September 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full policy conference taking place online***
This conference is examining the development of the Liverpool City Region Local Industrial Strategy, bringing together key stakeholders and policymakers.
Latest developments and next steps - the discussion at a glance:
Policymakers and stakeholders will examine latest developments and next steps, looking at:
- the Strategy’s aims - the way forward for achieving inclusive and sustainable growth, delivery of new infrastructure, and securing improvements to wellbeing.
- the local economy - priorities for local business development, community support, and improving opportunities for city residents
- Liverpool’s R&D base - higher education facilities, regional skills, and protecting business and research institutions - including from potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
- social challenges - next steps in health, wellbeing and tackling poverty across Liverpool, and improving city-wide infrastructure such as housing and transportation
- cross-regional collaboration - and improving economic and business links with key stakeholders outside of Liverpool
- COVID-19 - how the pandemic has affected Liverpool, its communities and citizens, including:
- future of the local industrial strategy - what it means for its development and implementation
- next steps - the new priorities that it introduces for economic recovery, planning, and supporting public health and wellbeing
The discussion in detail:
Connectivity
Looking at the Liverpool City Region and more widely, including rural areas:
- transport priorities - what is needed from the Strategy to support regeneration and contribute to carbon reduction in new infrastructure development
- government commitments - what the policy emphasis on infrastructure investment, including for a number of major railway projects, means for the Strategy, including:
- HS2 and Northern Powerhouse rail - the impact on Merseyside’s economy, and the effect of boosting passenger and freight capacity
- Liverpool2 - the potential of the Port of Liverpool’s container terminal
Housing
- meeting need - Liverpool City Council’s strategy to match vacant homes with homeless people living in hotels during the lockdown, with housing associations making over 200 houses available
- funding - looking at schemes such as Foundations, set up by the city council with the aim of creating 10,000 affordable new homes over the next decade, with the Council estimating that the city will need 27,000 new homes by 2030 to meet demand, and Liverpool experiencing a shortage of affordable homes
Business innovation and growth
- new businesses - what more support is needed, including in securing funding
- supporting innovation and retaining talent locally - increasing collaboration between universities and businesses, with concerns about a focus on large scale ventures that excludes SMEs
- export - supporting businesses to increase the potential of their international trade in products and services
- high value sectors - driving growth in sectors such as maritime and the visitor economy, in order to create more employment
- high-value employment - including wider measures to improve productivity
An inclusive economy
Strategic options for supporting the aims of:
- widening prosperity - for individuals and communities across the region
- inequalities - addressing longstanding challenges, particularly in health, employment, skills, and connectivity
Health and wellbeing
- child poverty - and the way forward for tackling wider inequalities across the region
- mental health - and how to address the underlying factors, including depression and anxiety - with Liverpool reportedly having one of the highest rates of in the country
Relevant developments at a glance:
- the Liverpool City Region Local Industrial Strategy - which will outline:
- a vision for developing local economic and business potential
- new opportunities for city residents
- measures to alleviate health and wellbeing challenges across the City Region
- child poverty - creation by Liverpool City Council of the Standing Action Group on Poverty and Life Chances focusing on opportunities to reduce child poverty across Liverpool
- supporting innovation - the Future Innovation Fund pilot programme to support SMEs to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances resulting from the pandemic
- funding:
- relevant measures in the Spring Budget including increasing public R&D investment, as well as support for major infrastructure projects like HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail
- the Getting Building Fund - £26m from central government going to Littlewoods Studios, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Glass Futures and Halsnead Garden Village
- active travel - new infrastructure projects to promote health and wellbeing across all six boroughs of the City Region, including 23km of new pop-up cycle lanes and expanded footpaths
- Wellbeing Economy Alliance - LCRCA is the first governmental body to join the WEAll, which aims to ensure that the economy prioritises shared wellbeing and a healthy planet
- COVID-19:
- impact - on families and communities in Liverpool, as well as on economic growth
- support - including the launch by the mayors of Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester and the TUC of Time Out to Help Out, a new campaign to pay workers if they are requested to self-isolate under the NHS Test and Trace system
The agenda:
- The Liverpool City Region Local Industrial Strategy - priorities for supporting communities and business
- Positioning Liverpool at the forefront of R&D
- Developing Liverpool’s businesses and productivity - regional skills, collaboration with the HE sector, and moving forward from the impact of COVID on families, communities and the economy
- Wellbeing and social challenges throughout Liverpool - priorities for tackling poverty, inequality and poor mental health
- The relationship between the Isle of Man and Liverpool City Region - economic co-operation and promoting business links
- Next steps for housing, major infrastructure projects and transport
Policy officials attending
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders.
It is certainly the case with this conference. Places have been reserved by representatives from BEIS; MHCLG; the Department for Education; DWP; UKRI; the Intellectual Property Office; HM Revenue & Customs; DCMS; Department for International Trade; Northern Powerhouse Investment Hub; and OPSS.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
