BUSINESS minister Margot James MP visited Malvern Hills Science Park to hear about the work of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and to meet some of the county’s most successful businesses.

During her visit, the minister was briefed on the growth in the county’s economy as well as the challenges for its businesses in a post-Brexit world.

The minister also heard about exciting plans to support the growth of the cyber security sector, with Worcestershire working with partners in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

After visiting the science park, minister visited Spring Lane-based company Optimec, a leader in the provision of instruments for the contact lens industry, and heard how investment from the Local Enterprise Partnership had enabled the business to purchase the latest machinery which created new jobs and strengthened their competitive advantage in the international market.

Ms James said: “I was delighted to be able to meet with the Worcestershire LEP and local businesses to discuss their successes and ambitions for future growth in the county.

“It was great to see how Worcestershire’s high quality business environment has enabled local companies to invest and create new skilled jobs. I was very impressed with both the facilities at Malvern Hills Science Park and the ambition of the Local Enterprise Partnership, particularly in the field of smart sensors and cyber security.”

Mark Stansfeld, chair of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “It was great to be able to show Margot James the fantastic progress that we are making in the county in terms of the success of our local small and medium-sized enterprises and the investments that we are making to create even more jobs for our highly-skilled workforce.

"In recent years, Worcestershire has achieved the strongest growth in higher level workforce skills, the second highest growth in productivity and the third highest growth in prosperity of all LEP areas and we are working to continue this success."