Those hoping for better business support at a local level will have been cheered by the recent news that England’s 39 regional growth bodies are to be handed £17 billion of public money between now and 2021.
In the long term, that optimism may prove well placed, but small companies looking for help from the organisations – called Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) – may have to wait a while before they see any significant action.
What are LEPs?
LEPs are partnerships between business leaders, academics and the public sector. They are being supported as part of a drive to devolve power away from central government and towards the regions. After all, who could be better placed than local bosses when it comes to knowing what their region needs to make it thrive?
Good intentions
Business support forms part of the LEP remit and most LEPs want to provide hands-on support for local companies – indeed many have plans to set up so-called ‘growth hubs’ to do just that. However, as LEP leader Alex Pratt has acknowledged, a lot of the work the organisations have done to date has been in projects such as improving local transport infrastructure – the kind of work normally led by public sector experts.
Ongoing, group funding will continue to be largely spent in areas such as transport, skills support, and upgrading rural broadband. Although these are all vital areas of investment for local small businesses, funding could also be utilised to tackle the challenges faced by individual businesses.
Local knowledge
The advantage LEPs have over national support structures is that they know what entrepreneurs in their area most need in order to thrive. For example, the Birmingham LEP is going to focus its growth hub on helping companies improve their advanced manufacturing processes and on improving their supply chains – good news for Midlands engineering businesses.
The flipside to this is that the vast majority of business support schemes are run on a national basis, leaving LEPs with the more reduced role of ‘signposting’ local companies on where to go. Of course, that service in itself could prove useful ¬– most small businesses are unaware of the plethora of government schemes available, so a local service that explains what’s on offer and tells them how to apply may be invaluable to some company owners.
Ambitious plans
The vast majority of LEPs, however, will have ambitions to provide far more comprehensive business support than that. If they can prove their worth by delivering on the first set of projects they’ve had funding for, and then lobby to handle larger business support contracts as they become available, they could play a major role in supporting entrepreneurs in the regions.
"The advantage LEPs have over national support structures is that they know what entrepreneurs in their area most need in order to thrive."Firstly, they’ll have to work to make more companies aware that they exist – most small businesses have never heard of LEPs, let alone know what they might have to offer. As the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has pointed out, one way to achieve that might be to involve more small companies in their activities. John Allan, the national chairman of the FSB, says, “LEPs would be better placed to maximise local growth opportunities if they consulted more effectively with the small business community”. Great expectations Given the amount of public money that is being given to the organisations, it’s understandable if expectations are high. However, it’s easy to forget how nascent the groups are – many have been around for less than two years and are only now starting to establish the resources they need to make a difference. If many LEPs haven’t reached out to small companies in their regions yet, it’s probably because they’ve had little to say. As their activities expand in the months and years to come, optimism will grow that they can provide companies with help in crucial areas such as access to finance, growing export sales and hiring skilled staff. For now though, patience is advised. Read about the work of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP _______________________________________________________________