Business Minister Mark Prisk meets CW LEP

03.03.2011

Business minister Mark Prisk today discussed plans to support businesses and boost local growth in the West and East Midlands.

The minister met both the Leicester and Leicestershire local enterprise partnership and the Coventry and Warwickshire partnership, where he discussed their progress in appointing boards and the priorities they hope to address.

The minister also met with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to discuss boosting entrepreneurship and how the government can provide a SME friendly business environment. 

Mark Prisk said:

"The local enterprise partnerships I have met today have demonstrated some excellent ideas on how they intend to address local economical imbalances, stimulate local businesses and boost local growth.

"I've also had very useful discussions with local businesses about the barriers they are facing which are preventing them from flourishing and what Government is doing to improve market conditions."

Local enterprise partnerships bring together local businesses and civic leaders, working to support their local economy. They operate within a geography that reflects natural economic areas and provide the vision, knowledge and strategic leadership needed to drive sustainable private sector growth and job creation in their area.

While Mr Prisk was in Coventry he visited Warwick University, where he had a meeting with SMEs and Vice-President Antonio Tajani of the European Commission responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship.

After his meeting with the Leicester and Leicestershire partnership the minister will attend the Leicester Asian Business Awards and silver anniversary dinner, held at Athena Leicester. 

Cllr John Mutton, leader of Coventry City Council and vice chairman of the LEP, said the session had been extremely valuable in opening up  dialogue with the Government.

He said: "It gave us a valuable early opportunity to discover more about what the Government has in mind for LEPs going forward and also allowed us to ask some questions around our key priorities.

"The range of topics was certainly wide and included diverse subjects such as planning, what happened to regional government assets, access to finance, Government support for regional industry and skills.

"The minister was able to give us a steer on several of those but are still other questions we will need answers on in the near future."