Major events contribute £150million in 5 years

MAJOR events supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) have contributed £150 million to the Northwest economy in the last 5 years.  The figure has been achieved through a prestigious line-up of sporting, cultural and business events which has included the Uefa Women’s Football Championships; FINA World Swimming Championships; the Paralympic World Cup; the Turner Prize; Liverpool Biennial; Manchester International Festival; Liverpool Business Summit; World Squash Championships; the Tour of Britain and the Great North Swim.

Building on the major success of Manchester’s 2002 Commonwealth Games, in 2004 the NWDA became the first RDA to launch a Major Events Strategy, positioning the Northwest as a world-leading destination for hosting major events.

Peter Mearns, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at the NWDA, said:- “The Commonwealth Games attracted an extra 300,000 visitors per year who generated an extra £12m in increased tourism spend per year which demonstrates the economic impact that hosting major events can have. The major events strategy was launched to exploit that potential and the figure of £150 million shows not only that this is a worthwhile strategy, but that the Northwest has been highly successful in attracting events, particularly sporting events.  In the Northwest there is the infrastructure, expertise and the passion to host successful major events. This reputation is attracting high-profile events which both enhance our image across the world, and make a significant contribution to the regional economy.”

Impact from major events has been growing year on year and over the year to March 2009, the NWDA supported 25 major events across the Northwest, which brought 1.75 million visitors to the region and generated £45 million for our economy.  Key successes include:-

· The Turner Prize was held outside of London for the first time in 2007. It generated £10million and attracted over 71,000 visitors to the exhibition at Tate Liverpool.

· In Cumbria the first Great North Swim was launched in 2008 with the support of the NWDA which generated around £750,000 in economic impact. The first event was so popular it was voted 5th Top Open Water Swim in the World, became a two-day event for 2009 and attracted over 6,000 competitors.

· The Paralympic World Cup has been held in Manchester for five years running. In 2008 there were almost 12,000 visitors and an economic impact of £1million.

· Ironman UK was recently held in Bolton and the Northwest for the first time. The NWDA suggested Bolton as an ideal location for the high-profile event and worked closely with Bolton Council and Ironman UK to stage the event. This international event attracted over 1,600 athletes from as far afield as Australia and Argentina and will be held in Bolton in 2010 and 2011, contributing around £9 million to the regional economy in total.

· The NWDA was a key partner in the development of the Manchester International Festival which generated an economic impact of £28.8million in 2007 and attracted around 240,000 people. The NWDA helped in developing the positioning of the Festival and provided initial financial support which helped lever private sector funding of £3.6million; the most private sector funding ever raised for a UK festival.

Major events in the region also provide contracts for business and the Manchester International Festival is a good example of this where, in 2007, £7.7m was spent with 310 local suppliers and 75 artists.  The NWDA is developing the event supplier network to ensure that Northwest companies are fully exploiting the opportunities in the region and outside the region.

Over the past 5 years, major events that the NWDA has been associated with have attracted about 4 million business and leisure visitors to the region and created a positive image which contributes to the economic development of England’s Northwest – including over 70 hours of national and international television coverage 

Those major events staged in the region attracted with the support of the NWDA, sustain on average 450 jobs per year.  In 2008 events supported by the NWDA, including the European MTV Music Awards and Turner Prize, complemented the Liverpool European Capital of Culture programme which generated £800million in economic benefit and 15 million cultural visits.

Across the region, the NWDA led on strategies and sponsored events to ensure the impact of Capital of Culture was felt everywhere. Cheshire’s Year of Gardens, Lancashire’s Year of Food, Cumbria’s Year of Adventure and Manchester’s Year of Sport enjoyed their own successes and attracted an additional 500,000 visitors between them.

Going forward, the NWDA is looking to ensure that the region fully capitalises on the country’s ‘decade of sport’ and, as well as taking the regional lead on the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, is also ensuring that the Northwest fully benefits from the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup and England’s bid to stage the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

Liverpool struggling in new national education league tables

75% of Liverpool’s parliamentary constituencies have a higher than average percentage of people with no qualifications, according to a new report. The damning report by the University and College Union (UCU) reveals the full extent of the postcode lottery when it comes to educational achievement in Britain today.

The report, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION – the widening education gap in Britain and how where you live determines your chances, analyses educational achievement by Westminster parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales and ranks each according to the percentage of people with at least some qualifications and the percentage of people with a degree-level qualification or above. It also provides analysis of 21 of Britain’s biggest cities, including Liverpool, by constituency.

Key findings from the analysis of Liverpool include:-

· 75% (12 out of 16) of Liverpool’s parliamentary constituencies have a below average percentage of people with qualifications.

· 11 of the 16 constituencies have a below average percentage of people who have a degree-level qualification or above

· Someone living in Bootle is nearly 5 times more likely to have no qualifications than someone living in Wirral West

· The national average percentage of people of working age with no qualifications in a constituency is 12.4%

· The national average percentage of people of working age who have a degree-level qualification or above in a constituency is 29%

The full report shows that constituencies with traditionally high academic achievement have pulled further away from those at the other end of the scale. As more people go to university, well-performing constituencies have, perhaps unsurprisingly, continued to enjoy success. However, worryingly, the constituencies at the bottom of the pile have seen academic achievement decline.

In the 20 constituencies with the lowest level of participation in higher education, the proportion, on average, of the working age population with a degree-level qualification or above fell from 12.6% in 2005 to 12.1% in 2008. However, in the 20 constituencies with the highest level of participation in higher education, the proportion of the working age population, on average, with a degree-level qualification and above increased from 48.8% in 2005 to 57.2% in 2008.

The report shows enormous regional variations in access to education. Of the 20 constituencies with the highest percentage of people with no qualifications, the West Midlands accounts for 8 of them and occupies the 4 bottom spots. 33% of the constituencies with the lowest percentage of graduates can also be found in the West Midlands.  Although a lot of the constituencies with the lowest levels of educational achievement are traditional ‘Labour’ seats in the larger towns and cities, 3 constituencies in the East of England feature among those with the lowest percentage of people who have a degree or better. 2 of those constituencies are held by the Conservatives, indicating that the issue of providing fair access to education is cross party.

London attracts the highest number of graduates, with 17 of the 25 constituencies that boast the most graduates found in the capital. However underneath that veneer London has many areas where a substantial percentage of the working age population have no qualifications at all – making access to education in the capital a true tale of 2 cities.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said:- “Education holds the key to improving social mobility, tackling poverty and extending opportunity for all. Those with the greatest access to qualifications tend to be healthier, wealthier and more active citizens. Yet, as this report shows, where you live largely determines your access to education.  Educational underachievement already costs our country £18bn a year and I hope this report acts as a wakeup call to politicians of all parties to recognise the power of education to change people’s lives. All politicians need to work together to build a new consensus that prioritises fair opportunities for everyone, irrespective of where they come from.”

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION – the widening education gap in Britain and how where you live determines your chances can be found at:- ucu.org.uk/locationlocationlocation and has detailed tables of:-

· the percentage of people educated to at least degree level by constituency

· the percentage of people without qualifications by constituency

· the 20 constituencies with the highest percentage of people educated to degree level (with changes since 2005)

· the 20 constituencies with the lowest percentage of people educated to degree level (with changes since 2005)

· Britain’s 21 largest cities broken down and analysed by constituency