On behalf of everyone at OxLEP, I would like to thank you for taking the time to review this year’s annual report: ‘Continuing to lead, deliver and champion for Oxfordshire.’
The ‘eagle-eyed’ amongst you – who have perhaps worked with us for a number of years – will have noted that the title for this year’s report resembles that of the same publication from a few years’ ago. Our thought is, in fact, this title is particularly apt to reignite right now, given our achievements over the past 12 months.
It would though be unwise not to firstly reflect on a development that occurred towards the end of this financial year.
For those of you perhaps unaware, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his spring statement that government ‘core’ funding – supporting the operational running of Local Enterprise Partnerships across England – was to be withdrawn as of March 2024, with LEP operations also needing to align with the upper-tier authority for that area.
It’s worth pointing out that, in practice, this has a very different meaning for all LEPs and a quick ‘Google search’ will provide you with a number of different scenarios, depending on respective local set-ups.
For us – government funding actually makes up a small percentage of our overall revenue, particularly in comparison to other LEPs.
As many of you maybe aware, in recent years, Local Enterprise Partnerships have gone through a number of reviews – this has in fact only helped to reinforce the critical and positive role we have played for Oxfordshire’s economy for many years.
There is genuine recognition from all partners of the tremendous impact we have made over a sustained period of time and, in particular, during times of significant need.
In the coming weeks and months, we will work with our local authority partners and business community to ensure that the invaluable support, delivered by OxLEP, can continue thanks to the significant knowledge, delivery capacity and reach into our business community that we have.
What is undoubted is we are well-positioned moving forward thanks to our offer.
We have a track record of important delivery – from our £107.5m Local Growth Fund investment that will lead to almost 10,000 new jobs being created by 2030, through to over 6,000 businesses being supported directly by OxLEP since 2016 – we know Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire knows we are here for them. We are proud of these achievements.
OxLEP stands ready to continue to be a delivery partner of choice to our local authority partners – as we have been for many years – including the delivery of over £4 million of programmes over the past year alone prioritising social mobility, support for our visitor economy and for local businesses too.
Our existing programmes – like our Visitor Economy Renaissance Programme and Social Contract Programme – are positioned to support, respectively, a key sector for Oxfordshire and people who might, for many reasons, become disenfranchised from our labour market. We are adaptable and well-positioned.
Like all businesses, we have needed to evaluate our own approach and we believe our new ‘look’ will continue to give you strong and effective support that you all need at this critical time.
Our close ties with our local authorities, business community, education providers and universities offers invaluable knowledge at a critical economic time.
Over the past decade, we have worked closely with all our major local partners – and further field – to ensure our business community can be the very best they can be.
The significant Oxfordshire ‘whole system’ approach remains strong and has seen our local authorities, health partners and community groups working together to support the county as a whole at its time of need, post-Covid. We are a key player within this through our ‘business voice’.
We remain an outstanding and key player in the development, resilience and ongoing performance of the Oxfordshire economy. Our emerging Strategic Economic Plan is evidence of this, and – working with our partner organisations – we are developing an approach that emphasises the need for Oxfordshire’s strong economy to be of benefit to all, via:
- Enabling Oxfordshire’s businesses to thrive, and encourage pervasive innovation
- Widening access to current opportunities and equip people and places as jobs change over the next decade
- Securing resilient infrastructure for planned growth, consistent with Oxfordshire’s commitment to net zero carbon by 2050
- Ensuring that Oxfordshire’s places are sustainable and inclusive, and that local communities flourish
We need to ensure that our programmes give you the best opportunity to be productive and indeed, resilient given the continued challenges. We really encourage as many businesses as possible to engage with us across our teams – we need to deliver for you.
Please do remain communicative with us and we will continue to update you on our future arrangements in the coming weeks and months.
Wishing you all the very best for the year ahead.
Nigel Tipple
Chief Executive – OxLEP