group business plan 2014-2017 - the growth · pdf file• midas; • new economy ......

Manchester Growth Company

Group Business plan 2014-2017

1

M a n C h e s t e r G r o w t h C o M p a n y

section title page.

1. Foreword 2

2. Introducing Manchester Growth Company 3-6

3. Strategic Priorities for 2014/15 7

4. Key Activities 8-10

5. Finance 11

6. Targets 12

Contents

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G r o w t h b u s i n e s s p l a n - 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 7

We are pleased to present the Manchester Growth Company Group’s first Business Plan since its

creation in 2013. The Group brings together the economic development functions of Economic

Solutions, Marketing Manchester, MIDAS and New Economy to create a single vehicle to drive forward

Greater Manchester’s economic development. This single aim is articulated in our mission statement:

Deliver growth and prosperity to the Manchester City Region through the provision of economic

development services which raise Manchester’s profile, attract investment, help businesses grow and

provide individuals with new skills and employment opportunities

By bringing together the strategic focus and commercial acumen of the Group’s companies and

building on their previous success, we will provide the GM Combined Authority and the LEP with the

resources and expertise to help deliver the ambitions of the Greater Manchester Strategy.

Our Business Plan for 2014/15 sets out our strategic priorities and key activities for the year.

A recurring theme for the year will be the need to continue to develop, deliver and enhance the

services and initiatives necessary to improve GM’s economic performance whilst at the same time

consolidating and integrating our functions to improve our effectiveness and efficiency.

The general economic outlook is changing with increased growth, renewed business confidence and

more employment opportunities. The way in which we design and deliver our business, skills,

employment and marketing services will be adapted to ensure that GM reaps the maximum benefit

from a stronger national economy. The policy and research functions of the Group will be

instrumental in ensuring that GM and the Group adopt the right solutions to the new challenges and

opportunities that the improving economic climate presents.

The strength of the Group’s resources and expertise represents a key asset for GM and places us in

a unique position to help deliver the city region’s economic development priorities. Our response to

those expectations is to set out in this Business Plan some ambitious and challenging objectives and

targets and we will account to our stakeholders and our funders for our performance against the

commitments made in this document.

The year ahead will be challenging for the Group but we look forward to those challenges and the

opportunity to continue to work with our partners, stakeholders and customers to achieve our shared

vision for Greater Manchester.

1. Foreword

3


Group Functions

The Manchester Growth Company Group is a newly established group of companies, comprising

Economic Solutions Ltd, Marketing Manchester, MIDAS and New Economy. The Group’s purpose is to

drive forward GM’s economic development and deliver Greater Manchester Strategy (GMS) priorities

in relation to employment, skills, business support, inward investment, international marketing, the

visitor economy, policy development and research. The Group has a turnover of £81M and employs

1,248 staff. It is accountable to the GM Combined Authority (GMCA) and the GM Local Enterprise

Partnership (LEP) and its functions are as follows:

workforce Development:• Employment and skills services to employers of all sizes, young people and unemployed and

economically inactive adults;

• Careers guidance through the Manchester Connexions service;

• Preparation of young people and adults, including offenders, for work;

• Commercial Investors in People services;

• Workforce development.

business support and business Finance:• Business support and advice to small, medium and large companies including the Business Growth

Hub, Access to Finance, Resource Efficiency, Manufacturing Advisory Service and Textiles Growth

Programme;

• Business finance products;

• Advice and financial support to new start ups.

internationalisation and Marketing:• Inward investment through the targeting of key markets and sectors and assistance to help

international companies relocate to, or expand within, the Manchester city region.

• UKTI trade services across the North West, delivered in partnership with the region’s Chambers of

Commerce;

• Promotion of GM nationally and internationally;

• Incorporates Visit Manchester, the city region’s tourist board.

strategy, research and evaluation:• Policy development, economic research and analysis services to the GM Combined Authority, LEP,

all ten GM Local Authorities and other private and public sector partners;

• Initiation of projects of strategic significance to GM;

• Evaluation of the impact of the Group’s, and other public sector, programmes on the GM economy.

Corporate services:• Finance, HR, ICT, Facilities and other support services (e.g. quality systems, performance

management, health and safety) for the Group.

2. Introducing Manchester Growth Company

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Governance

The Group was created in September 2013 in order to consolidate and strengthen GM’s capacity to

deliver economic growth and prosperity in accordance with the Greater Manchester Strategy.

The Group’s Board comprises five GMCA nominees and five private sector members. Its current mem-

bership is as follows:

public sector private sectorCouncillor Sir Richard Leese Mike Blackburn

Councillor Michael Connolly Phil Cusack

Councillor Jim McMahon Iwan Griffiths

Councillor Kieran Quinn David McKeith

City Mayor Ian Stewart Michael Oglesby CBE, DL

The Group Board is supported by three Advisory Boards with membership drawn from or approved by

Group Board. The Advisory Boards cover the three main business areas of the Group:

• Workforce Development;

• Business Support and Business Finance;

• Internationalisation and Marketing.

There are six subsidiary Boards which retain legal, compliance and other responsibilities for their

respective legal entities:

• The Enterprise Fund Ltd (trading as Business Finance Solutions);

• Chamberlink Ltd (trading as Business Support Solutions);

• Challenge 4 Change;

• Marketing Manchester;

• MIDAS;

• New Economy Manchester

In addition the Group Board has two sub-committees:

• Audit;

• Remuneration.

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policy and commercial environment

The Group’s model of operation is one that combines being policy driven with a commercial approach,

characterised by its revenues being largely secured from competitively tendered contracts from local

and national Government and income generated from sales to employers, schools etc. The key policy

driver for the Group is the GM Strategy (GMS).

This policy drive is set in the context of the contractual and policy obligations that are inherent within

the contracts secured, many of which are national. There is therefore a continual need to realign

delivery of national contracts to GM priorities whilst simultaneously achieving financial viability and

managing relationships so as to retain existing and secure new contracts.

The key commercial driver is to grow and deliver services that are financially viable, contribute to

overheads and generate profit that can be re-invested as well as used for the on-going operation of

the business. This is done by:

• Securing contracts for the delivery of nationally and locally commissioned, publicly-funded

business growth, skills and employment services;

• Where possible and desirable, integrating the delivery of business support, skills and employment

services so as to present a unified and complementary service offer to both employer and individual

customers;

• Operating efficient, cross-operation, corporate services so as to maximise front-line delivery re-

source;

• Using profits and reserves to maintain financial viability (including required cash), reduce risk and

re-invest in GM-policy-driven, service development and delivery that provides further return;

• Efficiently using GMCA resources to provide marketing, inward investment, policy and research

services with alternative income to be sought to at least maintain these services as GMCA funding is

reduced over the 2014-17 period.

Vision

The Group’s vision is to be:

• Recognised as a key service delivery vehicle for GM Combined Authority’s economic development

objectives which turns the aspirations of the GM Strategy into reality;

• A significant driving force for closing the gap between GM and the national average on GVA,

employment, enterprise, qualifications and wages;

• Renowned for our passion, quality, effectiveness and efficiency and we will use these attributes to

increase our commercial activity in GM and beyond and generate ever increasing surpluses for

re-investment in GM’s economic development;

• an exemplar organisation and a model for delivery which other cities seek to emulate;

• a key contributor to the development of future strategy with economic intelligence and regular

analysis.

65


strategic objectives

The strategic objectives of the Group support its mission statement to deliver growth in GM and

reflect the areas of GMS where the Group acts as a key delivery vehicle for the CA and LEP and

supports the CA’s strategic role. They are as follows:

• Build the global brand of Manchester as a place to do business, invest, live, study and visit;

• Improve Manchester’s international competitiveness through trade, inward investment and

research;

• Support business growth through access to finance, new markets and business support;

• Support the commercialisation of leading-edge science and technology;

• Grow the low-carbon goods and services sector and improve the resource efficiency of business;

• Contribute to a skills system that both meets employers’ and future economic demands;

• Integrate the on-the-ground delivery of employment and skills programmes;

• Significantly reduce youth unemployment;

• Support the public service spending reform by reducing citizens’ dependence.

The Group will achieve its objectives by:

• Maximising the value of the public resources of the Combined Authority and other public agencies

in Greater Manchester;

• Maintaining and developing a strong evidence base for future strategy and delivery;

• Securing public contracts and commercial income: meeting and exceeding the associated

contractual terms whilst delivering services that are shaped to contribute to achieving GMS;

• Integrating service delivery to increase efficiency, maximise effectiveness for customers and best

meet GM’s needs;

• Generating profit to maintain viability, reduce risk and re-invest in Group delivery.

The Group’s principal area for impact is Greater Manchester and its economic footprint. Delivery,

where undertaken outside of Greater Manchester, will be assessed against a framework that

addresses financial gain for Greater Manchester; competitive/market position; and organisational

capacity.

The Group’s activities will directly and significantly contribute to the following GMS economic targets

for 2020:

• Increase GM’s share of total UK FTE jobs to 4.3%

• Increase GM’s growth rate to match that of the South East of England (excluding London)

• Reduce the number of people reliant on out of work benefits to 12%

• Accelerate the business start up rate by more than 29% to overtake the national average

• Close the gap with the UK average on the proportion of population qualified to Levels 2 & 4 (or

equivalent)

• Increase average salaries by more than £6,000

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The Group faces a number of challenges in the coming year in the following areas:

• Financial performance in an uncertain funding and commercial climate

• Alignment of service delivery with GMS priorities and GM’s public service reform agenda

• Engagement and aligned delivery with key stakeholders including Local Authorities

• Creating synergies and aligning policy and delivery within the Group

• Building our organisational capacity and capability

• Utilising intelligence from service delivery to inform the development of strategy and policy

Our strategic priorities for 2014/15 are therefore as follows:

• Achieve an in-year financial surplus of £2.5M to be re-invested in priorities agreed by the Board.

• Develop a new model for business support funding and delivery which meets the needs of GM and,

therefore, reduces its dependency on EU and Central Government funding

• Increase the impact of our internationalisation activity through delivery of the GM

Internationalisation Strategy and Implementation Plan

• Use the Group’s resources to develop a stronger role in the science and innovation agenda, including

the commercialisation of research and knowledge transfer

• Undertake an assessment of the Group’s skills activities to ensure greater alignment with GMS

priorities to tackle the GM skills gap, create an employer-led skills system and tackle youth

unemployment

• Enhance our position as a leading edge performer in the delivery of employment services by

expanding delivery and securing prime contractor status for DWP programmes

• Improve our service offering to GM businesses through better integration of business support,

employment and skills services, integrated account management and the provision of holistic

solutions to business needs

• Deliver policy, research and analysis to the CA, LEP and LA stakeholders in support of GMS priorities

and develop an evaluation process to measure the impact of public sector economic development

programmes in GM

• Utilise expertise within the Group to assess how service delivery mechanisms can be improved to

make a greater contribution to GM’s low carbon objectives

• Support GM’s growth and reform agenda by improving the integration of national and local

programmes, increasing our influence over the design and delivery of national programmes and

presenting the case for devolution of responsibilities and funding

• Strengthen engagement with the Combined Authority, LEP and other GM institutions to ensure that

the Group’s services are, where applicable, joined up with other initiatives developed to deliver GMS

and inform GM research, strategy and policy

• Develop a new relationship with GM’s Local Authorities which results in greater alignment and

effectiveness of economic development in GM

• Enhance the Group’s organisational capacity to enable more effective and efficient corporate

services, performance management and business development

3. Strategic Priorities for 2014/15

87


skills• We will respond to the GMS priority to tackle youth unemployment in GM by increasing delivery of

pre-recruitment programmes for 16-24 year olds and increasing recruitment of 16-23 year old

apprentices.

• Delivery of adult pre-employment and in-work programmes will also be increased with the mix of

delivery adjusted to reflect GM forecasts for workforce growth and replacement skills demand.

• The demand for higher level skills from employers will be addressed through an increase in the

delivery of higher level apprenticeships and higher education provision.

• Specific sector offers will be developed and delivered to meet employer needs and GMS priorities

with a focus on engineering, manufacturing and digital and creative.

• A thorough review of the Group’s skills activities will be undertaken to ensure complete alignment

with GMS, development of services which meet best predictions of future market changes and

response to the Government’s Apprenticeship in England Implementation Plan. This review will

include consideration of the potential collaborations and alliances with partner providers and

colleges.

employment• The Group’s existing high performance on delivery of DWP programmes makes an important contri-

bution to GMS employment objectives and the Group’s commercial income. We will maintain that

performance and seek to acquire additional contracts, including DWP prime contracts, in order to

expand this area of the business.

• Tender opportunities to enable an expansion of the Group’s delivery of the National Careers Service

will be rigorously pursued.

• The Group’s temporary employment service, Aspire, will be expanded in order to increase

opportunities for workless clients in GM, including Work Programme Leavers and other clients from

Welfare to Work programmes.

• Sales of commercial services such as business standards and accreditations (e.g. Investors in

People) will be increased to expand our services to businesses and increase commercial income.

business support and business Finance• Following receipt of funding in 2013, the full suite of extensive support services to businesses

offered by the Business Growth Hub will be delivered in the year ahead as part of GM’s City Deal with

Government. Further investment will take place to expand the core Growth Hub advice service and

launch a new innovation service.

• Through agreement with GM’s local agreement we will seek to provide GM with a single, integrated

business support service, delivered through the Growth Hub.

• We will seek to put in place mechanisms which enable GM’s business support service to be

increasingly funded from local sources in order to remove constraints arising from national

contracting and enable greater focus on GM economic priorities.

• The Group already makes a very important contribution to GM’s very strong portfolio of alternative

finance products for business. We will extend that further by developing new products which meet

business needs, including a GM Angel Co-Investment Fund.

4. Key Activities

9


internationalisation and Marketing• The Group will supplement funding received from the Combined Authority with its own resources to

support a concerted effort to drive up GM’s attraction of inward investment. Sector campaigns will

be launched to attract companies in high value sectors and GM will establish a permanent presence

in its target overseas markets.

• The Group already delivers international trade services to existing and new exporters across GM and

the wider North West, on behalf of UKTI. The Group will invest in a complementary but be-spoke,

additional service to GM companies which will be focussed on GMS priorities and the delivery of GM’s

Internationalisation Strategy.

• The attraction of visitors to GM is a key component of our economic development activity. We will

continue to develop our domestic and international marketing campaigns, working closely with the

Manchester Airport Group on the latter, to attract more visitors and we will strengthen our

partnerships and networks across GM to increase the number of conferences and international

events hosted by the city region.

strategy, research and evaluation• The research and analysis capability of New Economy will be fully utilised to support the Combined

Authority and LEP’s policy development role and that of GM’s local authorities and other

stakeholders.

• It is of critical importance that the economic impact and value of GM’s activities and investments

in skills, employment, business support and marketing is robustly measured and understood. An

evaluation process will be developed during the year to achieve this objective, starting with the

Group’s own activity but ultimately covering all public investment in GM’s economic development.

Group effectiveness and efficiency• The consolidation of four separate companies into a single Group requires a process of organisa-

tional change which will be implemented during the year. In parallel, a new People Strategy will be

delivered to embed the core values, culture and priorities of the Group across all our staff and we will

implement an accommodation solution which enables co-location of staff to strengthen integration.

The Group’s Corporate Services will also be reviewed to ensure that they provide a high standard of

support to all parts of the business to maximise operational effectiveness.

• The Group’s ability to maximise investment in services is driven by maximising income and mini-

mising costs. The changes undertaken to create the Group and consolidate its constituent parts

mean that a review of the Group’s cost base is extremely timely. Such a review will therefore be

undertaken as a priority in 2014/15.

1 09


• A series of operational improvements will be undertaken during the year to:

- Maintain, improve and integrate quality systems and processes to ensure continued high

standards of service provision

- Improve customer service by integrating and simplifying the means by which services are

promoted, customers are engaged and customer feedback is fed back into service design

and delivery

- Address known areas of under-representation in participation and success rates amongst

target groups and disadvantaged areas, as part of the Group’s Equality Action Plan

- Identify and implement measures to enhance the sustainability of the Group’s services and

operations, as part of the Group’s Environmental Policy and Carbon Action Plan

- Strengthen engagement with, and reporting to, all key stakeholders including the GM

Combined Authority / AGMA, LEP, GM Local Authorities, private sector and trade bodies,

voluntary sector, Government Departments / Agencies and funding bodies

1 1


The Group’s financial plan for 2014/15 is as follows:

5. Finance

business unit income £000 expenditure £000

Work Services 20,557 19,728

Careers Solutions 2,664 3,053

Skills Services 25,729 25,541

IIP/Standards 7,704 7,004

NWAC 705 705

GM Growth Hub 19,565 19,923

International Trade 4,920 4,592

Business Finance Solutions

(Core)

2,792 1,361

Business Finance Solutions

(non-core)

1,046 846

MIDAS 1,269 1,568

Marketing Manchester 6,113 6,113

New Economy 3,137 3,137

ESL Holding Company 10,467 10,931

totals 106,688 104,502

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The Group’s top 10 targets for GM for 2014/15 are as follows:

6. Targets

Key performance indicator 2014/15 target

Value of additional GVA generated £210 Million

No. of new jobs created and existing

jobs safeguarded

9,000

No. of new business start ups created 900

Value of additional export sales generated £55 Million

No. of new foreign direct investments 50

Amount of carbon savings by businesses 35,000 tonnes

No. of unemployed people placed into work 5,000

No. of apprenticeships started for people under

the age of 24

1,500

No. of organisations assessed against IIP framework

and meeting the standard

240

Value of additional visitor spend £35 Million

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