Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee - Tuesday, 8th October, 2024 10.00 am

Venue: Council Antechamber, Level 2, Town Hall Extension. View directions

Contact: Rachel McKeon 

Media

Items
No. Item

36.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 82 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 3 September 2024.

Minutes:

Decision

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 September 2024 be approved as a correct record.

 

37.

Building Safety pdf icon PDF 135 KB

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

 

This report provides a full outline of the major legislative changes within Building Safety following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower on 14June 2017. This report provides an update on what progress has been made relating to the remediation of high-rise buildings and the implementation of the legislative changes for Council-owned residential high-rise buildings.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided a full outline of the major legislative changes within Building Safety following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017. The report provided an update on what progress had been made relating to the remediation of high-rise buildings and the implementation of the legislative changes for Council-owned residential high-rise buildings

 

Key points and themes within the report included:

 

  • Contextual information;
  • The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report;
  • Fire Safety Act 2021;
  • Building Safety Act 2022 (and Secondary Legislation);
  • Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022;
  • The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report;
  • Enforcement;
  • Remediation funding;
  • The Council’s role as Principal Accountable Person for the 36 high-rise buildings it owned;
  • Leaseholder protections; and
  • Building Control.

 

Prior to the discussion, the Committee held a minute’s silence for the 72 people killed in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

 

Giles Grover from Manchester Cladiators informed the Committee about his experience as a leaseholder, resident and member of the resident-led management company for a city centre apartment block which was identified as having the same cladding as Grenfell Tower, with other fire safety defects also becoming apparent.  He highlighted the deregulation which had taken place from the 1980s onwards, the extent of the problem in the city, with Manchester having more unsafe buildings that anywhere outside of London, and the uncertainties and complexities of the situation for those affected.  He emphasised that the focus had to be on making people’s homes safe and outlined how he and other people in affected buildings in the city had got together to try to progress this, reporting that they had received support from Manchester and Salford Councils and from Councillors and MPs and were also working with other groups of affected people across the country.  He outlined the approach of the previous Government under different Ministers and the progress so far, including the introduction of the Building Safety Fund.  He highlighted issues with the number of different organisations involved, such as developers, freeholders, contractors and housing associations, and organisations placing responsibility elsewhere and with the discovery of and need to address non-cladding defects.  He outlined the policy that the new Government had set out prior to coming to power and asked Members to use their influence to help ensure that certainty was provided for those affected, that there were penalties and consequences for those responsible and that people would know when their homes would be made safe.  He advised that a joined-up approach was needed, led by the Building Safety Regulator.  In response to a question from the Chair, he informed the Committee about the impact on the people affected, including the financial worries, the uncertainty about what was going to happen and not feeling safe in their own homes. 

 

Members recognised the impact on the people affected, including the toll on mental and physical health and how it affected people’s ability to move on with their lives.  Mr Grover informed Members how it impacted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

38.

Work and Skills Update pdf icon PDF 759 KB

Report of the Director of Inclusive Economy

 

This report provides an overview of the Work and Skills Strategy with a focus on skills, economic inactivity and construction in the labour market.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Director of Inclusive Economy which provided an overview of the Work and Skills Strategy with a focus on skills, economic inactivity and construction in the labour market.

 

Key points and themes within the report included:

 

  • Skills matching to meet labour market need;
  • Economic inactivity, focusing on over 50s;
  • Construction industry supply and demand of jobs

 

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

 

  • To welcome the progress being made;
  • Supporting people with health conditions and disabilities into work;
  • Proposals for Greater Manchester to have greater control over job centres, benefits and work and skills;
  • Gender differences in relation to work and skills, including the impact of motherhood and caring responsibilities;
  • The skills gap, in particular in relation to construction and health and social care; 
  • The impact of the Town Hall Project; and
  • The growth in economically inactive over-50s.

 

The Work and Skills Lead informed Members about the set of programmes designed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), along with the Council, to meet the needs of the local population, including the Work and Health programme, which was recently extended and aimed to support people with long-term health conditions and disability into employment.  He also informed the Committee about the forthcoming WorkWell pilot which would commence in early 2025 and help people with mental and physical health conditions into work.

 

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure advised that early discussions were taking place about changes to job centres and that the Council would welcome anything that would improve the experience and the outcome for individuals. 

 

The Director of Inclusive Economy reported that the Council had a good working relationship with JobCentrePlus, with good local arrangements in place, but that the proposals referred to by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, would take this work to the next stage and integrate more services to support people.  She recognised the Member’s point about gender, assuring Members that her service took account of data and intelligence in relation to gender and signposting Members to the Work and Skills report to the Committee in March 2024 for further information, noting that the report presented at today’s meeting provided specific information that Members had requested, rather than covering all aspects of the work taking place in relation to Work and Skills.  She informed Members that her service had worked with the Director of Adult Social Care to understand the skills gap in relation to Health and Social Care, reporting that more people were moving into entry-level roles in this area but there were some specific gaps to be addressed and a need to strengthen longer term relationships between learning and education providers and the social care sector.

 

The Work and Skills Lead reported that approximately 11,000 new construction jobs were expected to be created by 2027 and that there was an ageing workforce in this sector.  He informed Members about the GMCA’s Construction and Green Skills Bootcamps which brought people into the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

39.

Post-16 Education Employment Training Strategic Plan 2022-25 – Progress Update pdf icon PDF 137 KB

Report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

 

This report provides an update on work done by the Council to increase the number of young people accessing Education Employment Training (EET) opportunities in the city, aligning with the city’s economic priorities. It also outlines the plans for this work moving forwards, specifically with the Department for Education and Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which provided an update on work done by the Council to increase the number of young people accessing Education Employment Training (EET) opportunities in the city, aligning with the city’s economic priorities. It also outlined the plans for this work moving forwards, specifically with the Department for Education (DfE) and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

 

Key points and themes within the report included:

 

  • Post-16 sufficiency;
  • Young people not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET);
  • Bringing together schools and employers; and
  • Post 16 qualification reform and MBACC.

 

The Director of Education informed the Committee that, since the report had been written, the DfE had been working closely with her service and partners and providers which had resulted in a significant amount of additional places for this year being secured.

 

Michael Jaffrain, Chair of the Post-16 Strategy Group and Principal, Loreto Sixth Form College, informed the Committee about the extension of Loreto’s campus to accommodate more post-16 students, emphasising that this would be sustained growth over three years to ensure that Loreto continued to achieve high outcomes for its students and provide them with wraparound support.  He commented on the high quality of the Level 3 provision in Manchester, with all providers being judged to be good or better but advised that the increased post-16 demand was a challenge for the sector.  He reported that the Post-16 Group, in collaboration with Council officers, was working to provide cohesion across the broad post-16 sector in Manchester and to share best practice and that its main aims were to reduce the number of young people who were NEET and to improve the outcomes and life chances of young people as they left further education.  He expressed concern at the planned curriculum reform in relation to Btech qualifications, which, he advised, were particularly important for young people at risk of becoming NEET, stating that the Post-16 Group had written to the Secretary of State for Education and the DfE with their concerns.

 

Rachel Curry, Principal, The Manchester College and Deputy CEO, The LTE Group, reported that her College provided high quality technical education aligned to the skills needs of Manchester delivered in industry standard facilities which met the needs of employers.  She informed Members about the substantial increase in applications for courses with the College, with particularly high demand in areas aligned to growth sectors in the city such as digital, creative media, construction, computing, science and engineering.  She reported that this year the LTE Group had invested £1.3 million in changes to the College’s accommodation to create 162 new places this year and there were further plans to accommodate an additional 200 places in 2025/26, advising that these places would need to be funded in full by the DfE; however, she advised that a significant, comprehensive solution was needed to the capacity challenges facing the post-16 sector over the next five years, that changes to accommodation and new accommodation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

40.

Overview Report pdf icon PDF 203 KB

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.

Minutes:

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. 

 

Decision:

 

That the Committee note the report and agree the work programme.