CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S ANNUAL REPORT 2009
05/01/2010
Despite the prolonged economic recession, the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT) had another busy and successful year, making significant progress towards its long-term aims for the North West region.
Geoffrey Piper, Chief Executive of NWBLT
NWBLT brings together senior executives of the leading businesses in North West England, representing a wide variety of the region’s industry sectors, and during 2009 we were able to perform a valuable role in informing national and regional economic policy. Our strong team of senior decision-makers exerted a positive influence on regional affairs throughout the year, with the lobbying of senior national politicians, support for the development of regional strategy and a range of local and regional initiatives.
NWBLT’s Mission is to make the North West the UK’s most attractive region in which to live and work for generations to come. With this in mind we continued to focus during the year on four key long-term priorities – the region’s national and international links; skills for business; sustainable innovation; and the promotion of the region. Our members have given valuable time and expertise during the year to a range of initiatives and projects aimed at making a real difference to the region’s future in each of these areas, through our respective priority groups.
Our National & International Links group, chaired by Mike Blackburn of BT, focussed much of its attention during the year on the need to improve the region’s rail links, particularly the Manchester Hub, High Speed Rail and Transpennine links. 2009 saw much greater recognition, in national political circles, of the economic and environmental importance of major investment in rail links. The case for High Speed Rail, which NWBLT has been advocating for several years, began to receive substantial national media profile and, by the end of the year, there were encouraging signs that despite the recession each of the main political parties would support the necessary investment to create a national High Speed Rail network. A High Speed link direct with London would make a substantial difference to the capacity of our region to compete nationally and internationally in the decades to come, particularly if it is also accompanied by the long overdue Manchester Hub and Transpennine investments.
NWBLT’s Skills for Business group, which is chaired by Maggie Porteous of the John Lewis Partnership, worked closely with Business in the Community and other partners throughout the year on a wide range of initiatives to help enhance the skills levels of the region’s future workforce. This is a subject of fundamental long-term importance to the competitiveness and well-being of our region and we worked closely during the year with Business in the Community (BitC) to support the national TalentPlan and Business Class initiatives which assist and encourage businesses to help prepare young people for the world of work. In the latter part of 2009 we also conducted an appraisal of our own members’ engagement with schools and colleges in the region. This appraisal, which was carried out with the assistance of PricewaterhouseCoopers, will enable us to identify particular areas where we can support the region’s educational system for mutual benefit. At the same time we are also collaborating closely with the higher education sector to help prepare our many highly talented young people for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
NWBLT’s Sustainable Innovation group, chaired by Trevor Gregory of ABB, focussed much of its attention in 2009 on support for the North West Climate Change Campaign, a joint initiative of BitC, the CBI, Chambers of Commerce and NWBLT - with support from the Northwest Regional Development Agency - to mobilise the region’s private sector in addressing the threats of climate change. Meanwhile we have continued to provide mentoring support for innovative SMEs under the region’s Knowledge to Innovate (K2i) programme and, for the first time, ran a schools competition (in collaboration with the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes) to encourage young people to study for a career in science.
NWBLT’s Promotion of the Region, which is chaired by Michael Oglesby of Bruntwood, developed new proposals to assist the North West’s principal marketing agencies in communicating positive messages about the region to business contacts nationally and internationally. The members of NWBLT recognise the valuable role which they can each play as respected ambassadors for the region. We are therefore working closely with NWDA and such organisations as MIDAS, Marketing Manchester and The Mersey Partnership to further develop this role and thereby contribute to the successful promotion of the region and its many assets.
During the year we continued to develop the annual Lever Prize, which aims to stimulate collaborative working between the region’s business and cultural communities. Following the success of our year-long collaborations with the Liverpool Biennial (2006), Manchester International Festival (2007) and Tate Liverpool (2008), we were delighted to award the 2009 Lever Prize to the National Football Museum. NWBLT’s cash award of £10,000, matched this year by Arts & Business North West, enabled the regionally-based National Football Museum to earn itself a much higher national profile as well as developing ideas for working partnerships with several NWBLT member companies to provide educational and social benefits. NWBLT has now announced its commitment to continue sponsoring the Lever Prize following the completion of our initial five year commitment in 2010.
Much of the NWBLT’s ongoing work for the region continues to be carried on ‘behind the scenes’ in relation to the development of regional strategy and working relations with key public sector organisations and political leaders. NWBLT played an active role throughout 2009 in informing the production of the first single integrated Regional Strategy (RS2010). In addition to our participation in the Regional Strategy Advisory Group, NWBLT held several consultation events and advised the representatives of NWDA and 4NW on the strategic priorities which we see facing the region over the next twenty years. It is NWBLT’s view that, irrespective of the structure of regional governance, it is important that the North West operates as one coherent region with a clear strategy to address the challenges which it will face in the decades ahead. The work undertaken collectively by regional leaders over the past year to produce a well-prioritised and deliverable Regional Strategy should stand us all in good stead for many years to come. NWBLT itself has now completed its first twenty years, during which we have seen very considerable improvements to the region’s image, infrastructure, competitiveness and community well-being. We will hope to be able to make even more difference to the strategic development of the region over the next twenty years.
Finally, I would like to pay my own personal tribute to two former Chairmen of NWBLT, Robert Hough and Stuart Chambers. Robert, who took over the chair of NWBLT on Sir Christopher Harding’s untimely death in 1999 and served for the following three years, has now retired from NWBLT following his appointment in August 2009 as the Chair of the Northwest Regional Development Agency. We wish Robert every success in this role. Stuart, who retired at the end of 2008 as NWBLT’s Chairman after nearly three years in this role, announced his retirement during 2009 as the Global Chief Executive of NSG Group (Pilkington). Like Robert, Stuart contributed greatly to the development of NWBLT as a highly respected voice for the region’s business community. Stuart was succeeded as NWBLT Chairman by Paul Lee at the beginning of 2009 and, alongside Paul, we also have the benefit of both Geoff Muirhead and Trevor Gregory as Deputy-Chairmen. Between them Paul, Geoff and Trevor lead an extremely strong group of North West business leaders. It is a privilege to work alongside them for the benefit of the region which means so much to us all.
Geoffrey Piper, Chief Executive, NWBLT
January 2010
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