Black Country Consortium to release latest economic trends via Twitter ahead of the Black Country LEP Annual Conference

The Black Country Consortium is releasing the annual ‘Black Country Annual Economic Review, 2016’ highlighting the Black Country’s current position and relative economic performance against national indicators via Twitter from 9 May 2016.

Produced annually by the Black Country Consortium’s Economic Intelligence Unit, the review highlights the Black Country’s current position mapped against key strategic indicators and enables evidence based decision-making for the Black Country LEP and public sector partners.

The information will be released on 9 and 10 May 2016 mapped against three key areas: 

• Live – mapping trends across population, infrastructure, housing and transport.
• Work – looking at people in the Black Country focusing on trends in education, skills and the workforce.
• Invest – sharing information on business in the Black Country from total number of businesses to new business starts.

The Economic Review will set the scene for the Black Country LEP Annual Conference which takes place at West Bromwich Albion Football Club on Wednesday 11 May, 8am – 10.30am. Aimed at business the Conference will explore the LEP’s progress in transforming the Black Country economy and removing barriers to business growth. Hosted by ITV Central’s Sameena Ali-Khan speakers at this year’s conference include Dr Chris Handy and Lord Digby Jones.

Stewart Towe, Chair of the Black Country LEP said: "The Black Country Economic Review is a hugely useful tool enabling the Black Country LEP to apply economic intelligence to our strategic work aimed at tacking barriers to business growth across the Black Country. I welcome this innovative approach to sharing the data with businesses, partners, stakeholders and individuals via social media. The Economic Review will prove a highly informative scene setter for our Annual Conference as we present successes in 2015 and look ahead to further transforming the Black Country economy in 2016 and beyond.”

To access the information follow @BlackCountryLEP ahead of the information being release on 9 and 10 May. The full Black Country Annual Economic Review will be available to download from www.the-blackcountry.com from the afternoon of 10 May.