It’s important for us to have a healthy local economy in Grimsby. We’ve got national and multinational companies here, but we also want to support our small, medium enterprises and our sole traders as well. I try to get out and talk to our companies as often as possible. I’ve run my own businesses myself over the years and I know how difficult it can be to not just run a small business but also to think about future planning for businesses and bringing in new people.
In my role as FE Ambassador and chair of the government's Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network, I’m trying to let companies know about government initiatives, how they can get help and how they can start to think about training people. Quite often, people will have built up very successful family business and they’re so busy running them that they don’t think how to develop it and keep it going for as long as possible.
I make sure that I keep up to date with my local businesses. As an example, eFactor, with their chief executive Mark Webb, has been offering business support for many years. He’s a valuable resource for smaller businesses. Back in July of 2020, they started building new premises at Prince Albert Gardens, so it shows that there’s a healthy number of business around in Grimsby that need support.
I’ve also been popping into business throughout restrictions to see how they’re getting on, because they have been significantly hit during the pandemic. I went to see Crosskills Florists to talk to them, to see how they were doing and seeing if I could support them in any way. Life still goes on in a pandemic and death as well. People still need the services of florists to commemorate special times in our lives to mark special periods.
I also joined Martin Vickers to visit Catch, the training organisation. They’ve got a very good reputation for industry training in the chemicals industry, but now they’re looking to branch out into renewables as well. We had a meeting with them about their strategy and where they want to move forward and there’s some very positive and exciting things they want to do.
I also visited Brides and Grooms. We know that hospitality events and the wedding industry have been particular hard hit through the pandemic, so I went to see Darren who is the owner of Brides and Grooms. I also wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer about the situation that companies like his were in where, effectively, business has stopped.
I‘m trying to make sure that I’m lobbying to get business like his to get as much support as possible while people are having to postpone weddings. Companies like his are not only hit by weddings not being booked but also weddings being cancelled. People have been cancelling weddings that were booked and receiving refunds. There are a lot of business that are in that very difficult position and as their MP, I’m going to lobby to try and make sure that they get as much support as possible.
I also went to St Andrew’s Hospice. They came to me and they said that they wanted to make sure that people who were service users and patients in the hospice could still have family and friends come to visit them. They needed to be able to raise money to have a temperature checker installed, so that they could check to see whether visitors had Covid or not. I managed to link them up to a businessman who donated money so that they could continue safely welcoming people into the hospice thanks to this device.
I went to see engineering company Worley who are looking to expand and are looking for more people who’ve got engineering and construction skills. I talked to them about their needs and what they’re looking for. It’s really important that people locally understand what kinds of jobs are available and what’s coming up in the area. I know that Worley are now talking with North East Lincolnshire Council about expanding their site.
Another company that are planning to expand is DataPlan. They provide payroll services for business around the UK. They’ve also started developing a digital side to their business, which includes business apps and so they’ve got a very creative digital team now that they’re growing. Again, it’s important letting people know about the kind of companies that are looking to recruit and the kind of skills that are needed out there that perhaps you wouldn’t know on a day-to-day basis, so they’re a very forward thinking company.
I also met with Elegant Lighting to see how business is for them. I wrote to 400 business talking to them about the opportunities that were available and what I could do to help. Keeping in touch with business to understand what’s important to them and what work I need to do in parliament to support local business is vital.
I went to see The Company Shop to learn about their business model and how they work to support people who are on low incomes and people who work in public services. It was fascinating to see their business model. They sell surplus food and products that the supermarkets don’t want to keep a hold of anymore. You can go there, stock up the freezer or buy foods that have a lesser used by date than the supermarkets would keep, which was fascinating to learn about.
I also went to see the plastic box company, PPS, again just to learn about how much manufacturing we have locally. People always say to me we don’t have any manufacturing in the UK anymore, when actually we’ve got a lot of that here, in particular plastics. We’ve got one company who actually work solely in the plastic food box business, because obviously we move a lot of fish and lot of food. As a company, they recycle and repair plastic so the boxes can be very old but they’re all designed to be sterile and companies will reuse them and they support that.
I also went to the Courtyard Café to support Freeman Street Businesses as much as I can, to help them. I’ll always go and support a food outlet! This one was meeting Martin Boyers at Grimsby Fish Dock Enterprises to talk about the fish processing industry and the kind of products that come in via road or via sea. This was to understand their business so that I can properly represent them in Parliament. I also went to visit Air Products with Martin Vickers to talk about their needs and what they’re looking to develop. Products like hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen are all air products that are used in a variety of different industrial processes and again, it’s important for me to understand what it is they’re looking to do and the kind of skills that they’re interested in.
It’s hugely important for our local business to receive what support is available to them and as their MP it’s my job to facilitate that and ensure that they have what help they need.
