The Enterprise

The Enterprise & Business Growth Strategy for the Liverpool City Region 2008 - 2013

THE ENTERPRISE AND BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGY FOR THE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION 2008 – 2013 A FINAL STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN TO THE MERSEY PARTNERSHIP

Contents

Introductions.............................................................................................................1

Context .....................................................................................................................4

Business Situation..................................................................................................10

The Strategic Framework ......................................................................................22

The Action Areas....................................................................................................31

Monitoring and evaluation......................................................................................33

Annex A: Detailed Action Areas……………………………………………………A-1

A separate Evidence Report designed to accompany this Strategy document is available from The Mersey Partnership. www.merseyside.org.uk This document has been produced in partnership with

THE ENTERPRISE AND BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGY FOR THE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION 2008 – 2013

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Introductions 1.1 A new shared commitment to wealth creation and prosperity

The Liverpool City Region is a key economic engine for the North West of England. The local economy supports just under 590,000 direct jobs, and is estimated to contribute almost £21 billion1 in overall GVA terms. Crucially, it houses a growing number of first-rate knowledge, and research and development (R&D) assets including science parks, business incubation facilities, universities and hospitals.

This Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy and Action Plan sets out a clear commitment from local public, private and third sector partners over the next five years for the Liverpool City Region to realise its true wealth-creating potential. Through further collaboration, and a renewed sense of optimism and ambition, we will consolidate the progress made over recent years and ensure that the Liverpool City Region repositions itself as an internationally competitive business environment in an increasingly global economy.

We are fully aware of the challenges that we face – competitor city regions across the world are also investing heavily in order to preserve and bolster their economic futures. Equally, the speed of technical change is increasing by the day, markets are becoming ever more dynamic, competition is sharpening, and the ingredients for economic success are proving harder to assemble. However, despite these well documented challenges, the overarching enterprise goal for the Liverpool City Region is a simple one; namely, to increase its rate of economic growth by:

Growing the business base through increased business start-ups and improved survival rates

Supporting local business growth and expansion

Increasing local business productivity levels.

1.2 Setting the scene

In October 2007, SQW Consulting (SQW) was commissioned by The Mersey Partnership (TMP) to assist with the development of an Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy for the Liverpool City Region2 to cover the period 2008-2013. This document sets out the new strategic framework and

1 The Liverpool City Region socio-economic projections report produced by Cambridge Econometrics and SQW Consulting states that, by 2008, the Merseyside GVA figure will be £20,885 million (using 2004 base data). 2 The Liverpool City Region in the context of this study refers only to the six local authorities in Merseyside – namely: Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral.

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a set of action areas and it is intended to catalyse and shape the activities of all stakeholders as they work together to bring about economic success for all of the City Region’s businesses and communities.

Based in evidence (see the main Evidence Report for further details) and guided by extensive consultation, the Strategy has been prepared in order to make the Liverpool City Region a more enterprising, prosperous and attractive business environment over the next five years. It has intentionally been designed with flexibility in-mind – providing a route map with which to direct, manage and shape our economy and, at the same time, allowing us to respond assertively to fresh challenges as they emerge. Although the Strategy is intended to provide stability and a common reference point for stakeholders, it is designed with flexibility to respond to changing circumstances and to the different needs of those places that make up the City Region. Further, the Strategy has been intelligently designed so as to complement the good work that is already ongoing across our area, whilst also highlighting those strategic gaps that need to be addressed.

Although the focus of the Strategy is on wealth creation, it is has been developed for all of our diverse community groups. Indeed, it is crucial that our strategy is well-aligned with, and contributes to, emerging wider regional and national thinking on these important business agendas.

1.3 Elements of the Strategy

Framework Architecture The key components of the Strategy are as follows:

A Vision that describes our five year enterprise and business growth intent

Three high-level Strategic Aims which define the objectives that the Strategy is seeking to achieve

Within each Strategic Aim, a series of Operational Aims which characterise the broad areas of activity that will be implemented under the guide of the Strategy in order to deliver against the three Strategic Aims

Four Cross-cutting Themes which are designed to run across the Strategy, establishing a culture for, and directly conditioning the achievement and delivery of, the Strategic/Operational Aims and the actions that they subsequently give rise to

A set of indicative action areas as part of an evolving Action Plan, which we will go forward with over the next five years in order to deliver our strategy.

The remainder of this strategy document is structured as follows:


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Section 2 sets out the strategic context within which the Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy will operate

Section 3 defines the enterprise and wider business growth challenges that the Liverpool City Region faces and which will need to be addressed if our communities are to prosper economically

Section 4 describes our Vision for enterprise and business growth, and the Strategic Aims, Operational Aims and Cross-cutting Themes needed to deliver this

Section 5 provides a series of indicative action areas that are designed to translate the strategic commitments into operational activity on the ground

Finally, in Section 6, we provide our thinking on how we will track our progress over the next five years in delivering the step change in performance that our strategy calls for.


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Context 2.1 Policy landscape

Unfortunately, our Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy cannot be implemented in isolation. Rather, it must respond to, and be influenced by, other strategies and activities being progressed by partners at national, regional, and sub-regional levels. Understanding the strategic positioning of the Strategy relative to this existing thinking, as summarised in the graphic below, is therefore an important influence on our Framework. Additionally, the existing policy landscape has provided us with a wealth of valuable information relating to the key business start-up and growth drivers which, in turn, have helped to shape and develop our thinking.

Figure 2-1 below illustrates the complex strategic context within which the Strategy sits. It is important to be aware of the linkages across geographical levels – for example, between Multi-Area Agreements (MAAs) and Local Area Agreements (LAAs) – as well as the agendas on skills and employment and innovation, which are key developments running in parallel to the Strategy.

Figure 2-1: Strategic Context for the Liverpool City Region Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy

Source: SQW Consulting

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2.2 The growing importance of enterprise and business growth

At the core of the Strategy is the acknowledgement of the pressing need to deliver a step change in the scale of enterprise and business activity across the Liverpool City Region. The development of enterprise and high growth businesses are already identified as key priorities in the current Action Plan for the Liverpool City Region 2008-20113. Further, they are key priorities for the wider North West region, as highlighted in the Regional Economic Strategy4, and through the Regional Enterprise Strategy.

The economic and social benefits of increased enterprise and a successful business base have been illustrated through national policy documents, in particular the recently published National Enterprise Strategy5. This seeks to provide the context and drive to make the UK the most enterprising economy in the world and the best place to start and grow a business, using five ‘enablers’ of enterprise as key policy instruments. Enterprise is also recognised as one of HM Treasury’s five Drivers of Productivity6, alongside the other four drivers, namely: Skills, Innovation, Investment and Competitive Markets.

In situating the Strategy, particular reference needs to be made to the two Local Enterprise Growth Initiatives (LEGIs) operational in Merseyside – in Sefton/Liverpool (StepClever) and St Helens. These are spatially-targeted initiatives providing a significant amount of investment into enterprise development activities in their respective areas. In terms of this Strategy, they offer potential to ‘roll out’ successful schemes across Merseyside and to share any emerging good practice lessons.

The final report of the Merseyside Entrepreneurship Commission (MEC)7 is a further policy document at the sub-regional level which highlights what needs to be done to stimulate, promote and develop an entrepreneurial culture within our City Region. Paramount among its many recommendations is the need to deliver the best education and support to young entrepreneurs locally. With the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture being an important aspect of this Strategy, the key recommendations contained in the MEC report will be taken on board during its implementation.

2.3 Being alert to the value-added imperative

Encouraging enterprise activity and the growth of the business base is undoubtedly important for the long-term future of the economy. Taken alone, however, it will not be enough to ensure that businesses in the

3 This document can be provided on request from The Mersey Partnership. 4 The Northwest RES is available at www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/RES06v2.pdf 5 Enterprise: unlocking the UK’s talent, HM Treasury (March 2008). Available at www.berr.gov.uk/files/file44992.pdf 6 See www.berr.gov.uk/about/economics-statistics/economics-directorate/page21913.html and www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consultations_and_legislation/productivity_indicators/consult_productivity_ indicators_index.cfm for more information on the five drivers. 7 U can make it in Merseyside: Final Report, Merseyside Entrepreneurship Commission (December 2005).


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Liverpool City Region will prosper in the global economy. Increasingly, business development needs to be focused on high value-added activities. This is at the forefront of economic policy aspirations at all geographical levels, starting (at the highest level) from the Lisbon Agenda of the European Union.

The Strategy must contribute towards increasing the level of Gross Value Added (GVA) in the Liverpool City Region and be able to demonstrate how its measures will contribute to this. Indeed, under the terms of the Sub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR), raising GVA per capita is to become the single over-arching regional growth objective, supported by raising the rate of business start-ups8. Nevertheless, by referring to high value-added activities, we are not discriminating against those less glamorous sectors such as manufacturing and processing industries, which currently play an important role in our economy. Rather, we are being clear that our economic activities must over time be geared towards reducing the GVA deficit with our competitors.

Developing, broadening and selling our knowledge base. . . The imperative of growing knowledge-intensive and internationally competitive economies lies at the very heart of European, national, regional, sub-regional and local policy aspirations. In this context, and as suggested earlier, it is vital that in the Liverpool City Region business growth becomes increasingly focused on those higher value-added sectors that will prosper most in the global economy over the longer-term and contribute to addressing the Liverpool City Region’s GVA gap9.

To remain competitive and productive, the Liverpool City Region must build on and promote its key knowledge assets, including the universities, science parks, incubation facilities, hospitals and high value-added companies. A particular focus for growth will be Liverpool’s emerging ‘knowledge quarter’. Our defined priority sectors must also be supported (e.g. through The Mersey Partnership’s Sector Development Programme). In terms of sectoral priorities, it is crucial that, at all levels, the priorities for Liverpool City Region are well evidenced, agreed and fully understood by all.

Embracing the innovation agenda. . . Closely related to this is the innovation agenda – the need for higher levels of innovation and R&D to support economic growth. In this respect, the recently published White Paper on Innovation10 is a key guiding document at

8 See Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration, HM Treasury (July 2007). Available at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/9/5/subnational_econ_review170707.pdf 9 See under Section 3 of either this report or the Evidence Report for a discussion of the Liverpool City Region’s GVA gap with the North West and UK. 10 Innovation Nation, DIUS (March 2008). Available at www.dius.gov.uk/publications/ScienceInnovation.pdf


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the national level. The relationship of science to innovation is also important, as reflected in the North West Science Strategy 2007-201011.

Equipping the City Region with the right skills for employment. . . The Strategy will also need to ensure close synergy with the skills and employment agenda as this will impact on how much value-added activity can be expanded within the Liverpool City Region. As the Leitch Review of Skills12 has recognised, it is becoming increasingly important that workers, at all levels, improve their skills as this will ultimately lead to higher productivity, the creation of wealth and social justice. Importantly, economies must have higher-level skills as these are required to drive improvements in leadership, management and innovation.

At the sub-regional level, the City Employment Strategy (CES) will be the key driver behind improvements in the skill levels of our workforce.

2.4 National policy developments

Crucial to the success of this Strategy are two key policy developments being introduced at the national level – these are the Business Support Simplification Programme (BSSP) and the Sub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR).

The simplification of business support. . . The most crucial policy development occurring at the national level in terms of the provision of business support is the BSSP13. This programme introduces measures to simplify business support provision across England, ensuring that it better meets the needs of businesses and is easier to understand and access by customers.

The new model of business support provision is based around ‘products’ with the commitment that by 2010, less than 100 products in total will be on offer in the ‘product portfolio’, delivered by a range of respected providers. The Strategy will align with and seek to add value to the BSSP’s portfolio of products14. Under the BSSP arrangements, Business Link will become the primary access channel for business advice and support.

Key changes to sub-national economic development activity. . . The Strategy has been developed in light of the key reforms being introduced through the SNR15 process, as these will significantly alter the landscape of economic development and regeneration policy-making and

11 Northwest Science Strategy 2007-2010, NWDA (April 2007). Available to download from www.northwestscience.co.uk/pages/index.php?page_id=1206 12 Prosperity for all in the global economy – world class skills, HM Treasury (December 2006). Available at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/6/4/leitch_finalreport051206.pdf 13 There is a webpage for the BSSP at www.berr.gov.uk/bbf/simplifying-business-support/page44805.html 14 See Section 2 of the Evidence Report for a full list of these products. 15 Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration, HM Treasury (July 2007). Available at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/9/5/subnational_econ_review170707.pdf


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delivery in England. Crucially, the reforms are based on the principle that the delivery of economic development and sustainable growth objectives should occur at ‘the most appropriate’ spatial level.

Under these changes, the Regional Development Agencies’ roles will become more tightly focused on defining strategy at the regional level, with the delivery of objectives delegated where appropriate. It also means that local authorities will be supported to work together through sub-regional partnerships to tackle shared issues. To this end, the development of a Multi Area Agreement (MAA) for Merseyside will be significant in bringing together economic development priorities at the sub-regional level. Its relationship with the new individual Local Area Agreements will be complementary and not hierarchical.

Further, the review outlines the government’s commitment to empower local authorities to promote economic development and neighbourhood renewal. Importantly, there will be greater flexibility, stronger partnership working and co-operation from other agencies, and greater incentives for achieving economic growth and for ensuring disadvantaged areas benefit from and contribute to economic development.

Additionally, the government has proposed that local authorities will be required to analyse the economic circumstances and challenges of their local economy. This will help them to develop a clear economic vision and to provide strong leadership. The role of the Regional Development Agencies will also evolve, as they focus more on supporting economic growth and giving them a greater role in meeting business support needs to help simplify the number of schemes down to no more than 100 by 2010.

2.5 Not forgetting other wider developments

Global economic changes. . . The Liverpool City Region is not an economy in isolation – in an increasingly globalised world it is absolutely critical that businesses in the city region are able to effectively respond to the challenges posed by global economic change and, at the same time, to take advantage of the opportunities it brings16.

Less EU funding. . . Finally, decision-makers in the sub-region17 will also need to adapt to the significant reduction in ERDF funding being administered through the Investment Frameworks of the North West Operational Programme

16 As stated in the paper Long-term opportunities and challenges for the UK: Analysis for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, HM Treasury (November 2006). Available at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/6/F/csr_longterm271106.pdf 17 The sub-region in this context refers to the former Objective 1 region of Merseyside which does not include Halton and contains Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.


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(NWOP)18 – this will directly affect the level of capital and revenue funding available for the provision of business support activities.

However, local authorities in the Liverpool City Region are to receive significant levels of investment to address worklessness in their areas through the new Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF).

18 For more information, there is a dedicated webpage for the ERDF in the North West at www.erdfnw.co.uk


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Business Situation A crucial part of the strategy development process is to understand fully the economic situation in the City Region in relation to enterprise and business growth.

In this section we bring together concisely the headline messages from recent baselining work, setting out the challenges that the Strategy and its Action Plan need to address. The recent performance of Merseyside is compared to that of the North West region as a whole as well as the national average19 across a broad range of key economic indicators. Deficits tables are produced for a number of these indicators in order to display, in real terms, the scale of the impact needed in order to bring the sub-region and its constituent districts in line with regional and national figures.

The full results of the economic baselining exercise (including further analysis at the district level) are provided in Section 3 of the Evidence Report.

3.1 Responding to the GVA imperative

Raising Merseyside’s Gross Value Added (GVA), the key measure of wealth creation in an economy, must lie at the heart of the Strategy. The Evidence Report highlights the imperative of raising GVA per capita and GVA per employee in the Liverpool City Region in order to close the gap with the North West and UK. As Table 3-1 shows below, across both indicators Merseyside has consistently lagged behind regional and national rates over the last 25 years; more worryingly, the gaps have actually widened in proportional terms.

19 The national comparator used in this report will be Great Britain, except where data at this geographical level is not available – in these instances, the United Kingdom will be used as the national comparator.

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Table 3-1: GVA per capita and GVA per employee20, 1981-2004 for Merseyside, the North West and the UK

GVA per capita GVA per employee

8

10

12

14

16

18

1981 1986 1991 1996 2001

GV

A p

er

ca

pit

a (

£0

00

s)

Merseyside North West United Kingdom

15

20

25

30

35

1981 1986 1991 1996 2001

GV

A p

er e

mp

loy

ee

(£

00

0s

)

Merseyside North West United Kingdom

Source: Cambridge Econometrics and SQW, Liverpool City Region economic projections and prospects

Table 3-2 and Table 3-3 are deficits tables showing the scale of the challenge to bring Merseyside and its constituent districts in line with regional and national rates of GVA per capita and employee respectively. Deficits are simply the absolute difference between the rate of GVA per capita/employee in each area compared to the North West and United Kingdom. In the table below, the columns labelled ‘impact needed’ show how much total GVA would need to be raised by if each area was to have a rate of GVA per capita/employee equivalent to the regional or national rate. Table 3-2 shows that an increase of approximately £6,733 million (£6.7 billion) in Merseyside’s overall GVA is needed to bring the sub-regional GVA per capita in line with the national average; however, a smaller increase (£3,448 million) would be needed to bring the sub-regional GVA per employee in line (see Table 3-3), reflecting a relatively low employee/head of population ratio in the sub-region as a whole.

Table 3-2: Deficits table for GVA per capita, 2004

Compared to the North West Compared to the UK

Figure Deficit Impact needed Deficit Impact needed

United Kingdom £17,149

North West £15,080

Merseyside £12,594 -£2,487 £3,676 million -£4,556 £6,733 million

Halton £17,037 No deficit No deficit -£112 £13 million

Knowsley £11,971 -£3,109 £468 million -£5,178 £780 million

Liverpool £15,694 No deficit No deficit -£1,455 £636 million

Sefton £10,388 -£4,692 £1,317 million -£6,761 £1,897 million

St Helens £10,525 -£4,556 £808 million -£6,625 £1,175 million

Wirral £10,023 -£5,058 £1,586 million -£7,126 £2,234 million

20 All GVA data is presented in terms of 2003 prices. This report uses the underlying data used in Liverpool City Region Economic Projections and Prospects, Cambridge Econometrics and SQW Consulting (October 2007).


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Source: Cambridge Econometrics and SQW, Liverpool City Region economic projections and prospects, and NOMIS Midyear population estimates

Table 3-3: Deficits table for GVA per employee, 2004

Compared to the North West Compared to the UK

Geography Figure Deficit Impact needed Deficit Impact needed

United Kingdom £33,717

North West £30,492

Merseyside £28,448 -£2,044 £1,337 million -£5,270 £3,448 million

Halton £34,103 No deficit No deficit No deficit No deficit

Knowsley £29,507 -£985 £60 million -£4,210 £257 million

Liverpool £28,132 -£2,359 £575 million -£5,585 £1,362 million

Sefton £25,819 -£4,673 £528 million -£7,898 £892 million

St Helens £28,230 -£2,262 £150 million -£5,488 £363 million

Wirral £28,308 -£2,184 £242 million -£5,409 £600 million

Source: Cambridge Econometrics and SQW, Liverpool City Region economic projections and prospects

3.2 Closing the gap in terms of enterprise and business activity

The Evidence Report uses a number of different indicators to assess the level of enterprise and business activity in the Liverpool City Region. Below, we summarise our performance against the headline indicators which will form the core of the Strategy’s monitoring and evaluation framework (see Section 6): VAT registrations; VAT registered-stocks; and self-employment rates.

VAT registrations – our pipeline of new wealth generators The rate of VAT registrations21 is one of the headline measures of enterprise activity within an economy in any given year. Figure 3-1 shows that Merseyside has consistently had a lower rate of VAT registrations than both the national and regional averages over the period shown; however, the gap between the sub-regional and national rates has narrowed slightly since 1999 (from 65% in 1999 to 58% by 2006).

21 VAT registration figures show the number of enterprises registering for VAT each year.


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Figure 3-1: VAT registrations per 10,000 working age people, 1999-2006 for Merseyside, the North West and the UK

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

VA

T r

eg

istr

ati

on

s p

er

10

k W

AP

Merseyside North West Great Britain

+65% +58%

Source: NOMIS VAT registrations and Annual Population Survey (APS)

Table 3-4 indicates that an additional 1,060 VAT registrations would have been required to bring the Liverpool City Region in line with the regional average in 2006; to meet the national average, an additional 1,620 VAT registrations would have been needed.

Table 3-4: Deficits table for VAT registrations per 10,000 working age people, 2006

Compared to the North West Compared to Great Britain

Figure Deficit Impact needed22 Deficit Impact needed23

Great Britain 50.0

North West 43.7

Merseyside 31.6 -12.0 1,060 -18.4 1,620

Halton 32.6 -11.0 80 -17.4 120

Knowsley 23.0 -20.6 180 -27.0 240

Liverpool 33.3 -10.3 280 -16.7 450

Sefton 32.7 -10.9 180 -17.3 280

St Helens 32.6 -11.0 120 -17.4 180

Wirral 31.3 -12.4 230 -18.7 340

Source: NOMIS VAT registrations and APS

22 Impact refers to the number of additional VAT registrations required to bring each area in line with the regional average. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 23 Impact refers to the number of additional VAT registrations required to bring each area in line with the national average. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.


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Business density – our existing stock of wealth generators. . . VAT-registered stocks are an indicator of the size of the business population. Figure 3-2 shows that the increase in the rate of VAT registrations in Merseyside between 1999 and 2006 has contributed to closing the gap in VAT-registered stocks (weighted to the size of the working age population) with the North West and Great Britain.

Figure 3-2: VAT-registered stocks per 10,000 working age people, 1999-2006 for Merseyside, the North West and the UK

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

VA

T s

toc

ks

pe

r 1

0k

WA

P


+76%

+68%


However, there is still a significant amount of work to do to bring the Liverpool City Region in line with the comparator geographies. Indeed, an extra 18,900 VAT-registered businesses would have been needed in the Liverpool City Region for it to equal to the national average in 200624. Table 3-5 shows that this would require a significant increase in the number of VAT-registered businesses in all local authority districts. A major thrust of the Strategy must therefore be to help businesses to start-up and survive as well as to begin trading and grow above the VAT threshold.

24 This is assuming there are no VAT deregistrations as these would lower the number of VAT-registered stocks.


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Table 3-5: Deficits table for VAT registered-stocks per 10,000 working age people, 2006



Great Britain 532

North West 453

Merseyside 317 -136 12,000 -215 18,900

Halton 335 -118 800 -197 1,400

Knowsley 220 -233 2,100 -312 2,800

Liverpool 319 -134 3,600 -213 5,800

Sefton 359 -94 1,500 -173 2,800

St Helens 314 -139 1,500 -218 2,300

Wirral 320 -133 2,400 -212 3,900


Self-employment. . . Positively, there has been a marked improvement in the self-employment rate in Merseyside, especially since 2001. However, as Figure 3-3 shows, there was still a significant disparity with regional and national rates in 2006, so the positive momentum must be sustained into the future.

Figure 3-3: Self-employment rate, 1999-2006 for Merseyside, the North West and the UK

5

6

7

8

9

10

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

% o

f W

AP

wh

o a

re s

elf

-em

plo

yed


Source: LFS/APS

25 Impact refers to the number of additional VAT registered-stocks required to bring each area in line with the regional average. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 26 Impact refers to the number of additional VAT registered-stocks required to bring each area in line with the national average. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.


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Table 3-6 illustrates what this disparity means in real terms – having 12,200 more self-employed people would bring Merseyside’s self-employment rate level with the regional average; an extra 21,800 people would bring the rate level with the national average27. Targeted strategic action is thus needed to help get more of our people into self-employment, particularly from those segments which are currently under-represented, such as females.

Table 3-6: Deficits table for self-employment rates, 2006



Great Britain 9.3

North West 8.2

Merseyside 6.8 -1.4 12,200 -2.5 21,800

Halton 5.2 -3.0 2,100 -4.1 2,900

Knowsley 5.9 -2.3 2,000 -3.4 3,000

Liverpool 6.3 -1.9 5,300 -3.0 8,300

Sefton 7.8 -0.4 600 -1.5 2,300

St Helens 7.2 -1.0 1,100 -2.1 2,200

Wirral 7.6 -0.6 1,100 -1.7 3,100

Source: APS

And the other indicators… The Evidence Report also analyses enterprise and business activity through a range of other indicators. The headline messages to note are as follows:

Business start-up rates are generally low across the Liverpool City Region compared to regional and national averages, though Sefton has recorded particularly strong start-up rates over the past five years30

Encouragingly, businesses in Merseyside have similar survival rates to their counterparts nationwide31 – this is a marked improvement on the situation back in 1995

Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in the sub-region was 4.6% in 2006, lower than the UK average of 5.8%; however,

27 Self-employment rates are taken as a proportion of the working age population Hence the extra ‘people’ referred to here could be anyone of working age, whether employed, unemployed or economically inactive at present. 28 Impact refers to the number of extra self-employed people (of working age) required to bring each area in line with the regional average. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 29 Impact refers to the number of extra self-employed people (of working age) required to bring each area in line with the national average. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 30 Based upon estimates provided by Barclays Bank plc. 31 Using data take from the DTI (now BERR) Small Business Service (February 2007).


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Merseyside does have a slightly higher level of social entrepreneurial activity32.

3.3 Bringing-in the value-added dimension

Crucially, the Evidence Report looks beyond the headline indicators of enterprise and business activity to consider activity in specific ‘types’ of industries, particularly those with a strong value-added element – growth in these industries will have the greatest impact in closing the Liverpool City Region’s GVA gap with the North West and UK. The key points are summarised below.

Unlocking our knowledge economy. . . The direction of economic policy, at all levels, has become more and more focused on the need to develop businesses in those industries driven by high levels of knowledge, innovation and skills.

Over recent years, the Liverpool City Region has witnessed sustained increases in the proportion of employees and business units operating in knowledge-intensive industries33. Between 2003 and 2006 employment in knowledge-intensive industries rose from 8% to 9% of the workforce. However, as Table 3-7 reveals, this still falls short of regional and national averages – indeed, the sub-region would need an additional 9,900 people employed in knowledge-intensive businesses to equal the regional average and an extra 14,200 people to equal the national average34.

However, Table 3-7 shows that not all districts have a deficit in terms of knowledge-intensive employment – Halton and Liverpool both lie above the regional and national averages on this important measure. It is vital that the key knowledge assets in these two areas are built upon further and reinforced going forwards.

32 Data taken from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report. See www.gemconsortium.org 33 In the Evidence Report, the classification for ‘knowledge-intensive industries’ is based on the OECD definition using 3 digit SIC codes. This includes pharmaceuticals; office machinery and computers; aerospace; precision instruments; electrical engineering; telecommunications; financial intermediation; insurance and pension funding; activities auxiliary to financial intermediation; computer and related activities; R&D; other business activities; motion picture and video activities; and radio and television activities. 34 This is holding the employment rate constant. Hence the extra ‘people’ referred to here are people moving into knowledge-intensive employment from employment which is not knowledge-intensive.


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Table 3-7: Deficits table for proportion of employment in knowledge-intensive businesses, 2006



Great Britain 10.4

North West 9.7

Merseyside 9.0 -0.7 9,900 -1.4 14,200

Halton 14.3 No deficit No deficit No deficit No deficit

Knowsley 7.7 -2.0 1,100 -2.7 1,500

Liverpool 10.9 No deficit No deficit No deficit No deficit

Sefton 8.3 -1.4 1,300 -2.1 2,000

St Helens 4.4 -5.3 3,200 -6.0 3,600

Wirral 5.6 -4.0 3,900 -4.7 4,600

Source: ABI Workplace Analysis

Priority sectors. . . Growth in the Liverpool City Region’s priority sectors is also vitally important, as identified in the sub-region’s key policy documents37. The Evidence Report shows that there has been significant employment growth in some of the key sectors over recent years – in particular, life sciences and the banking, finance and insurance sectors. Through the Strategy, we need to build on this growth as a key opportunity to create more high value-added jobs in the area. However, we will also seek to protect employment in other key priority sectors, including the automotive and maritime industries.

3.4 Laying the foundations for enterprise and growth success

Finally, the Evidence Report considers, both from supply and demand perspectives, the wider environment in relation to enterprise and business growth. Specifically, it looks at skills, labour market activity, the provision of suitable premises and wider supporting infrastructure.

35 Impact refers to the number of people moving into knowledge-intensive employment from employment which is not knowledge-intensive that will bring each area in line with the regional average (holding overall employment rates constant). Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 36 Impact refers to the number of people moving into knowledge-intensive employment from employment which is not knowledge-intensive that will bring each area in line with the national average (holding overall employment rates constant). Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 37 Including the Liverpool City Region Development Programme (LCRDP), the Action Plan for the Liverpool City Region 2008-2011, and the Merseyside Economic Review 2007 (MER)


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3.5 The skills imperative

Qualifications The Evidence Report brings attention to the lack of intermediate and higher-level skills in the Liverpool City Region. This is illustrated by the long-standing deficits in the proportion of the working age population possessing NVQ Level 4+ and NVQ Level 2+ skills, as shown in Figure 3-4 below. Unless this is addressed in an effective and co-ordinated manner, it is likely to hinder the achievement of priorities for enterprise and business growth in the Liverpool City Region.

Figure 3-4: Proportion of the working age population possessing NVQ2+ and NVQ4+, 1999-2006 for Merseyside, the North West and the UK

15

25

35

45

55

65

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2006

% o

f W

AP

wit

h N

VQ

2+

an

d N

VQ

4+


NVQ4+

NVQ2+

Source: LFS/APS

Table 3-8 overleaf shows that an additional 30,400 people of working age gaining NVQ Level 4 or over would bring Merseyside in line with the regional average; an additional 53,300 people qualified to this level would bring the sub-region in line with the national average.


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Table 3-8: Deficits table for the proportion of the working age population possessing NVQ4+, 2006



Great Britain 27.4

North West 24.8

Merseyside 21.3 -3.5 30,400 -6.1 53,300

Halton 16.8 -8.0 5,800 -10.6 7,600

Knowsley 13.5 -11.3 10,000 -13.9 12,300

Liverpool 21.5 -3.3 8,900 -5.9 16,000

Sefton 23.3 -1.5 2,500 -4.1 6,600

St Helens 21.7 -3.1 3,200 -5.7 6,000

Wirral 24.8 0.0 100 -2.6 4,800

Source: APS

Occupations. . . The proportion of employment in the top three occupations of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) is also a key indicator of skill levels. As Table 3-9 shows, an additional 22,000 people employed as either managers or senior officials, professionals or in associate professionals and technical occupations in Merseyside would bring the sub-region in line with the regional average; an extra 36,800 people in these occupations would bring the sub-region in line with the national average40.

38 Impact refers to the number of extra working age people gaining NVQ4+ required to bring each area in line with the regional average (holding the working age population constant). Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 39 Impact refers to the number of extra working age people gaining NVQ4+ required to bring each area in line with the national average (holding the working age population constant). Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 40 This is holding the employment rate constant. Hence the extra ‘people’ referred to here are people moving into the top three occupations from any of the other occupations.


21

Table 3-9: Deficits table for the proportion of employment in the top three occupations of the SOC, 2006


Geography Figure Deficit Impact needed41 Deficit Impact needed42

Great Britain 42.3

North West 39.9

Merseyside 36.4 -3.5 22,000 -5.9 36,800

Halton 32.8 -7.1 3,600 -9.5 4,800

Knowsley 27.7 -12.2 7,600 -14.6 9,100

Liverpool 35.2 -4.7 8,200 -7.1 12,400

Sefton 40.0 No deficit No deficit -2.3 2,700

St Helens 37.1 -2.8 2,100 -5.2 3,900

Wirral 39.4 -0.5 600 -2.9 3,800

Source: APS

Labour market activity. . . A healthy and active labour market is a key element in the structure of an economy, underpinning the formation and growth of successful businesses. Encouragingly, the Evidence Report tells us that there has been good progress recently in raising economic activity rates and reducing dependency on benefits in the City Region. Ensuring that this continues is essential to the future economic success of the Liverpool City Region as it still falls short of regional and national comparators across a number of labour market indicators.

Premises and infrastructure. . . In order to attract new quality businesses to the Liverpool City Region, retain growing businesses in the area and support ‘would-be’ entrepreneurs, there must be an adequate supply of quality premises that meets the needs of modern businesses at all points of their development cycle. Data from the Evidence Report suggests that there is a shortfall in office space in certain parts of the sub-region and that Liverpool has a strong offer overall in terms of premises. The momentum of recent physical development activity must be sustained by supporting Liverpool’s role as the economic centre of the sub-region, whilst ensuring other areas of our City Region are fully supported in attracting and retaining businesses.

41 Impact refers to the number of people moving into the top three occupations from any of the other occupations that will bring each area in line with the regional average (holding overall employment rates constant). Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 42 Impact refers to the number of people moving into moving into the top three occupations from any of the other occupations that will bring each area in line with the regional average (holding overall employment rates constant). Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.


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The Strategic Framework 4.1 A strategy that is fully fit for purpose

The development of the Strategy has been guided by the three overarching imperatives that we identified earlier – namely, to:

Grow the scale of the existing business base through increased business starts and improved survival rates

Support the creation of value through business growth and expansion

Deliver competitiveness by increasing business productivity.

However, the size of the task required to achieve these goals should not be underestimated. Figure 4-1 summarises the business growth process in schematic form and highlights the various barriers that will need to be overcome to achieve this. Barriers arise at each stage of the process, affecting not only potential entrepreneurs and new businesses, but also well-established indigenous businesses seeking to grow their operations and prospective inward investors. Our strategy must be capable of addressing these barriers.

Figure 4-1 : The enterprise and business growth process


4


23

4.2 Our Vision

Our agreed vision for the Liverpool City Region Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy is as follows:

By 2013, the Liverpool City Region economy will be recognised for its diverse portfolio of competitive knowledge-based business assets. Additionally, it will be equally well known for its highly skilled, innovative, flexible and enterprising workforce, and inward investment success.

By 2013, we will have closed our GVA per employee gap with the North West region and made considerable progress against our other key deficits.

Specifically, over the five year lifetime of the Strategy, we will have closed our GVA per employee gap with the North West completely, and reduced by 50% our GVA per capita deficit with the region. Further, over the same timeframe and using the same comparator benchmark geography (the North West region), we will have reduced our new VAT registration rate and VAT registered stock deficits by at least 33% and all of the following deficits by more than 50%: self-employment rate; proportion of employment in knowledge intensive businesses; proportion of our working age population possessing NVQ Level 4+ and proportion of employment in the top three occupations of the SOC.

4.3 The Strategic Framework

In order to achieve our vision of a productive and prosperous City Region, the Strategy has three Strategic Aims: More Businesses, Growing Businesses and Productive Businesses (see Figure 4-2 for an overview of the Framework). Flowing from each of these is a series of Operating Aims that indicate the types of intervention that will be required in order to achieve the desired strategic impacts. The Strategy is framed by four important Cross-cutting Themes, which characterise our behaviour in delivering the Strategy.


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Figure 4-2 : The Strategic Framework


• Skills solutions for

business

• Innovation collaboration

• Leveraging key

knowledge/technology

assets

• Enhance enterprise education

& raise awareness levels

• Graduate enterprise & retention

• Business creation

• Local community business

coaching/support

• Getting the most from FDI

More

Businesses

Growing

Businesses

Productive

Businesses

Availability of Suitable Business Premises

Strategic Aim 1: Strategic Aim 2: Strategic Aim 3:

Access to Finance

Environmental Sustainability

Operating Aims Operating Aims Operating Aims

•Developing an enterprise

culture

•Local enterprise

development

•Encouraging a more

dynamic & sustainable start-

up market

•Securing FDI

•Tailored business advice &

support for retention &

growth

•Prioritising key sectors/

developing networks

•Capturing local purchasing

opportunities

•Maximising investor

development

•Maximising international

trade development


support for increased

productivity

•Improving leadership &

management skills

•Value added diversification

and innovation

•Improving supply chain

performance

•Exploiting ICT & technology

transfer

Cross-cutting themes

• Business collaboration

networks & priority sector

development

• Preparing to export/

investigating new markets

• Access to business expertise

for growth

Action Areas(aligning with BSSP

product themes)

Skills & Employment

By 2013, the Liverpool City Region economy will be recognised for its diverse portfolio of competitive knowledge-based business assets.

Additionally, it will be equally well known for its highly skilled, innovative, flexible and enterprising workforce, and inward investment success.

• Skills solutions for

business

• Innovation collaboration

• Leveraging key

knowledge/technology

assets

• Enhance enterprise education

& raise awareness levels

• Graduate enterprise & retention

• Business creation

• Local community business

coaching/support

• Getting the most from FDI

More

Businesses

Growing

Businesses

Productive

Businesses

Availability of Suitable Business Premises

Strategic Aim 1: Strategic Aim 2: Strategic Aim 3:

Access to Finance

Environmental Sustainability

Operating Aims Operating Aims Operating Aims

•Developing an enterprise

culture

•Local enterprise

development

•Encouraging a more

dynamic & sustainable start-

up market

•Securing FDI


support for retention &

growth

•Prioritising key sectors/

developing networks

•Capturing local purchasing

opportunities

•Maximising investor

development

•Maximising international

trade development


support for increased

productivity

•Improving leadership &

management skills

•Value added diversification

and innovation

•Improving supply chain

performance

•Exploiting ICT & technology

transfer

Cross-cutting themes

• Business collaboration

networks & priority sector

development

• Preparing to export/

investigating new markets

• Access to business expertise

for growth

Action Areas(aligning with BSSP

product themes)

Skills & Employment

By 2013, the Liverpool City Region economy will be recognised for its diverse portfolio of competitive knowledge-based business assets.

Additionally, it will be equally well known for its highly skilled, innovative, flexible and enterprising workforce, and inward investment success.


25 25

4.4 Strategic Aim 1: More Businesses

The Liverpool City Region needs more people starting more businesses. In terms of VAT registrations, there is a gap of 58% between the City Region and the figures for Great Britain. The VAT registered business stock is also much lower than the comparator (with the City Region lagging behind Great Britain by 68%). Added to this, total early stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) is significantly below the UK average (6.6% in Merseyside in 2006 compared with a UK average of 5.8%).

Addressing these shortfalls will require a co-ordinated approach to ensure support is provided right through from awareness-raising, to start-up advice and on to early stage growth. Our aim is to ensure that the support provided is tailored to the requirements of individuals and we recognise that extra support will be required by those with special needs, whether relating to gender, race, disability, age or location. Under the principles of the Business Support Simplification agenda, Business Link North West will be the first port of call and its information diagnostic and brokerage approach is intended to offer a flexible and tailored customer journey.

Our goal is to raise TEA in the City Region to the UK average rate, close the business start up rate gap with the North West and nationally, whilst maintaining our promising business survival rates.

Operating Aims More Businesses will be achieved by:

Developing a more entrepreneurial culture: We will ensure this starts as early as possible by embedding entrepreneurship in the school and university curriculum. However, it is never too late to start a business and hence a range of promotional tools will be employed in order to raise awareness of the benefits of entrepreneurship amongst all age groups within our communities.

Local enterprise development: We will focus on raising interest in entrepreneurship and new business starts amongst groups who, for a variety of reasons, have never considered starting a business before. It will be essential to make the assistance available on a local basis and at convenient times given that new entrepreneurs are likely to be running their business single-handedly. Outreach activities will also encompass those running businesses in the informal economy. They already have well-honed entrepreneurial skills which are currently not contributing to wider economic well-being and hence need to be encouraged to legitimise their activities.

Encouraging a more dynamic and sustainable start-up market: It is essential that the start-up advice provided to would-be entrepreneurs is relevant to their needs, commencing well before the


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actual setting-up of the business and continuing through to include post-start mentoring. Our aim is to ensure that businesses are set up in a robust manner that will allow them to survive and prosper over the medium to long terms.

Securing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): Given the cost base of the UK in comparison with the economies of the developing world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract large scale production facilities to the City Region. Our key priority for future inward investment promotion is therefore to encourage higher value-added FDI. That is both in terms of the type of company attracted (high tech/high growth – with more to offer in terms of knowledge spill-overs) and the level within the company structure of the local office (preferably the UK headquarters – with more authority to make supply chain decisions). Our key aim is to make the Liverpool City Region a first choice destination for high value inward investors.

4.5 Strategic Aim 2: Growing Businesses

Business start-up rates in three of the six Merseyside local authority areas are the same as the national average (13 new firms per 1,000 working age population in 2006). However, the lower VAT business registration rates suggest that these businesses are not moving beyond the first basic stage of growth. It is vital to encourage and support new businesses to grow, and the Strategy’s commitment to develop our existing enterprise stock is a key priority.

Given the current shortfall in VAT registrations, there is a lot of work to be done. However we are committed to closing the sub-regional/regional/national gaps.

Operating Aims Growing Businesses will be achieved by:

Providing tailored business advice and support for retention and growth: Much of our established business base does not fall into the high growth category. That does not mean that these businesses have no growth potential or that they are not important. Where a business has attained a stable financial position, it is important to ease it out of its comfort zone and on to the next stage of development. Through increasing innovation and streamlining processes, both growth and productivity improvements can be achieved.

Prioritising existing key sectors/developing networks: We have a number of high value-added sectors (life sciences, digital and creative industries, maritime and financial and professional services) that are developing well. We will focus on ensuring their future


27 27

growth and progression as we see them as leading the future business growth in the City Region. Specific sector support will take the form of promoting the sectors as widely as possible, encouraging sector firms to network and collaborate with each other to exploit their growth potential and providing targeted inward investment assistance.

Capturing local purchasing opportunities: Given the importance of the public sector within the City Region, this is a key target for the Strategy. At present the requirement that public sector procurement teams achieve Value for Money has led to them granting a small number of contracts to large contractors. A key priority therefore will be to work with these teams (such as the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and the Local Authority Procurement departments) to look at ways that existing SMEs can be included in the supply chain through an arrangement that does not adversely affect the cost effectiveness of the provision.

Maximising investor development: Attracting foreign investors to our City Region is one challenge, but keeping them here is another. We will ensure proactive aftercare for all new inward investors, with a dedicated Relationship Manager assigned to each. The Relationship Manager will meet with the company soon after arrival (ensuring a smooth transition from any support previously supplied by UKTI) and keep in regular contact in order to ascertain their requirements and signpost them to relevant support (in the private, public or third sector, as required). Our aim is to ensure that, as the foreign company expands, it is able to do so within the City Region rather than moving elsewhere.

Maximising international trade development: We will work closely with UKTI to ensure that an increasing number of our local companies gain the knowledge and confidence to trade abroad. UKTI has a range of trade development support products and we intend to supplement these with specially commissioned studies on key new markets. Liverpool has, for instance, the oldest Chinatown in Europe, and we will build on our well-established historic links such as these to explore the latest overseas opportunities.

4.6 Strategic Aim 3: Productive Businesses

Merseyside currently suffers from major deficits in terms of its GVA per capita (a 20% deficit versus the North West and a 36% deficit versus Great Britain). This means that we need to have more people employed in more productive business activities if we are to have any chance of narrowing the gap.


28 28

Merseyside is fortunate however, in having a strong base of knowledge-intensive businesses (KIBs) and its performance is similar to the regional and national levels. This is an area where it is realistic for us to envisage the City Region closing its performance gap.

Operating Aims Productive Businesses will be achieved by:

Tailored business advice and support for increased productivity: Merseyside’s high tech/high growth businesses are the jewels in the regional crown and need to be carefully nurtured and supported. However, high growth businesses have very specific support needs. The complexity of a new high tech product means that there are added costs and effort related to bringing the product to market (in terms of proof of concept and commercialisation activities). We will ensure that the specialised support to guide the star businesses through these stages is available and readily accessible.

Improved leadership and management skills: We recognise that as businesses grow, so too does their need for a more formal leadership and management structure. This is an essential step in taking the business forward and a pre-requisite for raising the equity a business needs to support the long-term growth of its activities. We will make use of the recent research and development work undertaken by the NWDA on leadership and management skills for SMEs to ensure suitable provision for our businesses.

Value-added diversification and innovation: In addition to supporting those businesses that are highly productive from the outset, we will also seek to encourage all of our businesses to consider how they might become more productive. Businesses can take a number of routes to higher productivity such as streamlining processes, developing new higher value products or acquiring other highly productive businesses. We will ensure that they have access to support to make the necessary decisions and follow through on the changes.

Improving supply chain performance: A major effort is required to assist local SMEs entering the supply chain. The Strategy will be used to bring large and small companies together to foster a greater understanding of the needs of the former and the abilities of the latter. We will also work closely with the designated sector organisations to ensure that they are developing vertical linkages that include local SMEs as suppliers.

Exploiting ICT and technology transfer: Our City Region benefits from possessing a number of key knowledge assets, which need to


29 29

be exploited as productively as possible. We will continue to work with Merseyside ICT to foster stronger links between the research base and local businesses and ensure that IT is firmly embedded in all business sectors.

4.7 Cross Cutting Themes

Ensuring coherence in approach and consistency in delivery will be essential to the Strategy’s ultimate success. To achieve this, the Strategy is underpinned by four Cross Cutting Themes. These themes will play a key role in shaping and influencing the way in which the Strategic Aims are progressed.

Skills and employment All businesses need a suitably skilled workforce. As a first step, more Merseyside students need to be encouraged to stay on in education to gain higher level qualifications (and thus close the gap with the region and Great Britain as a whole). However, what businesses really need are employees with skills relevant to their specific activities. The fast pace of business development means that these requirements change rapidly over time. It is important therefore, that people on Merseyside receive timely and relevant skills training to equip them for the needs of the workplace. The Strategy will be fully aligned with the recently developed City Employment Strategy as part of a joined-up approach to skills development and retention on a local level.

Environmental sustainability Ensuring environmental sustainability is becoming an increasingly important aspect of modern business life. As part of the regional initiative on resource efficiency, we will make the benefits clear to businesses in order to encourage them to reduce their use of energy and raw materials and generate less waste. Additionally, the environmental technologies is an important emerging sector for our economy and there is scope for significant growth over the coming years given our proximity to the coast and key natural assets.

Access to finance Finance forms the lifeblood of any business but SMEs can experience a number of problems when seeking to access it. The Strategy, with support from key agencies such as Business Link North West, Merseyside Special Investment Fund and the local private sector finance providers, will ensure that the necessary support and funding is made available to firms. This will include a package of measures including awareness-raising on different sources of finance, training in finance and investment readiness, start-up seed funding and access to a range of debt and equity financing options.


30 30

Availability of suitable business premises We are committed to ensuring that the accommodation offer in the City Region reflects the requirements of the business base, be it ‘easy in easy out’ space for new start-ups or the specialised needs of high tech companies such as wet lab space and high quality formalised incubation provision. Where necessary, business support will be provided alongside the workspace. Despite the tangible progress made over recent years in transforming our land and property offer to business, we must continue to develop competitive employment sites that meet the needs of today’s businesses. We will undertake an audit of our strategic facilities and develop a strategy for their future development to maximise opportunities and synergies. As part of this exercise, we will not lose sight of the important role that manufacturing and processing industries play – these less glamorous sectors continue to create high GVA employment opportunities locally and we must ensure that our sites and premises continue to meet their requirements.


31 31

The Action Areas This Section of the Strategy sets out concise summaries of the eleven Action Areas that sit underneath the Strategic and Operational Aims. Full pro formas for each Action Area are provided in a supporting annex. It is important to note that the Action Areas have been designed so as to form the initial pieces of a complementary and coherent programme of delivery activity. Crucially, they should not be reviewed in isolation as they will support the whole of the Strategy.

Partners will need to review the Action Areas over the coming months and undertake more detailed action-planning work so that they can be developed into a suite of specific projects with detailed costings, milestones and governance arrangements.

The Action Areas developed from the Strategy are:

Enhance enterprise education and raise awareness levels: an Action Area focused on promoting entrepreneurial attitudes and activities among all sections of society, but particularly aimed at young people and disparity groups

Graduate enterprise and retention: a range of activities to promote enterprise as an attractive and achievable career option for recent graduates. These activities will support enterprising graduates to realise their ambitions within the Liverpool City Region

Business creation: a set of practical programmes and workshops designed to support new and would-be businesses in their early stages of development. Importantly, these would be open to all businesses and entrepreneurs in the Liverpool City Region, regardless of background

Local community business coaching/support: the appointment of business coaches to stimulate and guide enterprising behaviour in local communities facing barriers to enterprise. Each coach will be the organiser/facilitator of local events and will direct local businesses and entrepreneurs to the relevant support services

Getting the most from FDI: a series of actions promoting the Liverpool City Region as an attractive business destination and a great place to invest. Crucially, these actions will prioritise attracting higher value inward investment and will ensure that the benefits of FDI are felt by local businesses, workers and residents

5


32 32

Business collaboration networks and priority sector development: a number of key actions that will establish stronger networks in the Liverpool City Region for businesses to collaborate and exploit commercial opportunities together, aligned with our priority sectors and linked to networks beyond the sub-region

Preparing to export/investigating new markets: additional funding to enhance the trade development services offered by UKTI within the Liverpool City Region

Access to business expertise for growth: a range of activities to increase the opportunities for businesses to access the expert and specialist knowledge necessary to grow their business, including mentoring and leadership coaching

Skills solution for business: a number of services to assist businesses wishing to up-skill their workforce and individuals who want to improve their skills for business, in order to raise productivity and increase business competitiveness

Innovation collaboration: an integrated suite of actions designed to increase innovative activity and extend innovative capacity in the Liverpool City Region, primarily though increased collaborations and knowledge transfer between businesses and key knowledge institutions

Leveraging key knowledge/technology assets: a mix of integrated activities focused on developing high quality business and innovation environments by bringing together entrepreneurship programmes with key physical business assets in the City Region, linked to the wider agenda on technological innovation and the knowledge economy.


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Monitoring and evaluation The Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy represents a fresh and ambitious approach to supporting economic growth in our City Region by creating an environment in which people, communities and businesses can prosper and flourish. The task ahead is considerable – there are significant challenges to be overcome and the operational context will not always be stable. The context will develop as changes occur within the area in response to the Strategy and from outside, as the economic, policy and political environments change. New funding opportunities may also materialise which are likely to have a direct impact on the aspirations set out in the Strategy.

To respond to these challenges, and to demonstrate progress, it is vital that the delivery of the Strategy is underpinned with a robust Monitoring and Evaluation framework, which is able to provide intelligence, both in real time and in retrospect, on the changing strategic context and on the impact that the Strategy and its actions are leveraging.

6.1 Framework components

In order to meet the requirements set out above, the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework will need two parts. A top-down component will monitor the changing state of conditions in the Liverpool City Region, requiring the use of Condition Indicators. The second component will be bottom-up, and will enable the Strategy’s activities, outputs and outcomes/impacts to be assessed using appropriate Response Indicators.

Taken together, the two components will provide a clear and robust insight into the Strategy’s efficiency and effectiveness in bringing about desired changes in local enterprise and business growth levels. The use and development of the framework will of course be iterative. Over time, as operating evidence and experience grows, the framework will yield information on those actions that are more effective and efficient than others, allowing strategic and operational priorities to be reshaped accordingly.

6


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Condition Indicators…

Monitoring and evaluating the state of the Liverpool City Region economy (through socio-economic baselining work)

Re-aligning the Strategic Aims for the City Region Enterprise and Business Growth Strategy (in the light of empirical evidence)

Response Indicators…

Monitoring and evaluating the outputs and impacts attributable to the Strategic Aims of the Strategy (through bottom-up project monitoring and review)

Monitoring strategic inputs and activities in support of the development of the Liverpool City Region economy.

6.2 Framework design

The two components described above must be consistent and sit together well, as far as is possible. To ensure this is the case, the process of designing the final framework needs to be an iterative one with three distinct stages of development:

Sketching out the framework’s main building blocks. This will require partners to:

� Define the principal condition indicators consistent with the Strategic Aims of the Strategy

� Specify the activity categories that capture the contribution of actions on the ground

� Develop the logic chains that connect the inputs and activities to the outputs and outcome/impact measures within each activity category

Populate the architecture of the framework with detailed indicators. This will require detailed consultations with those partners involved in delivering specific projects under the action areas, once these have been identified, developed, prioritised and scheduled

Specify the complete framework in terms of monitoring and evaluation procedures. In other words, put in place an operational model and a schedule of actions that will ensure that the framework actually delivers on the ground as intended.

Progressing these three stages of the monitoring and evaluation framework’s development will be a significant undertaking, and will require partners to work closely and collaboratively at all levels. Reflecting this, it is crucial that resources are prioritised to this important task during the early stages of the Strategy’s implementation. However, some of this work will already be occurring as part of wider monitoring regimes hence it is important that a sensible dialogue takes place so as to avoid any unhelpful or costly duplication.


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6.3 Next steps

Until specific actions have been agreed and scheduled under the eleven action areas (it is likely that other actions areas will emerge over time), complete with relevant response indicators, the monitoring and evaluation framework cannot be fully populated. However, the indicators that we have presented at the end of each Action Area pro forma (see Annex A) give a flavour of what the framework may eventually look like.

In 2013, the Strategy will need to be reviewed in light of the changing contextual conditions that the monitoring work will identify. Further, it will also need to respond to wider shifts in policy thinking and general developments in the city regional, regional, UK and international economies.


A-1 1

Annex A: Detailed Action Areas This annex contains short summary pro formas for each of the eleven indicative Action Areas.

1 Enhance enterprise education and raise awareness levels

Enhance enterprise education and raise awareness levels

Rationale Merseyside needs to increase its Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) and produce significantly ‘more businesses’ if it is to address the enterprise gap it has with the rest of the country – between 1999 and 2006 the average rate of VAT registrations per 10,000 working age population was 31.6 compared to an average of 50.3 in Great Britain. This amounted to a deficit of 58% and TEA in 2006 was 4.6% compared with a UK average of 5.8%. A key driver in addressing this gap will be the development of an enterprise culture among the incumbent population, a driver in which appropriate and targeted education will play a central role.

The Merseyside Entrepreneurship Commission recognised that delivering the best education and support to young entrepreneurs was the single most important area of action necessary to instigate a cultural shift in entrepreneurial attitudes. Further, the opportunities and support available needs to be publicised more actively and more widely; in particular, they must ‘reach out’ to groups which are currently under-represented in enterprise (e.g. women, certain BME groups, young people, 50+ entrepreneurs, the disabled and those that are currently inactive).

‘Enterprise education’ constitutes the step before more formal training in business establishment. Its aim is to foster an enterprising mindset, i.e. to ‘think outside the box’ and be willing to take and manage risks. It is therefore as important in an employee (as the foundation for innovative thinking that will help grow the business) as it is in a would-be entrepreneur.

Enterprise education needs to start as early as possible and needs to be embedded in the school, college and university curriculum. This is in recognition of the fact that achieving a cultural shift will largely be brought about by focusing attention on the next generation of entrepreneurs. However, it is never too late to start a business and hence education on the risks, rewards and practicalities of business ownership/development should be promoted to all age groups and across all sections of society on Merseyside – but particularly identified disparity groups.

Objectives To increase entrepreneurial activity on Merseyside by extending and improving enterprise education across the sub-region. Specifically, by:

Continuing the focus on promoting enterprise education among young people

Reaching out and delivering enterprise education to all groups in society, especially those which are currently under-represented

Providing people with accurate information on the returns and risks of engaging in entrepreneurial activity.

Example activities

Premier League Enterprise Academies – following the successful work started by Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers football clubs, the Government has proposed to roll out a national programme of academies to introduce young people to the world of work and enterprise through football. We will encourage Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere Rovers football clubs to engage in this programme and provide extensive academies open to all young people. We also propose the introduction of similar programmes to involve St Helens and Widnes rugby league clubs or around the music or fashion industries, building upon Liverpool’s


A-2 2

Enhance enterprise education and raise awareness levels

strengths in these sectors.

Engage all sections of society in Global Entrepreneurship Week in November 2008, making it relevant to local people and perhaps linking it to a showcase of events as part of this year’s Capital of Culture celebrations.

Developing flexible adult learning programmes – to ensure that all adults, regardless of background or time constraints, have at least the opportunity to engage in enterprise education.

Role models to relate to – to extend the use of role models to promote and help deliver enterprise education, specifically ‘matching up’ each role model to communities which can relate to them. This will help potential entrepreneurs to think positively about what they can achieve through enterprise and realise that they can be successful.

Enterprising workplaces / Intrapreneuring – to provide practical advice to businesses on how to encourage and stimulate employees to be enterprising within the workplace. This will involve introducing measures to create a culture open to enterprise and innovation within the workplace and rewarding enterprising employees.

Target beneficiaries

Disparity groups (e.g. young people, women, BME groups, over 50s, the disabled, inhabitants of deprived areas).

Lead and key partners

TMP (as strategic lead in developing the Action Area with key partners), Enterprise Insight, Business Link, LSC, Education Business Partnerships, local schools, universities, further education colleges, local authorities and Job Centre Plus.

Performance indicators and benchmarks

Raise total early stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) in Merseyside (as measured by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor), absolutely and narrow the gap with UK. Baseline position is 4.6% in 2006 compared to UK TEA of 5.8%.

Raise VAT registrations rate per 10,000 WAP, business start-up rate and self-employment rate (absolutely and closing the gap with North West and GB).


A-3 3

2 Graduate enterprise & retention

Graduate enterprise & retention

Rationale The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report (2006) found that individuals possessing NVQ Level 4 qualifications and above are the most likely to engage in entrepreneurial activity. Hence engaging and promoting enterprise to the current generation of recent graduates and students should help to boost the number of successful businesses across Merseyside. Furthermore, graduates also possess the higher level skills necessary to support existing businesses in Merseyside to grow, particularly those operating in knowledge-intensive sectors. The Leitch Review of Skills (2006) has highlighted the need to develop world class skills if UK businesses are to be competitive and innovative in the global economy.

Merseyside has four universities within its geographical boundaries and these universities have a number of recognised specialisms including bio-science, computer science and engineering amongst others. Despite this, however, Merseyside has a relatively low proportion (21.3%) of its working age population possessing NVQ Level 4 qualifications and above. A targeted set of actions therefore needs to be implemented in order to address this issue, building upon positive work already in place.

There is a clear need to ensure that there are both the opportunities and the incentives for recent and future graduates to choose to start up a business and/or seek employment opportunities in Merseyside. This is linked to wider factors such as communicating and promoting the benefits of living and working in Merseyside to graduates in order to address the negative perceptions of the area, which unfortunately, still exist among some sections of the UK population – particularly in the South East.

Objectives To promote and encourage enterprise as a viable, and indeed attractive, career option for recent graduates. Further to this, to encourage and support graduates to start a business in Merseyside.

To attract and retain recent graduates by ensuring that there are incentives for them to live, work and play here – this includes ensuring that there are attractive employment and business opportunities in the area and a high quality of life offer to be enjoyed at a relatively low cost. Three types of graduates can be identified who Merseyside should be seeking to attract:

Students graduating from one of the area’s four universities who are already very likely to be living in Merseyside

Students who grew up in Merseyside returning to the area after graduating from elsewhere

Any other recent graduates from UK universities who might be attracted to live and work in Merseyside, based upon the image of Liverpool as a cosmopolitan, European city, which is also a cost-effective place in which to live.

Example activities

Promotional and marketing activities, especially within universities, to highlight the attractiveness of Merseyside as a place to work or set up a business. These activities need to draw attention to the specific business and employment opportunities that exist in Merseyside. Linked to this, Merseyside needs to be promoted as a great place to live, based upon its cultural and leisure offer and as a place where graduates can enjoy a high quality of life at a significantly lower cost than elsewhere in the UK.

Encourage the universities to participate in and promote to students the ‘Erasmus for young entrepreneurs programme’. This is a pan-European pilot programme, supported by the Government, offering cross-border mentoring and work placements for students in SMEs.

Extend graduate greenhouses and introduce similar initiatives to encourage alumni to run


A-4 4

Graduate enterprise & retention

businesses in the sub region – this is incubator-style serviced work accommodation, where entrepreneurs can access business support and advice on tap.

University spin out support – building on existing spin out support initiatives by the Merseyside universities and Liverpool Science Park/local incubators in order to increase the number of spin outs taking place. The emphasis would be on supporting graduate entrepreneurs rather than simply backing established university research staff.

Alumni business relocation incentives – these incentives would take the form of assistance offered to Merseyside alumni to set up a business in the sub-region, thereby helping to attract the most enterprising people back. Any financial assistance would become repayable if the entrepreneur left the area within five years. Five years should be sufficient to embed the business within the local economy.


Recent graduates and current university students; employers in industries in need of higher level skills.


TMP (Lead), Graduates into Employment (GIEU), universities, university alumni associations, business organisations (e.g. FSB, IOD).


Increase the proportion of the workforce that are in the top three occupations from 36.4% in 2006 (absolutely and closing the gap with North West and GB).

Increase the proportion of the workforce possessing NVQ Level 4 and above from 21.3% in 2006 (absolutely and closing the gap with North West and GB where rate is 27.4%)

Increase the proportion of the workforce employed in businesses which are classed as knowledge-intensive (absolutely and closing the gap with North West and GB).


A-5 5

3 Business creation

Business creation

Rationale

The creation of dynamic businesses is a key driver of economic prosperity. However, VAT registrations in Merseyside in 2006 lagged behind Great Britain by 58% and the stock of VAT registered businesses lagged behind the national figure by 68%. Although in some boroughs in Merseyside (i.e. Halton, Sefton and Wirral) business start up rates matched the national rate, there is still much ground to be made up. Whilst specific support for disparity groups is important (see AA1 and AA4), the deficit in the business stock requires more business creation from all sections of Merseyside’s population.

The relatively high level of deprivation in Merseyside justifies intervention on equity grounds as the social and structural issues faced by Merseyside residents mean that the transition from interest in starting up to running a businesses is made more difficult by lack of awareness of, and access to, the relevant support.

Objectives To increase the level of enterprise in Merseyside by supporting the creation of new business through enabling those with an interest in starting up in business to take the necessary steps to do so, particularly overcoming barriers faced by individuals from disadvantaged communities.

Activities Through Business Link NW, we will develop:

‘Start you own business’ workshops – open to all potential Merseyside entrepreneurs, these workshops will provide a first introduction to what it takes to establish and run a business. The workshops will be run at a series of locations across the six boroughs to ensure they are easily accessible to attendees

Business start up programme – a modular start up assistance programme covering the key elements of business idea development, market research and understanding, business planning, operations and management, financial planning and human resource management. Assistance would combine short, taught courses (or on-line equivalent) with in-business mentoring, as required

Finance readiness programme – a structured course designed to make entrepreneurs aware of potential sources of business finance, help them prepare suitable funding applications and facilitate introductions to local finance providers.


Would-be entrepreneurs and early stage businesses based on Merseyside


Business Link NW and Local Authorities (Joint Lead), business support delivery providers, chambers of commerce, MSIF, local banks

Performance indicators

Output indicators (captured through project monitoring):

Number of entrepreneurs assisted

Number of new businesses created (and surviving for one year)

Amount of finance raised

Increase in the following impact indicators, both absolutely and closing the gap with the North West and Great Britain (from secondary sources):

VAT registration rate per 10,000 WAP

Business start up rate

Self-employment rate


A-6 6

Business creation

One and three year business survival rate


A-7 7

4 Local community business coaching/support

Local community business coaching/support

Rationale The BSSP recognises that “levels of enterprise in deprived places are significantly and persistently lower than in more affluent areas” and that certain social groups, including women, disabled people and particular BME groups are also under-represented in enterprise. It calculates that if the highest rates of business activity in the UK were matched in deprived areas, there would be over 150,000 more businesses nationally. In addition, there is likely to be more scope to establish locally-based social enterprises in deprived communities as these will tend to face more acute social problems (such as crime, health and employment issues).

This is especially pertinent to Merseyside because there is a relatively high number of local communities, which are considered to be deprived – (Liverpool was the ranked as the most deprived local authority area in the Indices of Deprivation 2007 with Knowsley ranked sixth). This could potentially be very significant as the BSSP has stated the intention to limit eligibility for local community business coaching to the 88 most deprived wards according to the IMD 2007.

Public sector intervention is required to remove the barriers to enterprise that exist in the communities indentified above – in doing so, it will strive to create a level playing field in access to opportunities for enterprise. By removing these barriers, levels of self-employment, social enterprise activity and the business base will all be raised in deprived communities and amongst those currently under-represented groups. This will contribute to increased enterprise levels in Merseyside overall.

The types of barriers which prevent and/or limit the identified groups from engaging in enterprise are complex and will vary across communities, which makes a bottom-up, locally-based solution essential.

Objectives To ensure that all people with the potential to start up a business or enter into self-employment have the opportunity to do so, regardless of their background or circumstance. This means removing the barriers to enterprise experienced in deprived areas and by under-represented groups. This is to be achieved through tailored, locally-based support and coaching.

Example activities

The introduction of local community businesses coaches will lie at the very heart of activities delivered through this Action Area, acting as the organiser/facilitator of local enterprise events and as a channel for access to relevant support services. We will provide coaches to:

Undertake outreach activities – targeted at specific groups in local communities in Merseyside. This could encompass enterprise events and taster training sessions at community venues or in schools promoted to particular societies, and faith groups, etc.

Facilitate local connections – bringing together local businesses and entrepreneurs in formal and informal networks. This support must not be inward-facing and should involve establishing wider connections in Merseyside (perhaps linked to other coaches) and beyond.

Coach new entrepreneurs – guiding them one-on-one through the steps necessary to establish a successful business, signposting them to the appropriate forms and providers of business support

Provide aftercare services – it is important that the coach does not lose contact with assisted businesses once they have been established and is there to offer ongoing reassurance and advice in the crucial first stages of business creation. Indeed, enterprises which are successful through the scheme could be used as role models, promoting the scheme and providing advice and contacts.


A-8 8

Local community business coaching/support

This support is intended to be largely focused upon providing guidance to pre-starts and new starts. Businesses and entrepreneurs will be expected to seek services from mainstream and commercial providers once they have become established (within a reasonable time period).

In addition to the areas of activity outlined above, the local community business coach could also act as a ‘champion’ for the local area, encouraging inward investment from outside to ‘raise the game’ in terms of business activity in the area as whole. This could be introduced as a separate, complementary role – a local community business champion – in due course.


Disparity groups (e.g. young people, women, BME groups, over 50s, the disabled, inhabitants of deprived areas).


Local authorities (Lead, with the coordinating support of TMP), TMP, Business Link, Chambers of Commerce, Third sector organisations – supporting existing activities and programmes such as SLEGI etc.


Raise VAT registrations rate per 10,000 WAP, TEA, business start-up rate and self-employment rate (absolutely and closing the gap with North West and GB).

Performance measurement could be enhanced through identifying and geographically defining (e.g. by LSOA or ward) the most deprived areas in Merseyside to target action. (The ABI could then be used to measure the change in business data units in these areas).


A-9 9

5 Getting the most from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Getting the most from FDI

Rationale

UKTI (2006) recently conducted a review considering the benefits of inward investment. Key aspects included:

Direct and indirect productivity effects on UK firms – multinationals tend to have higher than average productivity and, as they increase their share in UK output, average productivity is enhanced. In addition, domestic firms experience increased access to new ideas and technologies, either through direct contacts with inward investors, or indirectly through knowledge spill-overs

Competition effects – Foreign firms compete with domestic ones for market share as well as resource inputs such as capital and labour, and ‘raise the game’ by bringing in superior management and marketing techniques and skills

Innovation effects – firms that invest in the UK tend to be more R&D intensive, but often only in their home country; innovation effects are materialised when foreign firms are able to exploit key knowledge networks.

Merseyside performs well within the North West in terms of inward investment (having captured 32% of jobs recreated from FDI in 2005-6). However, 60% of inward investors into Mersey already have other UK sites. The sub region’s sites are likely to be branches where staff have little control over the supply chain and hence there are fewer opportunities for spill-overs. This situation is exacerbated as a result of Merseyside’s outdated image as an area of declining traditional industries and low skilled workers.

Objectives The objective of this action area is to capitalise on the sub region’s current high profile to showcase its attractions as an investment location. The proposed series of actions aim to improve Merseyside’s image and promote the strength of its knowledge base and quality of life. It is also important to ensure that once companies have invested in Merseyside, they stay there and hence proactive aftercare is required.

Example activities

Support to be provided falls under the BSSP product ‘Getting the most from FDI’. Merseyside focussed activity should also include:

Promoting the Liverpool City Region as an attractive business destination: Merseyside has a one-off opportunity in 2008 to make its mark internationally and distinguish itself from other UK locations. Although the Capital of Culture is being widely publicised, this needs to translate into promoting Merseyside as a vibrant business destination with a highly skilled workforce and a range of state of the art business premises. This effort needs to continue beyond 2008 to maintain the momentum created by the Capital of Culture.

Higher value inward investment: UKTI’s emphasis is now on attracting more R&D/innovation intensive businesses into the UK. TMP need to build on their strong relationship with UKTI in order to ensure that Merseyside is actively promoted to potential investors as a location with a strong research base. Further, the emphasis going forward should be on attracting companies willing to place decision making capabilities within their Merseyside site.

Liverpool as a ‘Messestadt’ (i.e. a city renowned as a leading conference centre): Capitalising on the development of Liverpool One, TMP should seek to encourage major international trade fairs to use the city as a venue. These will bring overseas business people to the sub region and add-on events can then be organised to introduce them to the benefits on offer.


High value foreign direct investors.


TMP (Lead), sector organisations, Local Authorities, Chambers of Commerce, UKTI.


Output indicators (captured through project monitoring):

Number of inward investment projects


A-10 10

Getting the most from FDI

Number of ‘high value’ inward investment projects (UKTI definition)

Number of new jobs created

Number of Merseyside firms in foreign-owned company supply chains

Contribution to increases in the following impact indicators (from secondary sources):

Employment levels in knowledge intensive businesses

Number of staff in top three levels of the occupational structure


A-11 11

6 Business collaboration networks & priority sector development

Business collaboration networks & priority sector development

Rationale By working together in economically beneficial areas of commercial activity, businesses can significantly contribute to the development and strengthening of regional and sub-regional economies. The BSSP has indentified that businesses do not always collaborate, even in cases where there may be significant positive externalities and spill-overs from doing so. This is because there are specific barriers preventing them from doing so43:

A lack of awareness among potential participants of the benefits from collaboration

Problems in internalising the benefits of collaboration to the business

Disagreement between participants over how to divide up the benefits of collaboration.

Where these barriers exist, it will be necessary to introduce public sector interventions to remove them. Although the BSSP highlights this as a regional issue, sub-regional bodies and local authorities can play a crucial role in addressing it, in accordance with the principles of the SNR.

These networks should be aligned with Merseyside’s high value-added and priority sectors as these are the sectors whose growth will have the largest impact on increasing Merseyside’s GVA and narrowing the gap with the region and UK. The Action Plan for the Liverpool City Region 2008-2011 identifies the following priority sectors:

high value-added sectors: life sciences, digital and creative industries, maritime and financial and professional services

high employment sectors: tourism, food and drink, business services and automotive

the emerging environment and energy technologies cluster.

Objectives To establish collaboration networks involving Merseyside’s businesses and link to the wider region. These will bring together businesses to indentify and exploit commercial opportunities

To use these networks to significantly raise the performance and competiveness of businesses in Merseyside

To prioritise key sectors in the ongoing economic development of Merseyside by ensuring that they play an active and leading role within business collaboration networks.

Example activities

From sector organisations to sector consortia – The existing key sector organisations undertake a combination of business advice and sector promotion. The aim would be to build on this to develop the organisations into consortia with sector companies as members. In terms of business support, the consortia could apply to become specialist brokers for Business Link NW and would then become the focus of sector support in the sub region. Underlying activities would be focussed on driving up productivity, accessing new markets, encouraging inward investment, fostering enterprise and innovation and raising skills levels.

Facilitator companies – in addition to the sector organisations, we will direct BERR facilitation subsidies to intermediate companies with a proven track record in facilitating business networking to establish collaboration networks among new and more established SMEs. These networks will bring together groups of businesses and key partners with common interests or characteristics, such as high growth companies or businesses in

43 http://www.berr.gov.uk/bbf/simplifying-business-support/page41629.html


A-12 12

Business collaboration networks & priority sector development

deprived areas which are currently without a suitable networking body.

The networks are intended to be time limited and will carry a number of restrictions – importantly, one of these is that networks should focus on activities highlighted in Regional Economic Strategies. We need to be able to position Merseyside businesses to make the most of the opportunities provided through these networks – this may mean encouraging local businesses to become facilitators, ensuring network events are held in Merseyside or running sub-regional, complimentary events and forums in Merseyside. Indeed, the Sirolli projects in Liverpool are based around a very similar concept and could be used to feed into this opportunity and/or even be extended across Merseyside.

The types of activities which facilitator companies would develop are awareness-raising events and activities, ‘reaching out’ and indentifying relevant participants, facilitating forums and collaborative work groups and establishing contacts with interrelated networks across England.


SMEs, businesses in Merseyside’s priority sectors.


TMP (Lead), NWDA, sector organisations, local authorities, universities, Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), UKTI, MSIF and the Sirolli Boards.


Increases in GVA, GVA per head and GVA per employee (absolute and narrowing the gap with the region and UK).

Increase in absolute employment in Merseyside’s priority sectors44 and an increase in the proportion of the WAP employed in Merseyside’s priority sectors within an expanding economy with employment levels continuing to rise (to be achieved through the CES).

44 The SIC definitions for Merseyside’s key sectors will need to be clearly defined to match the sectors identified in the Action Plan for the Liverpool City Region 2008-2011


A-13 13

7 Preparing to export/investigating new markets

Preparing to export/investigating new markets

Rationale

Developing overseas markets for its goods and services is an important step in the growth of a business. In the case of some businesses, their very survival may depend on the development of new markets as existing market opportunities fall away.

However, businesses may be reluctant to consider exporting given the difficulty of sourcing reliable information on overseas opportunities. They may not be able to see how the benefits of overseas trade can justify the costs of exploring new markets.

Given the need to grow Merseyside businesses (as demonstrated by the significantly lower VAT registration rates in the sub region compared with the region as a whole and nationally), developing their export potential would appear to be a priority. Research has also found that export-oriented domestic businesses cope better with the inflow of FDI, both in terms of being better able to withstand the competition (due to their diversified customer base) and to their greater absorptive capacity for beneficial spill-over effects.

Objectives The aim of this action area is to support Merseyside’s SMEs as they prepare to export for the first time and to assist all businesses in the sub region as they explore new markets.

Example activities

UKTI already provides a range of trade development services falling within the BSSP products, Preparing to Export and Investigating New Markets. We will enhance these offerings through additional funding:

Passport to Export: advice and guidance to would-be new exporters from the regional UKTI International Trade Team on how to prepare to undertake international business for the first time. This advice covers preparing the operations of the business for export, deciding which export markets to choose, researching he markets and building contacts as well as handling the legal, tax and financial issues.

Export market research: a service available to all businesses providing information on, and contacts in, new export markets. Where required, the UKTI staff in British embassies and consulates worldwide will provide introductions for Merseyside exporters to government and business officials in their chosen countries. In addition to UKTI’s services, we will commission regular research so that we have up to date information on export market opportunities for Merseyside companies.

Trade shows: We will ensure that Merseyside is represented at the key trade shows worldwide where we can showcase our priority sectors. Our support will take the form of sponsoring specific Merseyside trade stands along with appropriate promotional literature. We will also finance add-on events (receptions, dinners) to enable Merseyside companies to meet relevant business contacts from the host countries.

Focussed new market research: We will commission specific pieces of research to explore opportunities for Merseyside companies in key growth markets.


Merseyside businesses (especially SMEs).


TMP in partnership with chambers of commerce and UKTI, Business Link NW, Local Authorities, Federation of Small Businesses.


Output indicators (increases captured through project monitoring):

Number of new companies exporting

Number of new markets into which companies exporting


A-14 14

Preparing to export/investigating new markets

Number of new jobs created

Level of R&D activity per firm


Number of VAT registrations per 10,000 WAP (absolute increase plus narrowing the gap with the North West/Great Britain)

Number of VAT registered stocks per 10,000 WAP (absolute increase plus narrowing the gap with the North West/Great Britain)

GVA per employee


A-15 15

8 Access to business expertise for growth

Access to business expertise for growth

Rationale

The business start-up rates in Merseyside (2006: 12 new firms per 1,000 WAP) lag those of the North West (14) and England and Wales (13), but not significantly. The Merseyside 1 year and 3 year survival rates match the national and regional averages. However, in 2006, Merseyside lagged Great Britain by 58% in terms of VAT registration rates and 68% in terms of VAT registered stocks. What these figures suggest is that whilst Merseyside is keeping up in terms of business starts and early stage survival, the businesses are failing to grow to the stage at which they become liable to register for VAT.

This is a concern for the Merseyside economy because it needs growing businesses to generate employment and supply opportunities for other local businesses. However, growth needs to be combined with efficient processes in order to ensure that GVA per employee is enhanced.

It is clear from local consultations that both inherently high growth companies and other companies that have grown more modestly over a number of years need support to take their businesses on to the next stage of development.

Objectives The objective of this action area is to provide assistance to Merseyside companies to take the next steps in growing their businesses. This support will be tailored to their needs and beneficiaries will include both ‘high growth’ companies and other Merseyside businesses (including social enterprises) wishing to develop their activities.

Example activities

Support to be provided falls under the BSSP product ‘Business expertise for Growth’. Through Business Link NW we will develop:

Mentoring: the clear feedback from consultations is that what small businesses value most is mentoring by advisors who understand both their sector and their size of business – thus providing relevant, focussed advice. In partnership with Business Link NW, we will tender for experienced local business mentors. Advice will cover all aspects of business development including management, finance, sales and marketing, operations and premises.

Leadership coaching: the transition from being an entrepreneur to the chief executive of a growing company is a major step change. We will work with Business Link to provide coaching to enable Merseyside entrepreneurs to develop the skills to lead an increasing large company. This will include developing their abilities in strategic thinking and planning along with recruiting experienced professionals onto the board. It will also cover developing an understanding of governance issues and the need to bring on board non-executive directors

Public sector supply chain initiative: an area of business that Merseyside SMEs could usefully exploit to develop their businesses is the sub regional public sector supply chain. However, the need to demonstrate cost effective purchasing has led to public sector entities being unwilling to include small businesses in their supply chain. The public sector supply chain initiative will therefore:

Seek efficiency improvements in the way in which Public Sector resources and assets are procured and used in the delivery of services – thus reducing unit costs and releasing resources for alternative uses

Work with all public procurers in Merseyside to identify and secure cost savings through, for example, aggregation of product and service demand

Develop procurement skills and expertise within Merseyside’s Public Sector, designed, inter alia, to raise awareness of the benefits to Merseyside flowing from a more localised commitment to procurement

Work with others to equip small firms, VCOs, and social, female-owned and ethnic minority businesses to access Public Procurement opportunities

Implement the Oneform approach. Developed as part of the St Helen’s LEGI, this involves the


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Access to business expertise for growth

development of one form covering all the data requirements of the various sub-regional procurement teams. Local businesses fill this in once (with updates) and the form can then be configured in a variety of ways to meet procurement needs. It would thus produce a major saving in time and bidding costs for local businesses.


All Merseyside SMEs with growth potential


Business Link NW (Lead), TMP, business mentors, Local Authorities, Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, PCT, Merseyside Police, MSIF, HEIs, Housing associations.



Number of VAT registrations per 10,000 WAP (absolute increase plus narrowing the gap with the North West/Great Britain)

Number of VAT registered stocks per 10,000 WAP (absolute increase plus narrowing the gap with the North West/Great Britain)

GVA per employee.


A-17 17

9 Skills solutions for business

Skills solutions for Business

Rationale Merseyside’s workforce is currently poorly skilled compared to major competitor city-regions both in the UK and globally – increasingly, this will constrain its competiveness in the global economy, as made clear by the Leitch Review. According to 2006 data, 60% of the WAP on Merseyside held an NVQ level 2 or above, compared to 64% both regionally and at the Great Britain level. Within the sub-region, the comparable figure is as low as 50% in Knowsley and rises to 65% in Wirral. If we look at NVQ level 4 and above, there are also clear deficits on Merseyside, with 21% of the WAP holding NVQ 2 or above compared with 25% in the North West and 27% for Great Britain.

The principal argument for public sector intervention in supporting businesses to train their staff is that some of the benefits of employer investment in training is captured by others, particularly when investing in the training of the least skilled and qualified. Part of the solution is for employers to be supported in realising the full business benefits in investing in skills solutions, but also in being supported to achieve the right solution through brokerage.

Entrepreneurial activity is also relatively low in Merseyside vis a vis the area’s business ambitions - in part due to a lack of practical skills for business, particularly amongst certain social groups resulting in the under-performance of many businesses and poor outcomes for low-skilled individuals in terms of social inclusion, employment, earnings and general quality of life. There is, therefore, a strong equity case to improve the skill levels of those who are economically inactive or from disadvantaged groups – and for whom a lack of basic skills acts as a barrier to start up.

The rationale for action under this thematic area is reinforced by the recently developed Liverpool City Region / Merseyside Employment and Skills Strategy. The Delivery Plan sets out an ambitious agenda for action through creating:

“an area of productive, leading edge, innovative businesses, with economically sustainable, skilled working communities providing a highly skilled and flexible workforce. The CES will contribute to this by strengthening skills and employment services for employers across the travel to work area and for workless people in the most severe concentrations of deprivation.”

The rationale is also in alignment with one of the key priorities contained in the North West Statement of Skills Priorities 2007-2010.

Objectives The overarching objective for this Action Area is to help Merseyside businesses to improve the skills of their employees and supporting individuals to enhance their skills for business so that they can successfully compete in local, sub-regional, regional, national and international markets long into the future.

The underlying objectives are to improve productivity, business performance and individual achievement through investment in the skills and competencies of the workforce and potential entrepreneurs, thus helping Merseyside to eradicate its skills deficits by 2020 and contributing to the wider UK goal of making it a world leader in skills by the same year.

Example activities

Through an integrated brokerage service or directly, through expert providers, Merseyside employers and potential entrepreneurs will have access to high quality tailored advice and guidance to create a skills solution that best meets local needs. The focus will be on creating greater awareness amongst local firms stimulating demand for skills support through schemes such as SkillWorks, Train to Gain and The Skills Pledge amongst others.

Support will be available to all employers, including those from disadvantaged groups or areas. Support will be available for:

businesses of all sizes with low skilled employees - support to help them gain their first basic skills qualification, first full level 2 qualification and, depending on sector and geographical location of organisation and chosen provider, subsidies for subsequent qualifications to update


A-18 18

Skills solutions for Business

skills or gain a more technical and specialised qualification, including first level of management or tailored ‘selling skills’

businesses with 20 to 250 employees - subsidised support for owners/managers to develop their leadership and management skills at various levels

individuals needing higher level skills - subsidised support for individuals to achieve first full level 4, depending on sector and geographical location of business and chosen provider

potential entrepreneurs from under represented and economically disadvantaged groups to help them gain the skills and awareness required to start a business, including appropriate language skills, and skills to realise the opportunities for social enterprise.

Specialist support will also available to encourage innovation in the workplace. This will include knowledge management, intellectual property management, sharing best practice, exploration and introduction of new technologies as well as leadership and management training.


All Merseyside-based employers will be eligible, although the focus will be on those employers who would not otherwise have engaged in training or those from disadvantaged groups or in deprived areas. Skills support will also be available to disadvantaged individuals who have an identified potential for enterprise.


City Region Employment and Skills Board and Business Link NW as joint leads – plus the local authorities, Business Link NW, Federation for Small Businesses, Chambers of Commerce, FE colleges, local universities and other specialist local support providers.


Raising skills levels (NVQ level 2+) and higher-end qualifications such as degrees (NCQ level 4+)

Increasing the business start up rate across all of Merseyside’s LADs

Increasing the business survivability rate across all of Merseyside’s LADs

Increasing business density levels across the sub-region

Raising the total number of VAT registered businesses across all of Merseyside’s LADs

Increasing GVA per head across the sub-region and reducing the deficit with the rest of the NW region.


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10 Innovation collaboration

Innovation collaboration

Rationale Merseyside, and indeed the whole of the UK, currently lags behind its major competitors in capitalising on scientific discovery and technological advancements by turning them into successful commercial products and services. Through its support to knowledge institutions, the UK Government has a responsibility and role to play in supporting research and development in technologies that are at a very early stage of development, or which mainly benefit society as a whole.

Businesses can under-invest in certain types of research and development due to concerns about spill-over effects and being able to capture the true wider benefits. Further, there are potential external benefits from collaborative research and development. However, many businesses often lack effective mechanisms to develop collaborative working relationships with other businesses and knowledge institutions, which leads to the under–development of new ideas and missed commercial opportunities.

Finance will be made available through this action area to assist collaboration by firms on Merseyside (and outside of the sub-region) to develop and exploit new business ideas.

This action area will support the delivery of the North West Science Strategy.

Objectives The overarching objective of this action area is to stimulate productivity and economic competitiveness across Merseyside through increased innovation within the indigenous local business base and by attracting star performers to the sub-region.

Wider objectives include incentivising and facilitating increased knowledge exchange and encouraging technological diffusion between businesses and knowledge base institutions through increased collaborations.

Example activities

Interventions under this action area are likely to mirror those set out under the BSSP product of the same name. Indicative activities for Merseyside are likely to include the existing Business Bridge and Knowledge Transfer Programmes as well as the following new activities:

Networking for Innovation

Funding for business-facing networks across the sub-region to encourage businesses to build relationships with other businesses, intermediaries and universities to improve knowledge exchange and innovation. Interventions will be proportionate and time limited through well defined exit strategies. Initially, it is envisaged that these networking events will support existing sector development activities across Merseyside

Partnerships for Innovation

Placement and funding of an under-graduate or graduate from a Higher Education Institution in a business to share skills and expertise of value to the business via a strategic project

Exchange of staff between businesses and Higher Education Institutions

Collaborative research and development

Collaborative research and development activities where a business works with another business and/ or with Higher Education Institutions, to develop key technologies for future needs or for radically new products involving the embedding of key technologies

Large scale demonstrator projects that promote the potential of key technologies to a sub-regional or city-regional audience.


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Innovation collaboration


SMEs, larger companies and local Higher Education Institutions engaging in placement and exchange secondments, collaborative research and development activities or collaborative demonstration projects.

Intermediaries to reduce set up and administration costs of networks, which allow businesses to pursue innovation collaboration projects that have the most benefit to the economy.


Local HEI sector with TMP as joint strategic leads – plus the local authorities, NWDA sector leads, NW Science Council, Business Link and key local business representatives such as the Chambers of Commerce etc.


Raise R & D investment levels across the sub-region.

Increase the number of new technology spin outs that locate in the sub-region.

Improve occupancy rates within Merseyside’s key high technology business environments such as the Liverpool Science and Innovation Parks.

Increase the number of new patents lodged by Merseyside-based firms.

Increase the level of employment within Knowledge Intensive Businesses (KIBs) across Merseyside.


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11 Leveraging key knowledge/technology assets

Leveraging key knowledge/technology assets

Rationale The science and wider technology-related business support/development infrastructure across Merseyside and in surrounding areas has been enhanced dramatically over recent years. For example, through the development of the national bio-manufacturing centre in Speke, the expansion of the School of Tropical Medicine within Liverpool’s emerging Knowledge Quarter (now supporting over 14,000 jobs and generating over £280 m of annual income), the expansion of the Heath and neighbouring Daresbury innovation campuses in Cheshire, various sector-specific business incubators across the sub-region, as well as the development of Liverpool’s Science/Innovation/Technology Parks with strong links to the local Higher Education Institutions, Merseyside now has a competitive portfolio of knowledge and technology assets. In addition, Merseyside also boasts some major private sector R & D investors such as Unilever, Jaguar/Land Rover, Eli Lilly, Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb etc. Many of these organisations already have well-established links into broad science and technology focused sectoral networks, such as BioNW and Chemicals North West. In addition, the North West Innovation Network (NWIN) was established to secure greater co-operation and knowledge sharing amongst the region’s organisations tasked with fostering innovation.

However, although Merseyside benefits from these key knowledge assets, a more joined-up and strategic approach at the sub-regional level is now required to ensure that further growth and momentum can be achieved, which in turn will generate further wealth and opportunity for the sub-region. Public sector partners can play a key role here in ensuring that the full potential of key knowledge sites is achieved by preserving these facilities solely for the use of technology-focused businesses. In addition, care must be taken to ensure that there is a world class supply of premises and support catering for all stages of business growth – from pre start up, to start up, to grow-on space and larger sites.

In addition, the recently published UK government White Paper on Innovation45 reinforces the need for places like Merseyside to excel at generating and disseminating knowledge, and to exploit it commercially. It also calls for further investment in scientific excellence and increasing the opportunities for innovation.

Objectives A pre-requisite for success is to ensure that the necessary linkages between entrepreneurship programmes running on Merseyside – designed to change the local business culture by fostering interest in new business formation and providing the necessary training and advice for existing and potential entrepreneurs – and key physical business assets with a strong technology focus maximise their true potential.

The primary objective under this action area is to maximise this growth potential by adopting a more strategic approach to developing a hierarchy of incubation and other technology-focused business development assets across the sub-region so that they complement and benefit from one another as well as playing to key local Higher Education and wider cluster strengths.

Example activities

Under this action area we envisage a mix of integrated activities designed to bring about the continued development of a hierarchy of high quality business and innovation environments:

A broad innovation programme that fosters interest in new business and ideas formation and provides training and advice for potential entrepreneurs as a feed into incubators and other dedicated premises is a pre-requisite for future success

First level provision is of community based initiatives that foster locally focused enterprises including social enterprise

Second level, commercial business orientation with a higher value jobs potential but still with a largely district level market focus

45 http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file11990.pdf


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Leveraging key knowledge/technology assets

Third level sub-regional business incubators with a high growth potential and a selective cluster focus looking to market across Merseyside and extend even wider afield

Fourth level flagship regional initiatives that have a clear and well defined priority cluster focus and offer incubation as one of a range of cluster development programmes to a North West region-wide clientele.

Indicative activities may include the:

Effective implementation of the recommendations set out within the Liverpool Knowledge Quarter prospectus and the North West Science Strategy

Development of a sub-regional strategy for technology related land and property business assets building on district-level priorities and aligning these with regional (and national) imperatives such as those set out in the North West Science Strategy. As part of this exercise, identification of the key constraints on further growth and any mis-matches between current or anticipated future supply and demand. In addition, explore ways of fostering further growth through more joint action on the ground such as marketing between key sites – crucially, this should include those that are owned and managed by the private sector

Identify emerging funding opportunities to bid for other cutting edge infrastructure and technology projects from central government departments, the NWDA (such as the Regional Innovation Fund), the private sector and other sources including pan European opportunities.


Major science and technology assets across the sub-region including key firms, sector support agencies, policy makers, Higher Education Institutions, physical assets and the North West Innovation Network.


TMP as the strategic lead – plus The North West Innovation Network, NWDA, local Higher Education Institutions, Liverpool Science Park, The Heath, Daresbury SIC, National Bio-manufacturing Centre, BioNW and Liverpool Innovation Park.


Increase the number of new technology spin outs that locate in the sub-region.

Improve occupancy rates within Merseyside’s key high technology business environments such as the Liverpool Science and Innovation Parks.

Increase the level of employment within Knowledge Intensive Businesses (KIBs) across Merseyside.

Raise GVA per capita across the sub-region.

Attract high quality inward investment projects to the strategically important sites – such as a clear global leader.

The Enterprise

Documents

liverpool city region

local business growth

business incubationfacilities

business base

strategy document

final strategy

rate of economic growth

competitor city regionsacross