Skills and Employability
Funding challenges.
Skills – more innovation and creativity from employers.
How we support employers with leadership and management skills.
Speak to employers about what their training requirements - shorter snappier courses.
Ensure a balance between digital delivery and potential digital exclusion.
Any recovery has to be led from skills perspective to ensure supporting businesses as well as individuals.
Rural Economy
Discussion concentrated on the value of small companies to the rural economy and connectedness they have to communities.
It will be particularly important that agencies listen to the needs of small business at the moment and consider how this is done. So potentially contacting small businesses by intermediaries such as FSB, Chambers, rather than agencies themselves.
There is concern that new funds such as the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund, might not go to very smallest business.
Agencies working very differently together on behalf of government, to get help to grassroots, with small companies being asked to identify gaps. However, there are finite resources so tough choices to be made.
Coming out of this, we should see a different way of working between the Business Gateway and the main agencies, to fill the gap in middle, between micro businesses and those growing to scale. Return to more general approach to rural development to help businesses more generally especially around digital.
Urban and Town Centres
There has been some government rhetoric about inclusiveness and fairness but it has not filtered through to the real economy and to policy. Underpin the economic framework with community wealth, green agenda, healthier and inclusive policy.
A need to build on digital to rebalance clicks versus bricks in our physical places.
Big opportunities for municipalities’ local government to step up to plate. We will see towns in National Planning 4 framework and national infrastructure plan. Now, if you look at the agglomeration effect around green, housing and digital in towns, the national picture builds up very quickly if scaled up. With property values so low, allow public sector pension funds to do what speculators normally do – take control for period of time, clean up and repurpose properties to be more imaginative, citizen based solution. Passed on eventually to social enterprise but building in what citizens want rather than taking what developers will offer as clone towns.
So in summary, key is, national policy from central government and radical approach by local government in partnership to re-piece the high street in towns and cities.
Small Businesses
How nimble small businesses had been in pivoting to new business models. Digital transformation is something that has taken hold and we should capitalise but need to consider support.
New models – role of communities and community/local governance.
Capacity issues in terms of administering immediate support to business.
Is this the moment o change how we do things, can we think about fair work for example. Will we now try brave new policies or revert. There’s never been a better opportunity but will we really overcome challenges to begin new approaches.

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