Agenda item

The board considered a report of the Director of Productivity and Skills that sought endorsement for the West Midlands Plan for Growth that sets out how the region could catalyse additional growth above forecasts to boost the economy in output and jobs.

The Chair introduced the report and advised that it was important for the West Midlands to deliver as many opportunities for the region as possible and as quickly as possible to create an inclusive economy with good living standards.

The board received a short presentation from Peter Arnold and Sarah Phillips (EY) that outlined the key findings and recommendations from the West Midlands Plan for Growth. This included a twin-track, cluster based approach, capitalising on existing clusters of scale and strength and a focus on supporting nascent clusters and emerging technologies for activating job creation and accelerating growth by 2030.

The Mayor commented that this was a critical piece of work and consideration needs to be given to the interventions that are needed to make this work and how partners collectively deliver them.

Corin Crane (Black Country Chamber of Commerce) reported on the need to ensure opportunities are provided for local people to create wealth and procurement contracts are awarded locally where possible.

Mike Wright (West Midlands Innovation Board) noted that innovation going forward needs to leverage all sectors in order to bring employment to the region.

In relation to a comment from the Tom Westley (Vice-Chair) regarding the omission of metal and materials industry from the report, the Director of Productivity and Skills, Julie Nugent explained that the clusters prioritisation is based on the capacity for additional growth above forecasted levels and offered to share the full presentation which provides more detail on the matter.

Lee Barron (TUC) reported that the TUC has commissioned a report into a better recovery for the West Midlands that sets out the measures that are needed to rebuild the economy that he could share with the board [the report was circulated to EGB following the meeting].

It was noted that following endorsement by this board, the report would be discussed with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Young Combined Authority before recommendation to the WMCA Board.

Resolved:

1. That the approach in the West Midlands Plan for Growth to catalyse additional growth in those clusters where the West Midlands has comparative advantage, there is market confidence and a credible path for above forecast growth in good jobs be endorsed;

2. That the report only covers part of the region’s economy, and there will be further work to do support wider foundational sectors like retail, administration and hospitality to enable a more prosperous and inclusive economy be noted;

3. That partners focus on delivering the six-cross cutting interventions identified in order to remove barriers and maximise new opportunities for economic growth be agreed;

4. That officers be tasked with bringing forward recommendations to this board that will prioritise interventions to deliver early wins from the opportunities set out in Plan for Growth be agreed and

5. That a task and finish group chaired by Councillor Brookfield to develop recommendations for aligning and streamlining economic development activity across organisations to support effective interventions, deliver better value for money and provide a clear regional response to the Levelling Up White Paper be agreed.