The five roundtables are being led by Local Enterprise Partnership chairs and include businesses from the following economic areas: East and West Midlands, Catalyst South, Northern Powerhouse 11, Oxford-Cambridge Arc & New Anglia, and South West.

Business and Industry Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said:

“These roundtables put a clear focus on green economic recovery and our ambition to achieve our net zero goals by 2050.

“These are an invaluable way for government, Local Enterprise Partnerships and business leaders to join together, share local expertise in green innovation across sectors and ensure the UK is on course to build back greener from the pandemic.”

This is the third round of LEP business roundtables and follows on from the success of business discussions with Ministers in May and July. For this round, business representatives were drawn from across the SME community within place-based sector strengths as follows:

• Midlands: automotive, infrastructure, and construction.
• Northern Powerhouse 11: science and research, including life sciences and health, and technology.
• Oxford/Cambridge Arc and New Anglia: green technologies and clean growth.
• Catalyst South: energy, including innovators and disruptors in the net zero space.
• South West: enterprise, start-ups and microbusinesses in the net zero space.

Chair of the LEP Network, Mark Bretton, said:

“Green innovation is a central thread of our Rebuild and Recovery Deal that we have outlined in our CSR proposals which also included flexibility for a one year ‘fast track’ CSR. These roundtables underline that approach and LEP’s commitment to the government’s ambitions to Build Back Greener and help accelerate the country towards its net zero carbon goals.

“With an eye to the long term, LEPs are helping to drive that green innovation forward, creating the environment which will nurture new skills and generate the jobs upon which the green revolution will depend.”

The roundtables will see businesses and SMEs discuss their ideas on how best to accelerate the green recovery but will specifically look at: how to enable businesses to take advantage of new opportunities in a green recovery after the Brexit transition period; what priorities can help businesses recover and grow in alignment with the net zero target; how government can support net-zero innovation; any barriers to net zero growth and how government can help business overcome them; and how best to increase business access to support and advice to help them grow and incentivise them to align with net zero targets.

ENDS

Contact:          Mike Dennehy

Phone:             07710 094 999

Email               mike@lepnetwork.net

Notes to Editors:

1. LEPs in the West Midlands and East Midlands roundtable are: Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Greater Birmingham and Solihull, Stoke and Staffs, The Marches, Worcestershire, D2N2, Greater Lincolnshire, and Leicester.
2. LEPs in the South West region roundtable: Gloucester (Gfirst), West of England, Swindon and Wiltshire, Cornwall and The Isles of Scilly, Dorset, and Heart of the South West.
3. LEPs in the Northern Powerhouse 11 are: Cheshire & Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Humber, Lancashire, Leeds City Region, Liverpool City Region, North East, Sheffield, Tees Valley LEP, and York & North Yorkshire LEP.
4. LEPs in the Oxford Cambridge Arc New Anglia are:  Buckinghamshire LEP, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, New Anglia, Oxfordshire (OxLEP), and South East Midlands (SEMLEP). 
5. LEPs in the Catalyst South roundtable are: Coast to Capital, Enterprise M3, Hertfordshire, Solent, South East, and Thames Valley Berkshire.
6. The LEP Network Board is made up of the leaders of the eight regional LEP areas shown below, and aims to ensure that the LEP Network supports greater collaboration between LEPs and build closer links with government, external partners and stakeholders, as they continue to drive local economic growth and support economic recovery through the challenges of COVID-19.