In-light of the current Coronavirus outbreak, the local enterprise partnership for Oxfordshire is running a series of digital Q&As, which will see a panel made-up of some of the county’s leading business and elected leaders, tackling key themes around the pandemic.
OxLEP announced today (23 April) that it will be running a series of digital Q&A events to support the county’s business community through the Coronavirus pandemic.
Over the past two years, OxLEP has hosted numerous business Q&As, covering key economic priorities for the county, such as ‘Productivity’, ‘Placemaking’ and ‘Connectivity’, along with topical areas of discussion including Brexit.
Following-on from the success of these events – that’s helped to bring dozens of Oxfordshire businesses together – the local enterprise partnership will now be taking its series of Q&As online in-light of the global pandemic.
To ensure Oxfordshire businesses are kept as up-to-date as possible, the series of digital Q&As will be streamed more frequently, with the first four scheduled to air weekly, as of next Thursday.
The first Q&A session on ‘Supporting businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic’ will be available via OxLEP’s YouTube channel from midday on Thursday 30 April and the organisation is currently welcoming questions from the county’s business community through its social media channels, using the hashtag #OxLEPQandA.
The Q&A will be chaired by former BBC Radio Oxford presenter, Howard Bentham, who will ask a panel of business leaders questions on issues such as; access to the set of newly-created Government Coronavirus business support schemes, rate relief grants administered by the county’s local authorities and potential measures businesses can put in-place to help them to be more resilient.
The following panel members will take part in the Q&A:
- Cllr Barry Wood – Leader, Cherwell District Council and OxLEP Board member
- Wendy Hart – Partner, Grant Thornton and OxLEP Board member
- Ashley Keen – Local Director, Metro Bank
- Isabel Bishop – Partner, Knights PLC
Following-on from this first event, three further digital Q&As will take place across consecutive weeks.
They will cover themes including; the effect of Coronavirus on our visitor economy, its impact on skills and training in Oxfordshire and how the pandemic is impacting our rural businesses and communities.
Businesses can submit a question for the first Q&A via Twitter, using the hashtag #OxLEPQandA.
‘Supporting businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic’ will be available from midday on Thursday 30 April via the Oxfordshire LEP YouTube channel.
