Report of the Chief Executive attached

This report provides an update on the draft Developing a More Inclusive Economy – Our Manchester Industrial Strategy. An initial draft of the Strategy is appended to this report, along with the draft delivery plan and the methodology and findings of the wide-ranging engagement exercise undertaken to inform the development of the Strategy.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive, which provided an update on draft “Developing a More Inclusive Economy – Our Manchester Industrial Strategy” and the associated draft delivery plan and the methodology and findings of the wide-ranging engagement exercise undertaken to inform the development of the Strategy.

The main points and themes within the report included:-

·                The Strategy set out Manchester’s vision for developing a more inclusive economy that all residents could participate in and benefit from;

·                The Strategy aligned to the Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy and specifically set out Manchester’s unique position as the conurbation core, and our responsibility to promote and drive inclusive growth within its economy;

·                The Strategy considered Manchester’s successes and challenges, and focused on three pillars – People, Place and Prosperity;

·                Each of the pillars contained a number of themes to be prioritised to promote economic and social justice in Manchester;

·                To implement the vision of the Strategy, a delivery plan containing a small number of evidence-based initiatives to make Manchester’s economy more inclusive had been developed;

·                These initiatives are in addition to existing work programme and will add value; and

·                A wide ranging engagement exercise was undertaken in winter 2018/19 to inform the development of the Strategy. Alongside this, a literature review and analysis of quantitative data was also undertaken;

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:-

·                Given the expected significant increase in population within the city, had any thought been given to ensure the required infrastructure was in place, for example school provision;

·                What support was offered to local businesses to help in relation to reducing carbon emissions and payment of Business Rates;

·                There was a need to consider how the Council’s recently adopted ;position in declaring a climate emergency impacted on this strategy

·                There was a key opportunity to develop a skills led industry within the area of carbon retrofitting and what work was being done to develop this;

·                The Strategy needed to also reflect the opportunity to develop District Centres and the support available to businesses in these areas;

·                It was noted that the Inclusive Economy section of the draft strategy was particularly strong and the Council should be promoting further the positive work it was doing in this area;

·                Whilst it was pleasing to see the inclusion of Community Wealth building, it was felt that more could be done to strengthen this area, incorporating people and the impact on health;

·                There was an opportunity to look at wellbeing (within its holistic sense), as part of the Strategy;

·                There was concern around the higher digital skills that will be needed in future labour markets and the lack of reference to the linkage of these skills to an academic maths qualification;

·                Whilst it was welcomed that Manchester was aspiring to be an international hub of creative industries, it was felt that there was a lack of reference to grass roots creative industries, such as Manchester International Festival and the Manchester Fringe, as these provided opportunities for horizontal relationships and community wealth building;

·                Noting the detrimental impact of technology on those working in the  distribution sector , where salaries were usually low paid;

·                With the proposed increase in passenger numbers at Manchester Airport, how was this going to impact on reducing the city’s carbon emissions;

The Head of Work and Skills advised that in terms of carbon retrofitting and being a skills led industry, there was a workshop planned within the coming weeks with stakeholders to start to look at what could be done in the short and medium term.  The main challenge however was to determine what the Council’s priorities would be for delivering carbon neutral by 2030 and which specific actions were going to be progressed. 

The Leader commented that from a Greater Manchester perspective, zero carbon was one of the nine priority areas identified in the GM Local Industrial Strategy.  Whilst there were some actions that could be taken locally  in terms of zero carbon retrofitting, he advised that there would need to be a market at least the size of Greater Manchester in order to develop a skills led industry.

In terms of support for businesses, it was explained that this was provided by the GM Business Growth Hub and they had been invited to the Committee’s meeting in October 2019 to report on how they were supporting businesses.  In terms of Business Rates support, there was a national determined set of criteria to exempt businesses from paying these if they were below a certain size, but other than that there was limited local discretion as to what further support could be offered.  It was noted that he work of the District Centres Sub Group would be reported back to the Committee later in the year and as part of this, the role  District Centres and support available to them could be discussed.

The Strategic Lead Policy and Partnerships advised that the Manchester LIS was only at a draft stage currently and there was still opportunities to develop the broader themes based on the views of Members.  The next steps would be the need to identify in greater detail how these themes will be delivered.

Officers acknowledged the point made around population growth and its impact on both social and physical infrastructures.  He confirmed that this was something being considered as part of wider discussion relating to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and agreed to pass on the Committees comments to relevant officers.

The Deputy Leader agreed that changes to the Strategy would be required following the Councils declaration of a climate emergency and this would be reported at the next meeting of the Executive.

The Strategic Lead Policy and Partnerships acknowledged the comments and points made around the inclusion of grass roots creative industries and agreed to address the community wealth building point and include people as well as places.  The Head of Work and Skills noted the points made around digital skills and the linkages to academic qualifications.  She advised that work was taking place with schools, colleges and post 16 providers which was focussing on the need to have more of our young people to undertake STEM related academic subjects.  She advised that the real challenge was meeting the needs of the sector at the present moment.

The Leader advised that there was need to distinguish between the Airports carbon emissions and the aviation industries carbon emissions.  He advised that the Airport itself was actually almost at zero carbon emissions in terms of its operations.  He commented that the Council had limited levers it could use  to try and address the aviation industries emissions and this was something that required international support.  The Chair requested that Members be provided with information on what levers the Council and The Airport could use to  put pressure on the aviation industry and that it would be good to see this point acknowledged in Manchester’s Local Industrial Strategy

Decision

The Committee:-

(1)       Note the draft Developing a More Inclusive Economy – Our Manchester Industrial Strategy;

(2)       Request that Officers take into account the comments made by the Committee in producing he final version of the Strategy; and

(3)       Agree that the final version of the strategy be taken for consideration by the Executive in Autumn 2019 .