Agenda item

This Council recognises the immense importance of building a strong local economy. We celebrate work including the Inclusive Growth strategy, but note that established economic systems are failing to enact broad social, economic, and environmental benefits – locally, and across the world.

 

We are committed to deepening our relationship with and commitment to the work of bodies including the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and the New Economics Foundation, especially around the unique importance of ‘community wealth building’. Local authorities have a key part to play in recalibrating local economies, to ensure maximum wealth, opportunities, and wellbeing for local communities.

 

Council will therefore create a 10 year strategy – with clear and measurable outcomes – based upon the so-called Preston Model, to become the UK core city with the most locally-focused economy, rooted in systemic commitments to redirect investment into the local economy, and thereby help build a fairer and more resilient city and region.

 

It was moved by Councillor Carlisle, seconded by Councillor Blackburn that this Council recognises the immense importance of building a strong local economy. We celebrate work including the Inclusive Growth strategy, but note that established economic systems are failing to enact broad social, economic, and environmental benefits – locally, and across the world.

 

We are committed to deepening our relationship with and commitment to the work of bodies including the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) and the New Economics Foundation, especially around the unique importance of ‘community wealth building’. Local authorities have a key part to play in recalibrating local economies, to ensure maximum wealth, opportunities, and wellbeing for local communities.

 

Council will therefore create a 10 year strategy – with clear and measurable outcomes – based upon the so-called Preston Model, to become the UK core city with the most locally-focused economy, rooted in systemic commitments to redirect investment into the local economy, and thereby help build a fairer and more resilient city and region.

 

An amendment was moved by Councillor Pryor, seconded by Councillor Martin

 

Delete All after “This Council recognises” and replace with:

 

“…. the necessity of building a strong local economy through Community Wealth Building Strategies.  Council is proud of our Leeds Model.

 

Council notes there is a long tradition of Community Wealth Building across the Labour, Co-Operative and Trade Union Movement and Leeds has seen the benefit of this.

 

Leeds aims to become a Real Living Wage City and Council is proud to have been paying the Living Wage Foundation Real Living Wage since 2015, to all council workers, including apprentices and homecare workers who work for external providers commissioned by the Council.

 

During a time of outsourcing and privatisation by many local authorities, Council takes pride in the fact that the vast majority of Leeds City Council services are provided by in-house teams, with one of the largest in-house workforces of any council in the UK.

 

Leeds Anchor Network brings together 14 of the city's biggest institutions to maximise the benefits of employment, procurement, infrastructure, service delivery behaviours for local people.

 

Council is aligned to the TUC’s ‘Great Jobs Agenda’, ensuring that jobs are good jobs and has policy against detrimental practices such as ‘fire and rehire’.  Council will continue to work with the whole Leeds Anchor Network through its Employment Group to adopt best practice in areas including recruitment, mental health, and pay and conditions.

 

As part of the Leeds Best City Ambition launched in May 2022, Council is also working with the Anchor Network in several areas.

• A project funded by the Health Foundation aims to improve health inequalities in the most disadvantaged communities, connecting people to quality jobs and identifying new pathways to employment.  

• Work is ongoing to ensure that investments help reach the Carbon Net Zero by 2030 target, working with Leeds City College to develop a pipeline of projects around green jobs to create good employment for the present and the future that also secures the local economy with much needed skills.

• Locality working in our most disadvantaged communities, tackling poverty and inequalities, increasing the footprint for working in priority neighbourhoods to cover all of the 12 most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, whilst also retaining a focus at the ward level on the city’s 6 priority wards.

• Broadening the work with the Leeds Anchor Network to include the private sector through a Business Anchor Network. By investing in the local area where they operate, businesses are supporting potential workforces, suppliers, and customers. Having a meaningful local impact is often necessary for contracts with the public sector, a powerful motivator for employees and can be an important differentiator for businesses seeking to attract diverse and talented people. This work is essential in shaping the whole Leeds economy and the private sector would benefit significantly from a healthier and more productive workforce. Tools and resources will be made available for any business in Leeds that wants to re-invest in the city to create benefits for residents and communities.

• A Leeds Community Anchor Network has also been created; a Leeds-wide network of trusted third sector and faith organisations to better listen to communities, and find community solutions to improve access to meaningful employment in the city.

 

Council will continue to build on the work of the Neighbourhood Improvement Board as part of the city-wide strategic approach to tackle inequality and poverty linked to the Best City Ambition.

 

Council will continue to support Leeds Credit Union who have over 37,000 members as part of a sustainable co-operative, assisting people who may be struggling for acceptance by traditional financial institutions to access financial products and services in a commercially viable way.

 

Council notes that jobs across West Yorkshire in the creative and cultural sector have risen by 17%, with 48,000 creative, cultural and sports roles advertised in the region over the past year.  Already this demonstrates how targeted local investment in this sector from Leeds City Council and the Mayor of West Yorkshire, leads to more local jobs.

 

Council has adopted the Social Progress Index in order to go beyond ‘traditional’ ways of measuring economic success, raise our ambition and continue our commitment to inclusive growth and give demonstrable evidence of economic and social progress.

 

Leeds City Council is part of an Inclusive Growth Network; our Economic Policy team works with a range of bodies, which include CLES and NEF.  The inclusive Growth Strategy is currently being refreshed to set out a plan to 2030, and as part of this Council has committed to increasing local spending from its budget of approximately £1 billion and supporting more local businesses to tender for work.

 

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) was involved in supporting early work on local spending through our Anchor Network and Council welcomes its continuing work including a live research project on gender inclusion, and greatly value the work CLES carried out in Leeds in 2019 to achieve local community wealth building.

 

Council notes the recent LGA Peer Review of Leeds City Council recently describing the work done as deep and collaborative partnership and we know that these successes in Leeds are down to this partnership working across local organisations, businesses and our third sector.  Council will continue to work to improve our city’s economy.

 

Council acknowledges that these successes have come internally from the city, and our greatest barrier to future successes of Leeds are ongoing Government cuts, which to Leeds City Council alone have totalled £2.53 billion since 2010.”

 

A second amendment was moved by Councillor Firth, seconded by Councillor Cohen

 

Delete all after “This Council” and replace with:

 

“welcomes recent statistics published by the independent Office for National Statistics, which show the British economy is now 0.6 per cent bigger than before the global COVID pandemic; growing faster than Germany, France and Japan.

 

“Council notes this has been the pattern since 2010, with the U.K. economy outperforming all expectations and rejecting the declinist narrative of opposition commentators.

 

“Although the effects of the global pandemic still plague economies worldwide, Council believes the Leeds economy is best placed to continue growing if the government continues its focus on high growth sectors - technology, life sciences, finance, clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

 

“Council urges the government to bring forward plans in the forthcoming King’s Speech to deliver further supply side reforms: expanding childcare, helping people into work, including those on long-term sick, small business rate reform, and reducing personal taxation.

 

“With just over a year to go until the next U.K. General Election, Council calls on all opposition parties to finally share their own economic plans with voters: will they take the difficult decisions needed to deliver supply side reform and keep the U.K. economy growing, or will they revert to simply pumping £100 billion of borrowed money into the economy?”

 

The amendment in the name of Councillor Firth was declared lost the amendment in the name of Councillor Pryor was carried and upon being put to the vote it was

 

RESOLVED – That this Council recognises the necessity of building a strong local economy through Community Wealth Building Strategies.  Council is proud of our Leeds Model.

 

Council notes there is a long tradition of Community Wealth Building across the Labour, Co-Operative and Trade Union Movement and Leeds has seen the benefit of this.

 

Leeds aims to become a Real Living Wage City and Council is proud to have been paying the Living Wage Foundation Real Living Wage since 2015, to all council workers, including apprentices and homecare workers who work for external providers commissioned by the Council.

 

During a time of outsourcing and privatisation by many local authorities, Council takes pride in the fact that the vast majority of Leeds City Council services are provided by in-house teams, with one of the largest in-house workforces of any council in the UK.

 

Leeds Anchor Network brings together 14 of the city's biggest institutions to maximise the benefits of employment, procurement, infrastructure, service delivery behaviours for local people.

 

Council is aligned to the TUC’s ‘Great Jobs Agenda’, ensuring that jobs are good jobs and has policy against detrimental practices such as ‘fire and rehire’.  Council will continue to work with the whole Leeds Anchor Network through its Employment Group to adopt best practice in areas including recruitment, mental health, and pay and conditions.

 

As part of the Leeds Best City Ambition launched in May 2022, Council is also working with the Anchor Network in several areas.

 

• A project funded by the Health Foundation aims to improve health inequalities in the most disadvantaged communities, connecting people to quality jobs and identifying new pathways to employment.  

• Work is ongoing to ensure that investments help reach the Carbon Net Zero by 2030 target, working with Leeds City College to develop a pipeline of projects around green jobs to create good employment for the present and the future that also secures the local economy with much needed skills.

• Locality working in our most disadvantaged communities, tackling poverty and inequalities, increasing the footprint for working in priority neighbourhoods to cover all of the 12 most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, whilst also retaining a focus at the ward level on the city’s 6 priority wards.

• Broadening the work with the Leeds Anchor Network to include the private sector through a Business Anchor Network. By investing in the local area where they operate, businesses are supporting potential workforces, suppliers, and customers. Having a meaningful local impact is often necessary for contracts with the public sector, a powerful motivator for employees and can be an important differentiator for businesses seeking to attract diverse and talented people. This work is essential in shaping the whole Leeds economy and the private sector would benefit significantly from a healthier and more productive workforce. Tools and resources will be made available for any business in Leeds that wants to re-invest in the city to create benefits for residents and communities.

• A Leeds Community Anchor Network has also been created; a Leeds-wide network of trusted third sector and faith organisations to better listen to communities, and find community solutions to improve access to meaningful employment in the city.

 

Council will continue to build on the work of the Neighbourhood Improvement Board as part of the city-wide strategic approach to tackle inequality and poverty linked to the Best City Ambition.

 

Council will continue to support Leeds Credit Union who have over 37,000 members as part of a sustainable co-operative, assisting people who may be struggling for acceptance by traditional financial institutions to access financial products and services in a commercially viable way.

 

Council notes that jobs across West Yorkshire in the creative and cultural sector have risen by 17%, with 48,000 creative, cultural and sports roles advertised in the region over the past year.  Already this demonstrates how targeted local investment in this sector from Leeds City Council and the Mayor of West Yorkshire, leads to more local jobs.

 

Council has adopted the Social Progress Index in order to go beyond ‘traditional’ ways of measuring economic success, raise our ambition and continue our commitment to inclusive growth and give demonstrable evidence of economic and social progress.

 

Leeds City Council is part of an Inclusive Growth Network; our Economic Policy team works with a range of bodies, which include CLES and NEF.  The inclusive Growth Strategy is currently being refreshed to set out a plan to 2030, and as part of this Council has committed to increasing local spending from its budget of approximately £1 billion and supporting more local businesses to tender for work.

 

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) was involved in supporting early work on local spending through our Anchor Network and Council welcomes its continuing work including a live research project on gender inclusion, and greatly value the work CLES carried out in Leeds in 2019 to achieve local community wealth building.

 

Council notes the recent LGA Peer Review of Leeds City Council recently describing the work done as deep and collaborative partnership and we know that these successes in Leeds are down to this partnership working across local organisations, businesses and our third sector.  Council will continue to work to improve our city’s economy.

 

Council acknowledges that these successes have come internally from the city, and our greatest barrier to future successes of Leeds are ongoing Government cuts, which to Leeds City Council alone have totalled £2.53 billion since 2010.”

 

Prior to discussion on this item Councillor Dobson declared an interest as a manager of a Leeds Anchor Network.