Minutes:
Purpose of Report
To present the Executive with recommendations from the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee following its review into inclusive growth.
Decision
That the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations following its review into inclusive growth be supported.
Alternative Options Considered and Rejected
The Executive could have opted not to support one or more of the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations.
Reason for Decision
Councillor Bob Bushell, Chair of the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee, provided the Executive with a presentation on a review undertaken by the Committee in respect of inclusive growth.
The review considered inclusive growth from both a supply and demand perspective. Representatives from the University of Lincoln, the Council’s Revenues and Benefits Service, the Department for Work and Pensions, Lincoln College, Linkage Community Trust, the Education Business Partnership, the Bailgate Guild, Voluntary Centre Services and Tesco all participated at meetings of the Committee which contributed to the final recommendations. In addition, the Lincoln Growth Conference included a workshop with businesses on the topic of inclusive growth. The findings from this workshop were also considered at the final Committee meeting of the review.
The report set out the key findings from the supply and demand perspective, setting out a number of challenges and opportunities. These were set out in paragraph 4 of the report.
The Executive noted the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations as follows:
Supply
(1) That the Council works with The Network to:
- review/establish referral mechanisms between Lincolnshire Move Partnership (which helps people aged 16+ move into employment) and The Network (which helps people aged 16-24 with advice and guidance including on training and employment);
- identify referral opportunities between The Network, Lincolnshire Move Partnership and Linkage Community Trust (a Lincolnshire based charity helping people with learning difficulties on a range of topics, including employment);
- identify how the key sectors important to economic growth in the city are targeted.
(2) That the Council continues to support the Living Wage and promote the emerging Corporate Social Responsibility Charter.
(3) That the Council seeks out funding opportunities to expand the offer of employability courses currently provided by the authority with Health and Wellbeing Board funding and delivered through Lincoln College. These offer free courses to low income households to upskill and secure employment.
(4) That the Council continues to support young people to gain practical skills through supporting the National Citizens Service workshops and providing work experience placements.
Demand
(5) That the Council begins a discussion with key strategic partners in the city to identify any similarities in investment priorities in Lincoln, and explore opportunities to pool or co-ordinate resources to deliver on shared agendas that continue to make Lincoln a great place to live, work and enjoy;
(6) That the findings of this inclusive growth review be considered in any future economic or industrial strategies produced by the Council. For example, this could include supporting initiatives that may help people work flexibly around childcare responsibilities.
(7) That the Department for Work and Pensions have a discussion with the Council’s Planning Services to explore any opportunities to encourage local employment when engaging with developers.
(8) That the Council explores options to offer skills and training to small businesses.
(9) That the Council works with organisations such as the Lincolnshire Open Research and Innovation Centre which aims to share learning and good practice across the business community of Lincolnshire.
It was noted that, as part of its work programme, the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee would consider undertaking reviews into the challenges around accessible transport to work and education and the availability of advice and support for people claiming a range of benefits, such as Personal Independence Payments.
Councillor Ric Metcalfe, Leader of the Council, thanked Councillor Bushell and the Committee for the work undertaken on this subject stating that a key aspect was to look into the local economy and establish who benefitted from economic growth.
Councillor Donald Nannestad, Deputy Leader of the Council, was pleased that the issue of public transport had been highlighted as this affected people’s ability to get to work. He gave an example of a number of small businesses in the city unable to open on bank holidays due to there being no transport available for their employees to use. He also felt that the cost of fares for the distances travelled was quite high. He hoped that there was more that could be done to address these issues.
Councillor Bushell responded by saying that the proposed pilot scheme would seek to give consideration to the points raised by Councillor Nannestad.
Councillor Fay Smith asked what opportunities the Council provided in respect of work experience.
Angela Andrews, Chief Executive, reported that the Council offered a broad range of work experience which was promoted through colleges and schools, on the Council’s website and through the Lincolnshire Education Business Partnership. It was noted that the national curriculum had also placed less priority on work-based learning, with placements often offered towards the end of term which did not always suit employers.
Councillor Jackie Kirk made the point that sixteen year olds were required to pay an adult fare on buses, which she felt was unfair given that young people were now required to stay in education until they were eighteen. She was of the opinion that the price of fares would be a challenge to many young people using public transport as a means of travel to their respective educational institutions.
Councillor Metcalfe said that a key consideration in respect of inclusive growth was establishing what the growth sectors would be in the future for the local economy and what prospects they would bring to make growth more inclusive. He reflected on the fact that key economic growth in the city was currently within low paid sectors, with the city also dominated by small businesses. He was therefore unsure how internal growth would provider a greater number of jobs in higher price brackets when taking those two aspects into consideration and how those sectors could grow in order that the city could offer better paid employment.
Councillor Bushell accepted these points and agreed that although lots of development was happening in the city, not everyone was benefitting from it.
It was noted that ‘social value’ was now a differentiating factor when awarding contracts at part of the Council’s procurement processes.
In terms of future jobs, although it was unclear what jobs would be key to the city’s economic growth in 20 to 30 years’ time, initial research had indicated that problem solving skills would be key, particularly in respect of those jobs on a higher wage. It was noted that there would be opportunities to work further with the University of Lincoln and colleges in the city going forward in respect of inclusive growth and the city’s economy.
The Chief Executive indicated that she would raise the issue of inclusive growth and feed in the work of the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee at a business roundtable meeting scheduled to be held in June.
The Leader put on record his thanks to Councillor Bushell and the Committee for the excellent work they had undertaken as part of this review. Councillor Bushell expressed his thanks to the support he and the Committee had received from Daren Turner, Assistant Director for Strategic Development.