In summary
What a wonderful month celebrating Lancashire Day, Carlisle Ambassadors and meeting some amazing people at the Lancashire Social Value Event. Really excited to learn more and feed back to our fantastic FSB members.
Lancashire’s devolution deal has been confirmed and will be rolling out next year. Cumbria held it’s first Economic Summit in Penrith and are well on the way to develop a brand new economic strategy ensuring growth for businesses in Cumbria.
Featured news and events
Lancashire Devolution Deal
This historic deal marks a new devolution agreement between the Government and the local authorities of Lancashire, comprising of Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. The agreement will see the creation of the Lancashire Combined County Authority (CCA). The devolution deal transfers new powers and funding to the Lancashire CCA to support businesses and residents across Lancashire, alongside £20 million of capital funding to invest in local priorities (subject to business cases). The deal will also enable the Lancashire CCA to take responsibility for services that are best delivered at a strategic level, giving local leaders more control and influence over the levers of local growth, including devolution of the Adult Education Budget. This agreement is subject to ratification by those councils, and to the statutory requirements for making the secondary legislation implementing the provisions of the deal. These statutory requirements include those councils consenting to the legislation and Parliament approving it. Once that legislation is made the devolution deal will be confirmed.
Economic Summit 2024
Enterprising Cumbria's first countywide Economic Summit took place on Tuesday 3 Dec at the Keswick Pencil Factory. It was organised with support from Cumberland Council and Westmorland & Furness Council and focused on the emerging Cumbria Economic Strategy. Hosted by Phil Laycock, the agenda included a series of guest speakers, panel discussions and facilitated breakout sessions. The event welcomed over 300 business leaders and key stakeholders which provided a platform for our business community to ensure their needs are front and centre of the strategy and our future activities.
FSB National AI Webinar - 'The AI era is here - are you ready?
With the cost of doing business continuing to rise, UK companies face financial challenges. AI presents a solution, enabling businesses to scale and boost productivity and output, without high financial investment. Now is the time to explore how AI can streamline operations and support growth in the year ahead.
In other news
North West AI Bootcamp
Unlock your future in AI! Join our intensive bootcamp in St Helens and gain the skills to thrive in the world of artificial intelligence. Whether you're a career changer or looking to upskill, our expert-led program will equip you with the knowledge and tools to succeed. 1st May 2025. More information coming soon.
Still in the news
Support Lancashire’s Careers Hub and become an Enterprise Adviser
Enterprise Advisers are volunteers from business who work directly with an individual School or College to support their Careers Leader and Senior Leadership Team to drive improvements in careers provision and help increase connections to local employers to ensure a strong connection to the world of work.
Enterprise Advisers are individuals who represent our wide and diverse economy and range from Chief Executives, Senior Leaders, Managers, Business Owners and Consultants from both private and public sector who collectively share a passion to help every young person find their best next step. By volunteering some of your time, you can help support pathways into your industry by using existing contacts to support career activities and contribute to shaping young people's futures.
Enterprise Advisers act as a critical friend and provides an external voice giving strategic input, evaluation of their careers programme and advice on how to measure impact and outcomes.
If you would like to give back to your community and help build Lancashire’s future workforce then make a @lancashiresskillspledge pledge to be an Enterprise Advisors now - Lancashire Skills Pledge - Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub. For more information, please follow the link above or contact Michelle Fox.
Cumbria Accelerator Business Support
The Cumbria Accelerator project delivers FREE support sessions to Cumbrian businesses of any size, working in any sector. Are you looking to reduce your costs or make more sales? Are you thinking about launching new products or services? Or are you considering new ways to market what you do? The Cumbria Accelerator project can help with all these areas. For more information please email Lucy Johnson.
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Your FSB Development Manager for Lancashire and Cumbria is Katy Smythe. If you'd like more information about the topics above, or if you have news about this area that you'd like to share, please get in touch.
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