Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Kate Hainsworth, Rob Webster, and Liz Town-Andrews.

There were no declarations of pecuniary interests at the meeting.

There were no items which required the exclusion of the press and public.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2018 be approved.

Resolved: That the notes of the Inclusive Growth Workshop held on 14 February 2020 be noted.

The Chair wished to welcome four new members to the panel: Kate Hainsworth, Karl Oxford, Claire Harrison, and Sam Keighley.

The Chair discussed the issues which would be the focus of the Panel including the impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic and the global reaction to social injustices and inequality, including the Black Lives Matter movement.

Members considered a report which set out the economic impacts of Covid 19 and the work underway on the recovery.

Members discussed the following:

·       The way in which the pandemic had impacted some groups disproportionately, which included unprecedented levels of unemployment particularly for young people and the over 50. The Panel also discussed the disproportionate impact on black and minority ethnic communities.

·       The important role played by the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector) during the pandemic was recognised as vital and had connected with the people and communities in need of the most assistance. It was suggested that a key role for the third sector should be to ensure the most excluded benefit from recovery.

·       The approach to the recovery and discussion focussed on how targeted the approach should be, around geography, communities, or economic sectors. Members felt that targeting a few key priorities with high levels of impact is preferable to broader, but more thinly spread, support.  

·       That a united voice to government for investment and funding was essential.

·       That it was vital to ensure that pockets of depravation are addressed, and no communities are left behind.

·       That immediate resource should be focussed on retaining jobs.

·       The importance of designing skills programmes to target specific sector and in so a way that they are widely accessible. And delivers the range of supply side programmes that will be needed.

·       Members discussed the role of the Panel going forward. Given that inclusive growth cuts across all areas of the Combined Authority activity the Panel could take on a monitoring / supporting role to ensure that each panel had inclusivity at the forefront of their thinking.

• Members agreed that identifying Inclusive Growth champions on each Panel would be useful in setting challenges and overseeing standards.

Resolved:

(i)              That the emerging key inclusive growth related impacts on the City Region during the pandemic and receives a future report on potential options for monitoring inclusive growth as set out in the submitted report be noted.

(ii)             That the Panel’s views on the developing work being led by the West Yorkshire Economic Recovery Board be noted?.