Our COVID-19 response
How HL has supported the economic recovery of the West of England
As a key member of the community, we were keen to play our part to help drive economic recovery in the region in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
We talked to lots of organisations to find out how we could help best. We decided five HL colleagues would spend a year with the Local Enterprise Partnership. Working with the West of England Recovery Taskforce, the team are supporting the development of a recovery plan in response to the Covid-19 crisis. This plan will create over 1,800 new jobs and provide over 22,000 training and skills placements each year.
Heather Cooper, Chief People Officer at HL and board member of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership speaks about her work with the LEP: “My involvement in the Local Enterprise Partnership and the recovery plan for the region has given me the opportunity to work alongside people in business, education and the public and third sector to make sure that the recovery plan is inclusive and will benefit people across the region. “I’ve been delighted that Hargreaves Lansdown has been able to second some of our staff to help support this work over the past few months to be able to drive forward this really important work that will help our region recover more quickly.”
What have our colleagues been up to?
The HL team have also been able to bring a different perspective to the initiative. This is what our colleagues have been up to:
- Dave Henderson is Head of the HL Regional Recovery team, helping to shape and develop the Covid-19 recovery plan. Initially this involved pulling the project together and managing regional stakeholders, and now he’s able to focus on making sure that the Recovery Fund delivers and remains on track.
- Edward Micklem has been involved in gathering the feedback that supported the creation of the recovery plan. With this now published he is working on delivering the Climate Emergency Action Plan, which will lead the way towards the target of a net zero carbon future by 2030.
- Edie Bond has been working to communicate the work the Taskforce is doing to both immediate stakeholders and the wider public.
- As an Economic Technical Analyst, Harrison Bullock is well-placed to bring together data on Covid-19 in the West of England and the economic situation. He has also provided support on wider tasks, including analysing internal data on local businesses’ feelings around Brexit.
- Holly Weare was working as a project manager and has now taken over a full-time role at the West of England Combined Authority.
Despite the restrictions that Covid-19 has imposed, the team have flourished in their new environment, enjoying their new challenge. They’ve been grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to the region’s economic recovery.
Chief Executive of the West of England Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership, Patricia Greer, said: “The additional support from members of the Hargreaves Lansdown team has made a difference to the speed at which we have been able to carry out our urgent and important recovery work.”