Agenda and minutes

1.1  Following the nomination and seconding of Cllr Coban as Chair.  Cllr Coban was duly elected Chair of the Skills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission.

1.2  Following the nomination and seconding of Cllr Billington as Vice-Chair.  Cllr Billington was duly elected Vice-Chair of the Skills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission.

2.1   Apologies for absence from Cllr Race.

3.1 There was no urgent items and the discussion was as set out in the agenda.

4.1  There was no declarations of interest.

5.1  The minutes of the previous meeting held on 17^th April 2019 was agreed.

6.1  The Chair welcomed to the meeting Cllr Carole Williams, Cabinet Members for Employment, Skills and Human Resources; Cllr Guy Nicholson, Cabinet Members for Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy; Stephen Haynes, Director Policy, Strategy and Economic Development and Sonia Khan, Head of Policy and Partnerships from London Borough of Hackney. 

6.2  The Commission requested for this an update on the development of the Council’s Inclusive Economy Strategy, proposed timescales for implementation and to understand their contribution to the work of the strategy.

6.3  The Cabinet Member for Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy commenced the presentation and outlined the following key points:

Strategy

6.3.1  The Strategy is scheduled for approval at Cabinet in October 2019.

6.3.2  The cut-off date for receipt of consultation responses is mid-September 2019. 

6.3.3  The Strategy has been subject to a sequence of extensive public engagements and a number of initiatives and dialogues have contributed to the development of the strategy. 

6.3.4  The next steps will involve taking the final draft back out to the engagement networks for a final exchange of thoughts, challenge and dialogue.  This provides a final opportunity for dialogue prior to agreement.

6.3.5  The Head of Policy and Partnerships pointed out the final draft has taken on board the comments from the engagement sessions held by the Commission (BMAE business engagement, businesses and stakeholder’s engagement session for the Commission’s review).

6.3.6  The report in the agenda provided an overview of the draft strategy and consultation methodology.  The strategy is scheduled to go out for consultation late June through to August.

6.3.7  The officer highlighted the proposed areas for new metrics they want to adopt for the strategy. 

6.3.8  The officer pointed out they have suggested the development of the metrics as an item for the Commission’s work programme.  This would contribute to the work that is being carried out for the implementation of the strategy. 

6.3.9  The officer highlighted there is no national framework that measures the things Hackney Council would want to measure.  It was pointed out the council is proposing to develop metrics beyond the traditional measures of economic development.  These are usual based on GDP and employment created.  Metrics is an area the council proposes to discuss as part of the consultation. 

Consultation

6.3.10  In relation to consultation engagement there has been several discussions about the growing inequalities that arise from a borough that is growing and changing.  This has prompted the development of a strategy to help shape an inclusive economy. 

6.3.11  In regards to the consultation, the Council was not proposing to reiterate conversations it has already had with the community; but instead build on the feedback to date.  The final draft reflects the sentiments already been made by the community.  The report in the agenda highlights what is covered in the strategy.

6.3.12  The consultation is looking to test things like the language, other engagement opportunities e.g. the poverty reduction work and to hear from disenfranchised voices - the Young Futures Commission.

6.3.13  As part of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.1  The Chair advised the full list of work programme suggestions was circulated to Members for consideration prior to the meeting.

7.2  The Chair propose the Commission adopted the same approach to their work programme as last year by holding themed discussions at each meeting.  Members agreed.

7.3  The Chair explained the next meeting was imminent and needed to be set up.  The Chair proposed the next meeting in July covered the topic cost of living and public sector recruitment strategies.  Members agreed.

The Chair informed the Commission for this session they invited the following guests: Hackney Council officers, (HR and a head teacher through Learning Trust) Resolution Foundation, RSA and Trade Union Congress, London First and Cities for London.

7.4  The Chair recapped on the remit of the Commission (as noted on page 25 in the agenda) as they discussed other potential work programme items.  The proposed items discussed for inclusion in the work programme are:

1)  A Night time summit – a themed licensing discussion to understand the impact of the policy on night life and the future of the night time economy.  This would be for September meeting date.  Members suggested as part of this work they explore the licensing levy spend to look at how this is being spent, how it is being used to tackle ASB and what the levy covers.  Members agreed to set the framework for this session.

Members pointed out this is an area of concern for Publicans / Landlords particularly in relation to transparency of the levy.

The Commission proposed to hold this meeting in the community.

The Business Communications & Engagement Manager informed the Commission the new manager for the night time levy recently started in May 2019.

2)  Engagement with the Young Futures Commission.  The Commission is keen to get the views of young people about the economy to feed into your inclusive economy review.  The Commission discussed engaging with young people through the Young Futures Commission by doing a survey.  This would be feed back to the Commission at their meeting in October. 

3)  The Commission agreed to hold a workshop and submit a formal response to the Council’s consultation on the Inclusive Economy Strategy.  The Commission agreed to do this for their September meeting date and hold the workshop session to look at the metrics too.

7.5  The Commission agreed to do Just Transition as their next review and to include well-being economy as part of the evidence sessions for the review.

7.6  The Commission discussed making their review report more accessible to the general public.  This would be in addition to the formal report submitted to the Executive.

8.1  None.