www.humberlep.org
Humber Local Enterprise Partnership
47 Queen Street, Hull, HU1 1UU, UK
Humber LEP Ltd registered office:
The Guildhall, Hull, HU1 2AA
Company no. 07988601 registered in England and Wales
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Our Board
The following were members of the Humber LEP Board during 2019/20:
Business: Darren Cunningham - Philips 66
Chair (to 1 May 2020), Lord Haskins Ian Plunkett - PwC UK (Co-opted member)
Interim Chair (from 1 May 2020), Chair Kirsten Bolton – Willerby Ltd Investment and Regulation Board – Stephen Parnaby OBE
Vice Chair – Tim Rix CBE - JR Rix & Sons Local Authority:
Vice Chair; Chair, Employment and Skills Board; Councillor Richard Burton – East Riding of and Chair, Marketing Strategy Group – Stephen Yorkshire Council Savage - Lincolnshire Housing Partnership Councillor Stephen Brady OBE - Hull City Council
Chair, Business Development Board – Dr Paul Councillor Rob Waltham MBE - North Lincolnshire Sewell OBE - Sewell Group Council
Chair, Humber LEP Area ESIF Committee – Councillor John Fenty - North East Lincolnshire Isobel Mills CBE - formerly Department of Council Business Innovation and Skills
Chair, Investment Panel – David Kilburn - MKM Building Supplies (Co-opted member) Education:
Small Business Champion – Jo Smedley, Red Professor Susan Lea - University of Hull Herring Games Anne Tyrrell - DN Colleges Group Simon Bird - ABP Sallyann Garrard Hughes - Engineering Brendan Conlan - On Line Design & Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB)
For links to further information and case studies visit www.humberlep.org/annualreview
21 Humber Local Enterprise Partnership Annual Review
Annual Accounts
Alongside our Annual Review, we have published full details of our expenditure in 2019/20.
Key financial information is summarised below. For readability, all appendices are available as separate PDFs at www.humberlep.org/annualreview
Summary of key information
The total amount of funds within the LEP’s direction or control at the start and end of the financial year
Revenue Capital Total £’m £’m £’m Balance b/f 1.26 21.94 23.20 Income in year 1.67 11.14 12.82 Expenditure in year (1.93) (18.53) (20.46) Balance c/f 1.00 14.55 15.55
The total amounts committed by the LEP to external organisations through grants and risk finance (loans, equity, guarantees and quasi-equity)
Grants through the Local Growth Fund are shown in Appendices 2a and 2b, and loans through the Business Loan Fund (Growing Places Fund) are in Appendix 3. Full details of all grant and loan recipients are available on our website via www.humberlep.org/assurance/transparency/
The total amounts committed to suppliers to purchase goods, works or services
Details are in Appendix 5. We also publish all transactions via our accountable body from £0.01 upwards – see www.humberlep.org/assurance/transparency/
The total amounts incurred in running the LEP (for example salary costs, lease payments and expenses)
The core budget for 2019/20 was £700,000 (£500,000 from BEIS and £50,000 each from the four Humber local authorities). Full details are set out at Appendix 1.
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