An Economic Recovery
THAT’S CLOSE TO HOME The new year has already brought multiple challenges for Hounslow’s businesses. With Government introduced national restrictions in place, as well as the change in our relationship with the EU, many have faced unprecedented challenges to their business and livelihoods. Providing uncertainty and job insecurity for many of our residents. There is a potential light at the end of the tunnel with the Global economy showing signs of reviving, and vaccines projected to reach all vulnerable groups by April. Gradual easing of social restrictions with a return to ‘some form of normal’ by autumn. Hounslow Council, along with firms and households need to embrace the changed economic landscape. Initiatives need to be implemented to protect the most vulnerable, and that allow capital, labour, skills, and innovation to shift to new purposes in order to build a stronger, more resilient, greener postCOVID economic environment.
Hounslow is proud of its economic track record. A borough of hard-working people, home of global headquarters and innovative start-ups. And pre-Coronavirus the second fastest growing economy in London with GVA of over £13bn annually. We are committed to ensuring we reclaim that trajectory In October of last year Hounslow Council became one of the first Local Authorities in London to publish its plan to recover from the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on our communities. ‘One Hounslow, Forward Together’ commits to:
Q&A with Tracy Aust (Principal of West Thames College) What are the benefits of hiring local staff and using suppliers in the borough? Local connections run very deep at the College, and 50% of our students and 39% of our staff live in the borough. We also have lots of past students who now work for the College. This works really well - aside from the shorter
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commute supporting travel costs and wellbeing, they are more able to see things from both the student and the teachers’ perspectives and therefore make more in-depth suggestions for improvement. There is a real vested interest. They are great advocates for the College and it’s fantastic for us to have our past students now as members of staff.
• Deliver an inclusive, innovative, resilient and sustainable economic recovery • Investment to scale up our successful programmes such as the Skills Escalator and Creative Enterprise Zone • Greater flexibility over use of existing funding streams such as Apprenticeship Levy • Support for the local industries most affected by Covid-19 • Funding to support development of new business and entrepreneurship, particularly with young people • Investment in infrastructure and connectivity • Creation of an Aviation Communities Fund, bringing together capital and revenue support for those communities severely damaged by the decline in aviation It’s the theme of supporting local businesses that we focussed on in the last issue of Let’s Talk Business. And specifically, how the Council is taking a proactive approach to its procurement with the aim of buying more products and services from businesses based in the borough – #KeepItLocal. Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services said “Hounslow Council has rightly taken a lead to #KeepItLocal. We ran an extensive campaign to support local shops over Christmas and have recently doubled the value of goods and services that we have purchased directly from companies in the borough. We also want to encourage all businesses in the borough to look at the benefits of local supply chains to help keep the pound in Hounslow and assist the borough’s economic recovery” We invited two local organisations – West Thames College and Brentford based signage and graphics company Octink - to share their views and tell us about the actions they’re taking to #KeepItLocal. Lots of our suppliers are local too, recently we worked with a local designer to provide PPE during the first lockdown. One of the main benefits we’ve seen is in the purchaser-supplier relationship expanding to create broader opportunities for both parties, as well as them understanding the local market.
What else is West Thames College doing to support local businesses? The College is very keen to support local businesses in whatever way we can, including adapting our procurement policies e.g. including a positive weighting for local businesses in
