Economic regeneration, through increasing employment, encouraging business growth and investment, as well as tackling economic disadvantage generally is an important activity for this Council and its partners.

The Council has a duty to deliver economic well being, but clearly cannot do this on its own. As a result it has come together with a number of organisations such as the Job Centre Plus, the Learning and Skills Council, the Chamber of Commerce and Business Link.

Our economic aims are simply to:

• Improve the wealth creating capacity of the area.
• Improve access residents have to the wealth created.
• Keep as much wealth as possible within the area.

A simple set of aims but not easy to achieve.

We commission research and to make sure that information and analysis was widely available and understood. Its purpose is to improve our understanding of the economy, and to identify the issues facing the local population and workforce.

Its work programme presently includes:

• Household Survey: Covering issues such as economic activity, unemployment, hidden unemployment, wage rates, and skills and qualification levels.
• Employer Survey: Covering issues such as business confidence, skills and qualification needs, exporting, and investment.
• Establishment of a comprehensive database of employers in the county.
• Labour Market Assessment and Economic Forecasting: Summarising the present state of the local economy, outlining trends and forecasting future trends.

Accurate and up to date analysis and data is a prerequisite to effective economic development within the county as it informs policy development and is essential for identifying priorities. Robust data at the local level is also essential in the bidding process for a variety of national and European funding programmes. These programmes also require such data at the local level for effective monitoring. Potential inward investors also regularly request such information.

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