Agenda item

(Led by: Mark Roberts, Lead Officer: Alan Reiss)

The Board considered a report of the Director of Strategy, Communications and Policing which provided an update on the latest economic and business intelligence

The Chair introduced the report by noting the continued uncertainties in the economic climate since the last Board meeting following the introduction of the Government’s Growth Plan and then the subsequent revisions as part of the Autumn Statement. He then asked the Director of Strategy, Communications and Policing to present the report. He noted that:

·       The Combined Authority had commissioned research on the cost of doing business from Yonder, which indicated that 67% of businesses within West Yorkshire were concerned about the survival of their business as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

·       Consequently, the Combined Authority are working on a grants package of financial support to help businesses improve energy efficiency.

·       The Combined Authority was also looking to launch Employment West Yorkshire to provide bespoke support to individuals across West Yorkshire to gain employment support advice and support for re-training, upskilling, and secure or progress in employment.

·       The Combined Authority was also continuing to lobby central government to provide more assistance to energy-intensive businesses, offer more tax incentive schemes to support businesses, progress plans to invest in energy generation take additional measures to on the rent cap issue to approve affordability at a local level.

Members made several observations as follows:

·       The statistics appeared to show that communities within West Yorkshire with people in vulnerable positions are likely to be most impacted by the economic downturn. From a business perspective, third sector organisations within the non-profit sector might also bare the greatest impact. As such, it was important that the Combined Authority continued to work closely with third sector organisations otherwise this could have a detrimental impact on productivity locally.

·       It was agreed that a strategic approach was required to ensure targeted help was offered where possible. It was especially important to partner large corporate businesses to make small adjustments that could have big impacts within local communities in West Yorkshire.

·       It was agreed that everything possible must be done to ensure that the 67% of businesses who were concerned about their viability can be helped to survive. Members agreed that the Combined Authority could assist by helping to link businesses together and providing health audits in order to safe-guard jobs by assisting businesses to restructure in response to the changing economic environment.

·       A vital part of the picture within West Yorkshire was energy production, especially for energy intensive businesses. The Combined Authority should continue to support this, especially from sustainable sources, as the opportunity to generate further revenue streams was considerable.

·       Continuing to help individuals advance their skills through the Yorkshire Skills Plan. It was noted that many training courses offered by large tech companies are largely free and require little or no prior qualifications. The Combined Authority should continue to promote these as a route into employment for people.

·       Additional funding may be available through Institutional Corporate Funds that are required to invest money locally and could be positioned to assist in generating further employment opportunities within West Yorkshire.

·       It was observed that rising inflation meant that many more small businesses would need to register for VAT and would therefore fall into this tax bracket much earlier than they might have anticipated.

·       It was vital to continue to promote the Mayor’s Fair Work Charter to encourage best practice. Board members welcomed the fact that work was ongoing to understand what small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) required from the Fair Work Charter to make it work.

Resolved: That the latest intelligence and asks of Government were noted along with feedback from The Board.