(Led By: Mayor Tracy Brabin)
Minutes:
The Mayor presented her latest update to the LEP Board highlighting the following matters:
· The Mayor observed that it was International Women’s Day and explained that she would be hosting an event on 9 March 2023 alongside Sally Wainwright, the creator of Happy Valley, to celebrate the impact of women in West Yorkshire’s communities. This year’s theme was Digital, Innovation and Tech for gender equality. The Mayor also hosted an The International Women’s Day Dinner on the evening of 8 March 2023.
· Latest figures showed the UK had dropped five places on the international league table for women in work. Domestic childcare costs were the highest in the OECD at 33%. The Mayor explained that, while she did not currently have powers to address this directly, she would continue to encourage better, more affordable and high-quality childcare for families.
· The Mayor attended the Transport for the North Conference on 6 March 2023 to discuss concerns around the reliability of train services. For example, one rail company, TransPennine Express, cancelled 1,700 services in the first four weeks of this year. If there was no improvement, it was estimated that over 23,000 services would be cancelled by the end of this year. The Mayor noted that this was having a detrimental economic impact within West Yorkshire. She confirmed that she had been speaking with ministers, management and unions to encourage a resolution.
· The bus market remained challenging as government had agreed to extend revenue funding for another three months. The Mayor noted that this was a short-term solution, especially as one local bus provider, First Bus, had decided to implement reductions in the number of drivers and buses on to more profitable, high frequency routes rather than prioritising community connections.
· Data on the first three months of the Mayor’s Fares initiative, which capped bus fares at £2.00, showed that 7.2 million journeys had benefited since it was introduced in September and had saved the public around £3.6 million in fare costs. The data also showed that bus usage had grown from 81% pre-pandemic to 87% in December.
· The Combined Authority continued to press ahead with plans for better transport in the region, which included the mass transit plan, as Leeds was the only major city in Europe without mass transit. The Mayor noted that this would not just benefit Leeds, but the whole of West Yorkshire.
· Last month, the Mayor attended the Arab Health conference in Dubai at the invitation of the Department for International Trade (DIT) and she was pleased that many West Yorkshire businesses were in attendance representing the region. The Mayor championed the 600-business strong health and life sector within West Yorkshire.
· The Mayor also recently attended a meeting in London with The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP and senior business leaders about the need to drive growth back into our economy and how mayors could make a difference to this. The attendees included the CEO of Microsoft UK, Mark Carney the former Governor of the Bank of England, the General Director of the CBI, the CEO of Octopus Energy, and British businesswoman Deborah Meaden. The Mayor made the case for further deeper wider devolution for mayors to provide them powers to support growth and greater opportunities.
· The Mayor noted that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP was scheduled to deliver his Spring Statement on 15 March 2023. The Mayor confirmed she had written to him urging the government to extend energy support to households within West Yorkshire beyond April.
The Chair thanked the Mayor for her update.