On Friday 1st May, Oldham MPs Jim McMahon and Debbie Abrahams held an online support session for over 50 Oldham-based businesses. They were joined by a series of key speakers.
The events panel was made up of experts from the Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub, Darren Flannery and Phil Hargreaves, Oldham Council’s Deputy Chief-Executive Helen Lockwood and Chartered Accountant and managing partner of Brandsons Accountants, John Townsend.
The GM Business Growth Hub are one of the key local stakeholders on the FOUNDATION Project to Oldham Council.
The event demonstrated the importance of a cooperative approach to supporting businesses through this critical time, bringing together politicians, the local authority and business support organisations so that a full picture of public and private support can be presented to the businesses. In particular the opportunity to speak to politicians gave businesses an opportunity to have their concerns taken back to Parliament and presented directly to government.
Oldham West and Royton MP Mr McMahon (pictured) said: “I really enjoyed co-hosting this virtual event with Debbie and I’m really grateful to our panel of experts who gave up their time to come and talk to Oldham-based businesses about the support available at the minute.
“It’s really useful for me and Debbie as Members of Parliament to know about the issues that pop-up with government schemes at the minute, so we can feed that back where we can and get things changed.
Mrs Abrahams (pictured above), MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “Like Jim, I found the seminar a really useful way to add to my understanding of the issues that business owners in Oldham and Saddleworth are facing during the current coronavirus crisis.
"Over the last few weeks much of my case work has focused on supporting these businesses and lobbying the Government on the gaps in funding support that still exist.
For more information:
twitter.com/Oldham_Hour/status/1256234574809620481
