Businesses do not have a vote in General Elections but are required to foot the bill for pretty much all our governments spending. Covid support mechanisms like Furlough schemes are hugely supportive of the Electorate, individuals who get the opportunity to vote have maintained their employment, whilst business activities have been greatly reduced.

Unfortunately, this government is creating the wrong impression almost every time the Prime Minister speaks. Activities like the NI tax increase are not temporary and will exist forever and are in fact a direct tax on employment. It’s just one of many taxes imposed like, insurance tax, increased several times since inception, VAT -ditto only ever increasing, the Apprenticeship Levy which has a use by date and corporation tax increasing significantly from 2023. It all sounds like “Oliver Twist” no not “please sir can I have some more” but more like “gotta pick a pocket or two.”

The issue is how much more cost will sneak up on business and remain fixed forever? Each additional cost whilst increasing the spending power of government, increases the disincentive of starting or owning a business, creating a strong economy, and maximising employment and reducing Welfare and unemployment costs.

For some months now there has been an inference that Government will disconnect their relationship with LEP’s the only apolitical, business facing, local government group, responsible for the provision of Growth Hubs, Inward investment and Tourist Hubs, Enterprise Zones and Innovation and Skills investments, this past 10 years.

Clearly Government is saying to Businesses give us your money, but we do not want to hear your opinion! Just be careful how distanced you appear from your major benefactors; you might be accused of being out of touch which would be a real shame!

There is so much more that Government can do to maximise its income from Businesses without increasing taxes and they need to start looking at these innovative options now.

GSK has today announced that it has formally started the process of seeking a development partner to transform land within the company’s existing 92-acre Research & Development site in Stevenage into one of Europe’s largest ‘clusters’ for biotechnology and other early-stage life science companies.

• Plan aims to unlock up to £400 million of new private investment and create up to 5,000 new highly-skilled jobs over next decade
• Stevenage could become one of Europe’s largest ‘clusters’ for biotechnology and other early-stage life science companies
• Vision for campus developed in partnership with Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, UK Government and Stevenage Borough Council; GSK to make 33 acres of land available for development at the company’s R&D site in Stevenage

GlaxoSmithKine to create 5,000 jobs in Stevenage

Roberto Perrone interviews Adrian Hawkins OBE, Chair of Stevenage Development Board about the GSK announcement and what it means for Stevenage

Click on the player above to hear the radio interview

The vision for the new campus has been developed in partnership with Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the UK Government, Stevenage Borough Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), and would build on the existing presence of GSK, the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and the SBC on the site.

As part of proposals set out today, GSK is looking to sell the 33 acres of land, with an aim to subsequently unlock up to £400 million in new investment from a private sector developer to build the new campus and potentially create up to 5,000 highly-skilled jobs, over the next five to ten years. The company expects to select a development partner later this year, with a view for work to begin on master planning for the new campus in 2022.

Tony Wood, Senior Vice President, Medicinal Science & Technology, GSK said: “The past 18 months has shown the UK life sciences sector at its best and the UK has recently unveiled an ambitious 10-year vision for the UK life sciences sector. Our goal is for Stevenage to emerge as a top destination for medical and scientific research by the end of the decade. We are excited to find a development partner to realise our vision to foster the next generation of world-class scientists and biotechnology firms in Britain.”

If successful, the new campus could attract several world-class research organisations to Stevenage, creating exciting opportunities for collaboration in a state of the art, life science ecosystem. The highly-successful Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst are both already on the site and have attracted a number of successful start-ups which collectively have raised around £1.6 billion of funding. These organisations were set up with a mixture of public and private sector support – including from GSK – and are both involved in the plans which should enable their expansion.

Dr Sally Ann Forsyth OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst said: “Stevenage is already a leading location for life science companies to develop and commercialise cutting edge therapeutics. Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is home to over 40 companies, and today’s proposal presents exciting opportunities to build on this by supporting their growth, attracting new organisations to the ecosystem and facilitating further collaboration with world-class organisations. We look forward to working with GSK and other partners to further develop the thriving life sciences campus in Stevenage.”

The new campus – which would sit next to GSK’s existing site at Stevenage – could ultimately deliver 100,000 square metres of new floorspace for commercial life sciences research and development.

As one of its two global R&D hubs, Stevenage is a key location for GSK, employing world-class scientists and driving cutting-edge innovation. It is already the UK’s largest cell and gene therapy cluster, the third largest globally and includes GSK R&D activities in the field. The plan is expected to build on these strengths.

Councillor Sharon Taylor OBE, Leader of Stevenage Borough Council said: “I am deeply proud that Stevenage is home to a world-leading life science cluster and welcome plans for a new life sciences campus. This will cement our standing as a leading STEM location within the UK. As we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is vital that we create new, quality jobs and opportunities for our town and our country. Our shared commitment is to make Stevenage even better, working with businesses, residents, community groups and partners to help regenerate the town and create many new jobs and opportunities for local people. We look forward to continuing our work with the life sciences sector to make Stevenage a leading light in the discovery and development of the medicines of the future.”

Mark Bretton, Chair, Hertfordshire LEP and Chair, LEP Network, said: “Our investment in the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst has consolidated Stevenage’s position as a globally recognised hub for cell and gene therapy, attracting international companies with the potential to create thousands of high-level jobs. Hertfordshire LEP played a pivotal role in securing Stevenage’s Life Sciences Opportunity Zone and High Potential Opportunities recognition. This exciting new development will be a key component of our Cell & Gene Cluster Plan, ensuring continued growth and investment for the area.”

Adrian Hawkins OBE, the independent Chair of the Stevenage Development Board said: “Our highly successful Towns Fund bid fully recognises the importance of the STEM sector organisations based in Stevenage and how they can provide an excellent opportunity, to level up and secure long term social mobility for local people within Stevenage and the broader North Herts area. The Hertfordshire LEP and County Council, have regularly worked with both central Government and the Stevenage Borough Council to facilitate the delivery of both the Catalyst and the Catapult within the GSK Stevenage site and this announcement of an additional space allocation, will bring many more successful start-ups to Stevenage and enable the scale-up of companies already based in the Town. This development cannot fail to further enhance Skill levels locally and provide the opportunity for all our residents to achieve beneficial employment, at the same time as an exciting career in the Life Science and Advanced Engineering sectors.

GSK’s existing R&D operations at Stevenage are un-affected by the development plans announced today, which will also require the expansion of the public road gyratory to improve access to the site.

About GSK

GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. For further information please visit www.gsk.com/about-us.

Proud to be born in the UK’s first new town, I have had first-hand experience of witnessing what was a post war paradigm of urbanisation from scratch. A Government experiment in creating a “land fit for heroes” and providing opportunity and homes to those willing to relocate, Stevenage will reach the grand old age of 75 years in 2022 and will still be upright and bright despite her age and attitude, born in a different era where centralised retail and bus journeys were a joy to behold at a time of very low car and home ownership.

Following my appointment as Chairman, the Stevenage Development Board received a £37.5 million government Towns Fund grant in March 2021, from our successful bid to change the future dynamic of Stevenage which you can see here. We start in Stevenage with the real benefit of Airbus building 25% of the world’s satellites now in orbit around the world; the largest Cell and Gene therapy cluster outside of the USA; and the largest construction project outside of the channel tunnel being established by GSK.

The government has already invested £120 million in the Bioscience Park and Catapult; fully supported by the Hertfordshire LEP. In my past capacity as Deputy Chair of the Hertfordshire LEP and current Chair of the LEP’s Skills and Employment Board, I have had the real opportunity to examine the performance of the towns in Hertfordshire mapped against both Employment Opportunity and Skills Delivery, and to identify the following interesting facts:

Employment – we are very fortunate to have on the Stevenage Development Board representatives from active Stevenage-based organisations such as MBDA, AIRBUS, GSK, Stevenage Bioscience, the Cell and Gene Catapult, the Wine Society, Herts LEP, the North Herts College and University of Hertfordshire, WENTA, Consumer Advice, the Hertfordshire LEP, Stevenage Borough Council and Herts County Council – each providing, in their own way, real career opportunities and relatively high salaries. In fact, during Covid, Stevenage had the lowest furlough rate amongst Herts based employers. Residents however endure lower rates of pay than the average pay scale delivered by Stevenage employers and consequently this infers that many Stevenage residents are leaving the Town each day, joining the traffic on the A1M to venture away from Stevenage for employment. In the age of Climate change this is not beneficial to us all.

Skills – many parties included in the delivery of education and skills have mentioned that there is little aspiration amongst the residents of North Herts to develop their skills above a level 2, yet local employers are seeking skills of level 3 and above to support their organisations and are encouraging workers to travel to Stevenage from all over Hertfordshire and beyond, exacerbating air pollution and climate change issues further. The issue therefore is how do we inspire residents to see the real employment opportunities in Stevenage and engage with the plethora of top-quality STEM employers on their doorstep?

The Opportunity – Working with Airbus and their Mars Rover facility, we have been extremely fortunate in securing a £1.5 million grant from the Hertfordshire LEP to create the STEM Discovery Centre in Stevenage https://stemdiscoverycentre.co.uk and have so far entertained 14,000 school children with the delights of space technology, who have visited the centre in the three years leading up to the Covid pandemic to marvel at the Mars Rover and mock lunar surface. We now want to extend this to the advanced engineering, life sciences, cell and gene therapy sciences now actively being developed and delivered in Stevenage. We hope to encourage residents of the Town to visit this facility and encourage their children to aspire to a career in the STEM sectors locally.

With the Towns Fund allocation now agreed, we have set aside £5 million for a new STEM training facility : the “Stevenage Innovation and Technology Centre”, or SITECH, to train residents of North Herts into careers with local employers and more recently our University and FE college organisations have reached the last group stage in a bid for an Institute of Technology which will deliver qualifications at levels 3, 4 and 5 with the support of our major local, world leading organisations. With their help, we hopefully will convince Government that Hertfordshire is the right place for an Institute of Technology and win this bid to deliver an even broader range of qualifications and opportunities.

There has never been a better time to seriously consider improving your skills whatever age you are. The Covid pandemic has focussed all our minds on survival and what the future holds and it’s time to think how we can develop our prospects. The Government is set on boosting the Nations skills with a lifetime skills guarantee and whilst they have supported our homesteads with the furlough arrangements during Covid, we need to think how life might have been different if only we had been incentivised to use this time for training and development.
Add to this the opportunities that will abound post Brexit as the country changes its modus operandi to take on the supply to further countries worldwide who delight at British made goods – the products of a trusted democracy – there is a realistic chance of significantly improving your life chances and those of your family.

The world of education and skills delivery is becoming ever more interesting with the arrival of augmented reality and the availability at home of a faster range of tablets and PCs. Covid distancing has hastened the arrival and delivery of online learning by institutions, forced to find other ways to reach their students during the pandemic, which makes the world of learning and skills development more convenient without the usual availability and time constraints.

Now is the time to identify the rising stars in industry running world-class businesses close to home that can provide real career prospects in newly defined fast-growing markets and make a choice as to how your skills could develop. Alternatively, the company that currently provides your employment will have likely proven their commitment to you during the pandemic and will probably want to boost their future by investing in skills development of their own staff – so it could be a great time for that discussion with your current employer.

Remember in terms of long-term employment and a lifetime of success, the right skills can make all the difference!

#CreateMeaning @biz4Biz @weldingworld #skills #biz4biz

About the Author

Adrian Hawkins OBE was awarded his honour by the Queen in the 2021 New Years Day Honours list for his services to business. A lifetime businessman, Adrian Chairs biz4Biz a business support organisation in Herts, Beds and Bucks which he founded 10 years ago to create a business network in the Home Counties. Adrian is also the Managing Director of Welding World, Chairman of the Hertfordshire LEP Skills and Employment Board and Chairman of the Stevenage Development Board. Adrian has 40 years’ experience in the world of business.