About the HEY Business, Growth and Skills Hub

The Hull and East Yorkshire Business, Growth and Skills Hub (HEY Hub) has now officially opened its doors and is working closely with the two local authorities in preparation for the proposed Combined Authority. The new Hub is a development of the former HEY LEP and continues to cover the two Council geographies of Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The Hub will continue with its delivery of several key contracts that are designed to drive the local economy including business support, inward investment, export, skills and the monitoring of previous capital programme investments.  In addition, the Investment Panel will continue its work regarding loans and grants and further expand its remit to provide additional scrutiny to Hull’s Levelling Up funds.

Our relationship with government colleagues will continue in regard of the programmes we run, such as the HEY Careers Hub, export support and the NEY Net Zero Hub. We will also continue our partnership with the former LEP Network which is transitioning to the Business Board Network.

One major new focus of our work is to help prepare the region for the opportunities that would come with a Combined Authority. Whilst this decision is being discussed with government we will continue to work with our private and public sector colleagues to ensure the private sector’s voice is recognised.  We will continue look for opportunities to collaborate on geographical or sector issues with other parts of the UK and Yorkshire.

The region will use the former LEP Economic Strategy as a base to refresh our evidence to create a new regional strategy which will reflect the major sectors we have in HEY and also capture the opportunities for further growth.

This strategy will identify the actions needed to boost productivity, provide long term jobs and secure inward investment and government support. The strategy will also focus on the key priorities for funding and the allocation of resources to those priorities, which are the most important to the economy.

A new regional Business Board and a new Skills Board will be appointed in the late Spring/early Summer to ensure that we maximise the region’s ability to create the right environment for business to grow and expand, thus creating new and good jobs. Our future ability to use skills funding to influence the types of training the region needs provides an added impetus for individuals and businesses alike.