Health check of the Local Economy Identifying Skills Issues The Northampton picture

The town has been identified by Government as a key area for economic growth, and with its Waterside Enterprise Zone it is attracting further global interest. Northampton was also singled out in a recent Experian report as the best place in the UK to do business, the only place in the country to score 19 out of a possible 20 points across four criteria: Number of start-ups, rate of insolvencies, level of financial health and business turnover.Experian report The town is already home to around 13,000 businesses, the vast majority of which are small and medium sized enterprises. Thanks to its geographical position distribution, transport and communications feature heavily in its list of employment sectors. Northampton’s business diversity has been identified as one of the major factors in its meteoric recovery from the recession. The Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone (NWEZ) is one of the top performing Enterprise Zone’s and has a proven track record of delivering infrastructure improvements and site remediation thus catalysing company expansions, new build commercial buildings and new jobs. The NWEZ has created 1,118 jobs and leveraged £152,758,957 of private sector investment.

Economic Context Source: NOMIS

UK Business Counts 2014 Source: NOMIS Northampton accounting for 18.1% of the total East Midlands GVA - £14,979 billion.

Employment percent of Northampton population (Apr 2014-Mar 2015) Source: NOMIS There are 117,500 economically active people in Northampton of which 112,600 are currently employed (96,600 are considered employees whilst the remaining 15,500 are self employed) % of Northamptonshire is of working age (16-64 years) Of which 77% are in employment.

Employment by Occupation Change from Largest increase was seen within the professional occupations field at +3.7% then the Caring, leisure and other sector occupations at 0.9%. Biggest decrease was within the process plant and machine operatives sector decreasing by 2.2% and then the skilled trade occupations which saw a 1.8% decrease. Source: NEP LEA 2015

Northampton Economic Inactivity (Apr 2014-Mar 2015) Source: NOMIS 80.4% of Northampton's working age population are Economically Active leaving around 27,800 inactive. Of the inactive population, the percentage of some of the key reasons are highlighted here- There are other reasons such as temporary sick and discouraged elements that are not detailed here. The Inactive population of Northampton is totalled at 27,800 of which 89.2% ‘Do not want a job’ according to Nomis (ONS annual population survey).

Benefit Claimants There is a total of 16,730 working age benefit claimants in Northampton as at February The reasons for claiming Jobseekers Allowance are detailed below: Source: NOMIS There is a total of 16,730 working age benefit claimants in Northampton as at February The reasons for claiming Jobseekers Allowance are detailed below:

Local Skills Context Northampton location offers networks for various Universities with an hours commute, some of these include: -Northampton -Coventry -Warwick -Cranfield -Leicester -Luton -Oxford -Buckingham -Worcester -Birmingham Source: LLMR

Source: NOMIS There are lower levels of skills achievement at every level in Northampton compared within the East Midlands and Great Britain statistics. The population of Northampton that have no qualifications has however reduced from 15.1% in 2004 to the 11.6% we see in last years statistics as shown in the chart below. Northampton Qualifications Statistics (Jan 2014-Dec 2014)

Skills Capital Projects in the surrounding area -Northampton College -Engineering Futures -Advanced Integrated-Engineering Centre for Transport -Engineering and Construction Skills Centre -Smart City Thinking -Banbury and Bicester Collage Local Skills Provision Apprenticeships and traineeships in Northamptonshire have increased from 2,790 starts in 2005/6 to 7,690 in 2013 (ONS). Northampton delivered 2,020 apprenticeships starts in % of Northamptonshire population are NEETs (16-18)

Earnings by workplace (2014) Northamptonshire (pounds) East Midlands (pounds) Great Britain (pounds) Gross weekly pay Full-time workers Male full-time workers Female full-time workers Hourly pay - excluding overtime Full-time workers Male full-time workers Female full-time workers Earnings by workplace (2014) Source: NOMIS

Northamptonshire’s Strategic Economic Plan Northampton Enterprise Partnerships Employment and Skills Strategic Priorities -Developing our future workforce -Meeting the current and future demands of business -Developing the delivery infrastructure Northamptonshire’s Strategic Economic Plan- Vision for Growth: To increase the prosperity of Northamptonshire’s people and businesses by creating high skilled employment opportunities, within the most connected, safe and vibrant place to live, work and do business. Source: Northamptonshire’s Strategic Economic Plan

Identified Skills issues locally NBC business engagement activities; understanding the local economy Regular individual company visits Business events Regular contact with commercial agents NBC Inward Investment services/enquiries Targeted business engagement programmes

Enterprise Zone business engagement exercise Dec month programme of business visits (14 businesses in total) In addition to ongoing business engagement Set questions re the businesses and their future plans Snap shot of results:

Nearly ¾ of businesses surveyed are planning growth either in terms of employment numbers or floor space. The top three business issues were 1.) Expansion space 2.) Skills 3.) Broadband

Skills information and Support services -NEP Employment and Skills Strategy Board -SEMLEP Skills forum -Northampton Borough Council Local Economic Forum (NLEF) -LEP / University Growth Hubs Employers in Partnership -Enterprise Zone Business Engagement The chart to the right shows the skills levels of employment within the Enterprise Zone from the 2014 Business Engagement Programme. Making the most of Apprenticeships -NEP Employment and Skills Strategy Board to develop ‘Apprentice Training Agency’ or extending existing ATA to cover the EZ. Centre of Excellence -Tie the Centre of Excellence in with an EZ Enterprise Centre (Centre of excellence opening in Summer 2015 funded by AMSCI as part of Cosworth Development. Collaborative Implementation -Flexible and responsive EZ Skills Strategy -NBC and SEMLEP adopting strategy and identifying required activity and most relevant delivery agents -Identification of activity that fits with LEP’s ESIF implementation plan and ESF funding elements Potential resolutions/solutions