The four keys that can open the way for a prosperous future...

Liberal Democrat candidate for West Midlands Mayor Beverley Nielsen reveals her plans to help local firms create more employment and wealth

PRODUCTIVITY is the single biggest strategic challenge facing business, especially in manufacturing, as we have lagged behind our international rivals for decades.

I believe we can dramatically improve productivity by focusing on four key areas: transport, housing, skills and increased female partici- pation in the workforce.

Transport for the West Midlands has some great ideas, but is massively under-resourced, and we have to make it – Midlands Connect, Highways England, the M6 Toll and all our local authorities – collaborate more effectively.

Congestion costs this region £3 billion every year, so we must invest heavily in new technology to bring the various organisations together and I’d appoint a Transport Commissioner, to drive and deliver integration – as has happened in London, and to ensure our major infrastructure initiatives are delivered much faster than at the moment.

For example, we’ve heard talk about a regional equivalent of the Oyster Card for years, but it still isn’t available and lengthy delays for proposed Metro extensions have been a regrettable ever-present for the last decade and more.

Equally, we must factor in housing provision – especially of affordable homes – into our regional business strategy.

For too long, the strategic focus has been too narrow, but I would bring our local authorities together to establish a region-wide housing plan.

Skills is another crucial issue for the West Midlands, but I was baffled to hear the Prime Minister talk about creating a network of centres for technical education.

We already have a national network of employer-led University Technical Colleges (UTC), and 48 have been set up since 2010.

The first was in this region, the JCB Academy at the company’s Staffordshire headquarters, and the Aston University Engineering Academy is also doing tremendous work.

Historically, this region never gets its fair share of government investment, and we certainly can’t afford to throw many millions at creating new technical education colleges when the UTC network is already here and operating.

However, we can afford – and we must – invest in encouraging more women to enter the employment market, by providing specialist business-focused training courses, better language tuition, and tailored support.

Historically, this region never gets its fair share of government investment

Cuts to adult education must be reversed and greater support provided.

I would increase collaboration between the region’s major industrial employers, such as JLR, GKN and JCB, and the SMEs which drive our economy in terms of job creation.

I would also set up a £1 billion innovation fund to support our SMEs, and create a regional advisory team to help the major corporates share their knowledge and expertise with small firms in other sectors, along the lines of the Manufacturing Advisory Service which did wonderful work – but was abolished last year by the Tories. Other candidates who have so far

declared for the West Midlands mayoral election on May 4 are James Burn (Green), Pete Durnell (Ukip), Siôn Simon (Labour) and

Andy Street (Conservative)