Making jobs our business

Cllr Andy Sloan, responsible for the economy and regeneration

Hull City Council and its partners are playing a key role in building the local economy

When one door closes another opens, as the saying goes, and it's a fitting one for Hull at the moment.
Just as jobs are lost at Hull firms, it's expected that around 2,500 new posts will be created in the St. Stephen's development when it opens later this year.
"We need to ensure that as many of these new jobs as possible go to Hull residents," says Cllr Andy Sloan, responsible for the economy and regeneration of the city.
"We are already providing training through the Skills Fund, and working with organisations such as Jobcentre Plus and Construction Works, to give people new skills to equip them for jobs in industries where they might not have worked before."

Shared services industry

The St. Stephen's development is just one way in which Hull City Council and its partners - including Yorkshire Forward, Jobcentre Plus, Citybuild and the local business community - are giving the city centre a new purpose.
Independent research shows there are strong market conditions to create a 'shared services' industry in the city centre. This refers to the sort of services that provide human resource management, customer call handling and debt collection to larger blue-chip companies.
At the same time, they create office-based white-collar jobs.
Res-Q Contact Services is a good example. Based in Chariot House, on Carr Lane, the company makes and takes phone calls on behalf of other companies.
Another example is the Mobile Point, in Hull Business Centre, Queen's Gardens, which provides mobile phones for the NHS.
Both companies have been helped by Hull City Council.

Moving forward

Developing the city centre is just one part of the "Jobs and Prosperity Plan", which is being led by Hull City Council.
Encouraging more 'value-added' logistics and manufacturing companies is on the agenda because Hull is a large port.
'Value-added' manufacturing refers to the way in which companies import commodities through the docks and add value to them before exporting them on.
For example, the Aarhus Karlshamn refinery at King George Dock imports edible oil, then processes it before exporting it as a new or 'value-added' product in Europe.
Meanwhile, the £16 million Institute of Logistics, based in Hull University, is helping local companies to develop expertise in this kind of work.
"We are a large port and we want to add value to goods as they come through," adds Cllr Sloan.
"Developing the value-added manufacturing and logistics sectors is a key way of attracting new investment and business to the city of Hull and the Humber region."

In good health

The plan also aims to build on the success of Hull's health sector, which continues to flourish with the presence of Smith and Nephew and Seven Seas Ltd, while Reckitt Benckiser is creating more than 150 new positions at its east Hull plant this year.
A new telecare system illustrates the current development in the health sector. It allows vulnerable residents to monitor their own health while living at home.
The council's adult social services team is behind this system, in conjunction with the Hull York Medical School. Smith and Nephew are also contributing by pioneering cutting-edge products.
"It's about pulling together programmes that are aligned to what big companies are producing on the ground, and giving them more reasons to stay here," adds Cllr Sloan.

Renewable Energy

Another part of the plan is to create jobs through the renewable-energy industry.
Biological materials - such as crops, wood, straw and poultry litter - can be turned into biomass energy to create heat and power.
Rix Petroleum, with its head office in east Hull, for example, manufactures environmentally-friendly vehicle fuel from new and recycled vegetable oils.
In the wider context of sustainable development, the Jobs and Prosperity Board is promoting sustainable economic development. A recent example of this has been the investment by Nippon Gohsei (UK) Limited, based at Saltend, which works closely with BP to produce environmentally friendly packaging from a by-product of the BP processes.
"It's an excellent way to create jobs and solve environmental problems at the same time, when one company does something innovative with another's waste," adds Cllr Sloan.