Agenda and minutes

Venue: Wellington House, 40-50 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 2DE

Contact: Scrutiny Unit, Legal & Governance Services 

Items
No. Item

10.

Apologies for absence

To note apologies for absence and confirm the quorum of 11 members is met.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Rowley, Kaushik and Iqbal.

 

The meeting was confirmed as quorate with 12 members present out of 11 needed for quorum.

11.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Minutes:

here were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.

12.

Possible exclusion of the press and public

Minutes:

There were no items requiring the exclusion of the press and public.

13.

Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2021 pdf icon PDF 246 KB

Minutes:

Resolved:  That the notes of the inquorate meeting held on 17 November 2021 be noted and entered as public record of what was discussed.

14.

Notes of the informal meeting held on 19 January 2022 pdf icon PDF 307 KB

Minutes:

Members asked that the notes capture their view that social housing was an important element in achieving more affordable housing.

 

Resolved: That the notes of the informal meeting held on 19 January 2022 be noted and entered as public record of what was discussed, pending the above amendment.

15.

Chair's comments and update

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal update from the Chair. Members noted the initial proposed changes to the Committee structure and plans going forward to transfer place/environment work from the Economy Scrutiny Committee remit to Transport Scrutiny Committee, an update to follow. The Committee also heard that a wrap-up session was due to be arranged for the end of the year to discuss lessons learned, evaluate performance and forward plan for the coming year.

 

Considering the economic impact of the Ukraine crisis and the sanctions on Russia and freezing of assets, the Chair invited the Director of Economic Services to give a brief update. Key points from the update included:

 

  • The challenge of significant inflationary pressures due to inflation which was 5.5% two weeks prior to the meeting and was expected to rise to 7%.  An example of the impact was the cost of gas which was 20p per therm last year compared to the current price, £2.24 per therm.
  • According to statistics there was 158 companies in West Yorkshire currently exporting to Russia. Members heard that a large number of businesses had grown on the back of Russian brands, and it would have an impact on some companies more than others.
  • Food production - around 25% of global wheat production was from Russia and Ukraine.
  • Cyber security – the crisis had significantly increased the risk of cyber-attacks and hacking, with one local firm saying they were not going public with the help they were giving Ukraine with fear of cyber-attacks.
  • The long-term impact of stability was evident, investors had been moving out of public investments to gold and currency. There were increased regulatory burdens expected also.
  • In-work Universal Credit claims had increased while business liquidations had stabilised in the new year.

 

Resolved:  That the Chair’s verbal update and the Director’s update on economic impact be noted.

16.

Economy Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 134 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Work programme for 2021/22. The Annual Report was due to be produced and short wrap-up sessions arranged for each Scrutiny Committee.

 

Resolved: That the report and comments be noted.

17.

Mayors Question Time - Tracy Brabin pdf icon PDF 234 KB

Minutes:

The Chair thanked the Mayor Tracy Brabin for attending Economy Scrutiny to answer the Committee’s questions and outlined the format of the Mayor’s Question Time. The session would be split into pre-agreed topic areas and members would be able to ask any questions under those topic areas, and any follow ups.

 

The topic areas were:

·       Partnerships and delivery

·       Skills and jobs

·       Businesses

·       Culture

·       Housing

 

Following questions and supplementary questions, the following was reported to the committee:

 

1.    Partnerships and Delivery

 

  • Quality of partnerships: the Mayor felt that the Local Authorities were aligned and working well together, they all had similar challenges and agreed on solutions.
  • Delivery capacity: Gainshare was being used to support each member authority in developing a pipeline of projects ready for bidding in new government funding announcements. The Mayor felt government didn’t understand delivery capacity issues facing local government and was too demanding in the number of funding announcements and the limited time to deadlines requiring resources to be spent on bidding.
  • York: West Yorkshire worked with York on various joint schemes, not just in transport, but also in business. Further devolution to York was supported as it would also benefit West Yorkshire.
  • Leeds-centricity & West Yorkshire levelling up: Members had the perception of Leeds centricity. Other cities and towns felt side-lined, particularly on office space. Wakefield Council was bidding for the new Rail HQ, but it was bidding against larger areas/authorities such as Doncaster, Preston and York.

 

2.    Jobs and skills

 

  • Labour shortages: Members heard of the use of the Adult Education Budget (AEB) budget to respond to reactive labour needs such as the HGV driver training during the recent shortage.
  • Green jobs: There was demand for green jobs in the development of EV charging infrastructure and EV mechanics, retrofitting homes opportunities and the use of AEB funding to help. Members wished to know the definition of a ‘green job’; to ensure it was not the marketing industry ‘greenwashing’ campaigns, but direct jobs for example as EV related workers and electric boiler fitters.
  • Parent workers: The importance of support for parent workers, particularly women. 
  • Over 50s: The CA wanted to support people to reskill as their careers progressed. Older workers had been positively targeted through the employment Hub to help people ge5t back into work.
  • University engagement: The Mayor had regular meetings with Vice Chancellors encouraging positive engagement. The Mayor emphasised to importance of careers advice, working with businesses and helping young people make important choices. 

 

3.    Business

 

  • Support for small businesses: historically economic development policy focussed on businesses with growth potential. There were various versatile initiatives to support small/medium sized businesses including integral local, community businesses such as ‘corner shops’ which may not be looking to grow.
  • Cost of living: the cost-of-living crisis was affecting business costs/expenses and there were schemes in place to advise/fund businesses helping them in reducing energy costs through greater efficiency.
  • Grants vs advice; Members felt that on occasion, businesses needed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.