Autumn Statement 2015

David Owen, Chief Executive of GFirst LEP commented on today’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review: “The Chancellor’s announcement yesterday brought good news to Gloucestershire’s business landscape with the national debt falling and our economy growing faster than any other major economy in the world, with the South West having the highest employment rate in England.

David Owen, Chief Executive of GFirst LEP commented on today’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review: “The Chancellor’s announcement yesterday brought good news to Gloucestershire’s business landscape with the national debt falling and our economy growing faster than any other major economy in the world, with the South West having the highest employment rate in England.

The Chancellor said during his statement said he wants to put our national security first and recently announced during a visit to Cheltenham’s GCHQ the creation of a new cyber innovation centre in Cheltenham. This is promising news for the local job market, and will hugely complement the new cyber security training centre that has been allocated £3million from GFirst LEP in the Gloucestershire Growth Deal, to be built at the Gloucestershire renewable energy, engineering and nuclear skills centre at Berkeley.

The Chancellor made it clear that Government are keen to hand back power to local communities in his speech; encouraging news for Gloucestershire’s work towards devolution. Our bid for devolution outlines how Gloucestershire would benefit from the simplification of decision making from devolved powers, and where we can utilise the opportunities that arise to lead business support and growth in Gloucestershire. We are in a great position to draw on the strength of relationships between the Local Enterprise Partnership and local businesses, as well as work towards further work streams included in the bid; transport and infrastructure, health and social care and community safety. We hope to hear more on Gloucestershire’s devolution bid in the coming months.       

To create a stronger Gloucestershire we need to continue to work with the thriving business community in the county. Over the last three weeks we’ve been engaging closely with Gloucestershire’s businesses through a series of local networking events; bringing over 250 local business people together to learn more about local projects, and giving them the opportunity to make business connections locally. These connections will help us to push for growth in our economy - to play a part in the evolution of our county, find out more about becoming a GL Ambassador for your Local Enterprise Partnership.