It would be fair to say that the past year has been like no other. Since joining the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) I have spent time hearing and learning from many experiences of lockdown and its challenges, inspired by ambitions to rebuild for the future. Throughout these conversations, there has been one prevalent, recurring theme – the power of working in partnership to create a collaborative impact.

Like many of our LEP peers, in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire we have experienced first-hand how public-private sector partnership has made a real difference to the area in which we operate. As reflected in our 2020-21 Annual Review, we've brought more than £1bn of additional investment into the area as a result of investment to date, including more than £335m of Government investment. From this, 15,000 jobs and apprenticeships and more than 6,000 new homes are set to be created. And in this past year alone, we have signposted more than 10,000 SMEs via the LEP-funded Growth Hub.