Hertfordshire Futures Debates
Webinar 1: Get Hertfordshire Working
This debate, broadcast live on 29 January, brought together voices from across health, business and local government to help break down barriers to employment and ensure more people can make meaningful contributions to society.
In Hertfordshire 18.3% of people aged 16-64 are economically inactive, which is slightly lower than the national rate of 22%, but this rate does vary from district to district. The incidence of ‘long term sick’ among those who are economically inactive is slightly lower in Hertfordshire than across England, but worryingly this rate appears to be growing faster than the UK as a whole. How can we develop a local Get Britain Working paper that works for Hertfordshire.
Read the PR summary report.
Watch the recording below.
Webinar 2: Shaping a greener economy
The Government has emphasised that its primary goal is growth, but not at any cost. In our second webinar, we will explore how we can foster local economic growth while supporting net zero goals and encouraging green investments, all while delivering the much-needed homes and infrastructure.
With Hertfordshire’s population projected to rise by 38,550 by 2043, there will be increased demands for housing, healthcare, schools, and transport. This growth presents opportunities and challenges. There is also a significant need for green skills to retrofit Hertfordshire’s housing stock, ensuring healthier living conditions for the future.
In this second debate, we will discuss how we can build a greener economy and help to ensure that the environment and nature recovery are integrated into future development. We will also hear from rural businesses about how they have diversified and integrated sustainability into their operations.
Webinar 3: Are We AI Ready?
New and emerging technologies and AI are revolutionising our key sectors, driving growth and productivity, but there are risks for industries and people left behind. How are we adapting training needs for industry to be ready for the impact AI will have? Equally, are we training the right people for the right jobs and available amount of work?
In this final webinar in the Hertfordshire Futures Debates series we will look at the digital arena both from the innovation side – how can this cross-cutting sector drive innovation across key sectors – as well as skills and inclusion to ensure that we better harness its benefits and future-proof our economy for a digital age.
This webinar is aimed at:
- Tech companies, start-ups, consultancy firms
- Training providers
- Local authorities and regulatory bodies, economic development officers
- Network providers
Business engagement
Over the past few months we have sought the views of our businesses via briefings, events and surveys. This engagement has been vital to feed into the evidence base for the strategy.
While the engagement period has now closed, there are still lots of ways you can keep up to date with our progress:
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The next sections set out our approach and principles of engagement and how we are progressing against the key milestones.
