To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2023.

Councillor Northwood advised that she was affected by cladding issues and asked that this be included as a personal interest under item ERSC/23/30 Manchester Housing Strategy (2022-2032) - Annual Monitoring Report.

Decision

That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2023 be approved as a correct record, subject to the above amendment.  

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

This report provides an update on the development of a new Economic Strategy which sets out how the next phase of Manchester’s growth can ensure that the city’s economy is both high performing and drives a reduction in inequalities.

The Committee received a report and presentation of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided an update on the development of a new Economic Strategy which set out how the next phase of Manchester’s growth could ensure that the city’s economy was both high performing and drove a reduction in inequalities.

Key points and themes within the report and presentation included:

• Manchester’s economic ambition;
• Manchester’s economy;
• Policy context;
• The strategy development process;
• Early feedback from residents and businesses;
• RSA Urban Future Commission;
• Resolution Foundation Economy 2030 Enquiry;
• Research findings/literature review;
• Summary of main challenges identified from evidence base and research work;
• Vision and purpose;
• Strategy objectives; and
• Measuring progress.

The Leader invited Members’ feedback, which would be taken into account as the document was finalised.  She outlined the national context that the city was operating in and highlighted the challenge of increasing economic productivity while having an inclusive focus, including addressing the gap between those who lived in the city and those who worked in the city.  She highlighted how this Strategy would complement the Our Manchester Strategy and work taking place at a Greater Manchester level.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To welcome that the Committee’s feedback from the last time this item had been considered had been incorporated into this work;
• The impact of years of austerity and of the pandemic;
• To ask who had been engaged with in relation to the development of this strategy and were there any differences in the responses from businesses and residents in different parts of the city;
• Concern that Manchester did not have many of the levers to implement change as many powers lay with central Government;
• The importance of the district centre strategy, including district centres as a place where people worked;
• The focus on the private sector, noting that a strong public sector could provide high quality, rewarding jobs;
• The impact of city centre growth on areas that neighboured the city centre and ensuring that local residents benefited from this growth and could access these jobs;
• To welcome the consideration of zero carbon commitments within the report;
• The link with the Our Manchester Strategy;
• Was the Council doing everything it could to increase the number of employers paying the real living wage;
• Retaining graduates in the city;
• The impact of home working, including on data;
• The importance of quality of life, culture and the night-time economy in attracting and retaining people in the city;
• Noting that, while this was a ten-year strategy, the impact of the decisions made about the use of land in the city would impact far beyond this period; and
• That agglomeration was about connectivity not just density, with reference to the way areas outside of the city centre could be viewed if they had the right transport links.

The Leader recognised the Member’s comment about levers for change resting with central Government, while commenting that Greater Manchester had progressed further in obtaining devolved powers than other city regions,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Report of the Director of Inclusive Economy

Making Manchester Fairer: Tackling Health Inequalities in Manchester 2022-27 describes the actions that the city will take to reduce inequalities, with a focus on the social determinants of health. This report provides a progress update and next steps for the delivery of three of the key themes of the Making Manchester Fairer Action Plan - ‘Cutting unemployment and creating good jobs’, ‘Lifting low-income households out of poverty and debt’ and ‘Improving housing and creating safe, warm affordable housing’ in conjunction with the delivery of Manchester’s new Anti-Poverty Strategy.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Inclusive Economy which provided a progress update and next steps for the delivery of three of the key themes of the Making Manchester Fairer Action Plan - ‘Cutting unemployment and creating good jobs’, ‘Lifting low-income households out of poverty and debt’ and ‘Improving housing and creating safe, warm affordable housing’ in conjunction with the delivery of Manchester’s new Anti-Poverty Strategy.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Background information on Making Manchester Fairer 2022-2027;
• Integration with Manchester’s new Anti-Poverty Strategy;
• Making Manchester Fairer Action Plan;
• Work and employment highlights and achievements;
• Operational activity;
• Employment and Wellbeing Kickstarter;
• Lifting low-income households out of poverty and debt (Poverty, income and debt), including highlights and achievements; and
• Improving housing and creating safe, warm, affordable homes, including highlights and achievements.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To welcome the ambitious strategy;
• Concern about the level of child poverty in the city and the number of residents not working due to long-term sickness but to welcome the work taking place to address these issues;
• The impact of low wages and the rise in the cost of living, particularly the cost of housing and heating, and work in relation to the Living Wage and helping people into better paid jobs;
• Difficulties in capturing data on levels of adult poverty;
• Measures of how successful Employment Fairs were and whether consideration should be given to holding Employment Fairs outside the city centre;
• Noting that fighting systemic and structural discrimination and racism was one of the key themes of Making Manchester Fairer and was within the remit of a different Committee, highlighting that this also impacted on key themes that the Committee was considering and that this needed to be an overarching way of analysing all the themes, rather than just being seen as a discrete area of work; and
• How to scrutinise this area of work, including considering every item that came to the scrutiny committee in the light of Making Manchester Fairer, and whether this should be incorporated into the scrutiny report template.

The Director of Inclusive Economy reported that the Living Wage was independently calculated and had increased by 10% the previous year to reflect the rise in the cost of living.  She advised that there had been concern about whether organisations would want to continue to be accredited Living Wage Employers due to the increase but she reported that the city’s targets for this had been met and more employees in the city were benefiting from it.  She reported that the Employment Fairs had been successful, although there was a limit on the extent to which attendees could be tracked.  She advised that holding the Employment Fairs in the city centre worked well due to good transport links but some had taken place elsewhere, including in Wythenshawe and at the Etihad Stadium.  She reported that people who were attending English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses through Manchester Adult  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree, and the Economy Dashboard for information.

A report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit was submitted. The overview report contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations and the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to approve.  The report also included the Quarterly Economy Dashboard, for information.

The Chair noted that the second recommendation on the recommendations monitor had now been completed.  He reported that the Housing Needs Assessment report had been rescheduled for the November meeting.  He informed Members that he had agreed a call-in exemption on modifications to the joint local plan due to the timing for approval of this but that the Committee would be scrutinising the local plan again at a future meeting.  He reminded Members of the change of date, time and venue for the next meeting.

Members discussed the timing of a further report on the Economic Strategy and the importance of it being a detailed discussion which provided sufficient challenge.  The Chair agreed to schedule this for the November meeting and to discuss this further with officers at an agenda-setting meeting. 

A Member suggested that the Committee consider a report on the Shared Prosperity Fund which also covered previous funding and where funding might come from in future.  The Chair advised that this had been considered at the end of the previous municipal year and that the scheduling of a further update would be discussed at the agenda-setting meeting. 

Decision:

That the Committee note the report, including the Quarterly Economy Dashboard, and agree the work programme, subject to the above comments.