Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies from Cllr Smyth and Cllr Premru.

1.2  Apologies for lateness from Cllr Turbet-Delof and Cllr Walker.

1.3  Cllr Anna Lynch was virtually in attendance for this meeting.

1.4  The Head of Sustainability & Environment, Sam Kirk and Acting Head of Streetscene Tyler Linton were virtually in attendance for this meeting.

2.1  None and the discussion items is as per the agenda.

3.1  None.

4.1  The Chair welcomed to the meeting theEconomic Development Manager,Michael Toyer from London Borough of Hackney.  

4.2  The Chairintroduced the item and outlined that the update on the development of the metrics was linked to the Council’s work on economic development. 

This item was to ensure the objectives in the Council’s Economic Development Plan were being achieved and to review how the Council proposes to measure the impact of the activities undertaken to shape an inclusive economy. 

This discussion was to review the Council’s work to develop new metrics to measure the impact. 

4.3  The information presented covered:

·  Introduction to economic development metrics context

·  Council’s approach to developing metrics.

·  Examples of key activity streams with example metrics.

4.4  The Chair referred to the presentation in the agenda is on pages 9-25.

4.5  The Economic Development Manager commenced his presentation and the main points from the presentation are outlined below.

4.5.1  The officer reminded the Commission this presentation was about the approach to metrics not the actual measures in place.

4.5.2  The officer recapped on the levers available for economic development.

4.5.3  The officer highlighted the difference between economic growth and economic development.

4.5.4  The Economic Development Manager emphasised the initial approach to developing metrics is to understand what is being measured and clarity on what was being measured.

·  Inputs – activity going into this is it financial resource, time or policies developed

·  Process – activity tracking if the process is followed to a set period of time, standards etc

·  Outputs – results coming out from the process, document, change in circumstance (securing a job) that are countable or tangible.

·  Outcomes – aggregation of outputs or change because of all the activity. 

·  Long term outcomes - Currently there is a focus on the sequencing of outcomes e.g. aim to achieve an inclusive economy.

4.5.5  From the points above the officer pointed out it would not be beneficial to jump straight to bullet point 5 without going through 1-4 because the other processes and activities would need to be achieved too.  This leads to the term intermediary outcomes (short, medium and long term).  A build-up of outcomes.

4.5.6  The officer highlighted that the outcomes can also be different to what is expected.  The outcome could be impacted by policy changes by regional structures for example the GLA. 

4.5.7  Therefore, it was important to consider this in the different forms of measurements.

4.5.8  Pre pandemic there was research by the Institute of Global Prosperity which concluded that we should not rely on traditional economic metrics such as GDP.  They are encouraging other elements of prosperity to be considered (illustrated in the themes on slide 5).  The officer pointed out these are valid and good but difficult to measure because there is more to consider, review and track.

4.5.9  The officer referred to the Theory of Change / Logic Model.  The is a different way of thinking that would impact your planning and measurement.  This type of approach  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1  The Chair outlined a key element of the scrutiny function is to hold the Mayor and Cabinet to account in public for a Cabinet Question Time discussion. 

5.2  The Chair welcomed to the meeting Councillor Mete Coban, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport and Deirdre Worrell, Director for Neighbourhoods and Housing Finance from London Borough of Hackney.  Also, in attendance for this item Michael Toyer, Economic Development Manager and virtually in attendance Sam Kirk, Head of Sustainability and Environment and Tyler Linton Acting Head of Street Scene LBH.

5.3  The purpose of this item is to hold the Executive to account.  For this meeting the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport was asked to provide information to the Scrutiny Commission about the work the Council is doing in relation:

1.  The Green New Deal  

2.  Understanding the economic impacts of the new green deal 

3.  Carrying out an impact analysis of LTNs on local businesses.

5.4  The Chair advised in relation to point 3 this was an addition following theSkills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission (SEG) meeting in February 2023.  The Commission was querying if the Council had assessed the impact of LTNs on local businesses.  This question was redirected for an update from Cllr Coban. 

5.5  The Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport from LBH commenced by responding to the questions from the Commission.

5.5.1  The Green New Deal is a £50 million investment commitment from the Executive administration to tackling the climate crisis.  This interacts with the Climate Action Plan.  The purpose of the Climate Action Plan is to provide a strategic framework for the council and set out the Council’s ambitions and plan to reach net zero by 2030 for council emissions and 2040 for boroughwide emissions. 

5.5.2  The New Green Deal and Climate Action Plan are evolving pieces of work and follow a series of engagement and consultation.  The public consultation on the draft Climate Action Plan had closed and the decision (to formally agree and adopt the plan) was expected to be taken by Cabinet in May 23.

5.5.3  Linked to the climate action plan will be a local implementation plan.  This implementation plan will be thematic and set out the actions to be taken to achieve the net zero targets.

5.5.4  The Cabinet Member stressed this was not the end of the conversation because it is an evolving piece of work with new technology and research updating.  It was important that they continue to monitor the research across all areas of work for economic development and more broadly.

5.5.5  Following adoption of the Climate Action Plan the Council wants to establish a net zero partnership.  This will bring together businesses, the third sector and the council.  The purpose of this partnership will be to help define how they support local businesses and the different sectors to reach net zero.

5.5.6  The Cabinet Member pointed out the Council is directly responsible for approximately 5-6% of the emissions in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1  The Chair referred to the draft minutes from December 2022 on pages 29-56 of the main agenda and the draft minutes from February 2023 on pages 7-28 of the supplementary agenda and asked Members to agree the minutes.

Members agreed the minutes.

6.2  Matters arising updates were noted to be:

Action Updates for SEG Meeting December 2022

Actions on pages 44-47 were covered in the update report circulated to Members of the Commission in December 2022 in response to the questions raised at the SEG meeting on 14^th December 2022. 

The report is in the agenda on pages 55-56.

Action on page 43 - Members asked if the cash spend in Markets was recorded.  We had recorded in the minutes that the Economic Development Manager would follow up with the Markets Team about spend data for Markets in the borough. 

The Overview and Scrutiny Officer is progressing this action and we will have an update shortly.

7.1  The Chair referred to the work programme in the agenda.

7.2  The Chair reminded the Commission the final meeting date would be 25^th April 2023.  The discussion items is the Cabinet Question Time (CQT) for Cllr Williams and the discussion topics are:

·  Green Skills

·  Adult Learning - A look at the redevelopment and changes to adult learning courses.

7.3  The Chair also informed the Commission Cllr Williams has confirmed she has not been involved in the Re-London Report.  Therefore, inviting the report authors for this discussion would not be appropriate. 

The Chair pointed out the report would be useful to help shape the Commission’s questioning on the circular economy later.

7.4  The Chair asked the Commission Members if they wanted to suggest an additional topic area for discussion.

In response Members made the following suggestions for the additional item for the CQT:

·  The work around the support packages to refugees and migrants from Ukraine and what this means for Hackney

·  Employment strategies and partnerships

·  Update on apprenticeships

·  Looking at how the anti-racist strategy is being driven across the Council and other sectors too.

7.5  The Chair asked Members to clarify if the information they wish to cover related to refugees and migrants was about support packages to get back into employment or about the socioeconomic aspect.

In response Members confirmed they wanted information about how the programme supported resettlement and if it ensured they had the necessary skills to get back into employment. 

Members wanted to understand how the Council was supporting this cohort of residents to navigate employment, so they are more independent.

In the discussion Members added it would be helpful to understand the barriers too. 

7.6  The Chair asked Members to submit additional questions to the Overview and Scrutiny Officer.

8.1  None.