Agenda item

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 invaluable advice rather than money – which the CA did also provide in its services.
• Late payments: Businesses and in particular small businesses struggled with late/backdated payments which was a recognised issue. Members heard this problem was addresses as part of the ‘Fair Work Charter’ and other initiatives.
• Inclusive growth: Members felt there was a lack of clarity around the definition of ‘inclusive growth’ and whether the CA sought to make only the new growth element inclusive or the entire existing economy inclusive. Members heard that the goal was to grow the economy further and in an inclusive way that shared the benefits of growth. Some work such as the ‘Fair Work Charter’ sought to make the existing economy fairer and more inclusive.
• Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA): LBA was considered an example of the tension and conflict between economic growth and the climate emergency action. Expanding the airport would lead to increased carbon emissions but the Mayor felt that the region couldn’t remain competitive with other regions without its own modern airport.

4.    Housing

• House production rate: The rate of housing development hadn’t increased in 10 years, which had contributed to the rising house prices.
• MCA housing powers: Members understood that the CA/Mayor can’t build houses, but the CA could help Local Authorities deal with issues such as land-banking thorough Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) or develop less viable land through devolved funding. 
• Viability of land: The majority of land especially in districts such as Calderdale was harder to develop due to the area’s terrain. The Brownfield Fund was designed to help councils develop such difficult land, that requires a lot more funding to make viable.
• Social/council housing: 5000 ‘affordable’ homes target did not include a specific proportion as social housing. Members of the public often viewed affordable housing as social housing for rent. Members thought the affordable housing definitions were too subjective – what was affordable for one, may not be affordable for another.
• Developers: Members discussed that far too often developers agreed to develop affordable housing, then under technicalities renege on their agreements by citing lack of profitability due to ‘unforeseen’ viability costs after the fact. Members heard that an area in Horsforth gave up greenbelt land for a development of affordable housing and did not get any in the end. Members discussed the possibility of Mayoral soft power being utilised by identifying good and bad developers who adhere to agreements.
• ‘Wellness’ and ‘place’: Price was not the only factor for good housing; also access and connectivity to amenities such as food and transport were equally as desirable. It was not just about houses, it was also about the area and place, an example being those fortunate to have garden space during the pandemic compared to people who didn’t.

5.    Culture

• Networking and inclusivity: Creative industries are centred around networking, contacts and relationship building. This could put people from various social classes at a disadvantage. It was suggested that peer networking opportunities should be part of the Creative Catalyst and Channel 4 programmes.
• Culture and wider regeneration: This could create a wide range of jobs in acting, producing, writing, digital, marketing, building, logistics and hospitality to contribute to wider economic growth.

Resolved:  That the Mayor be thanked for attending and the Committee’s feedback and conclusions be considered further.