Councils know their own local economies. This puts us in an unrivalled position to develop approaches that drive economic inclusion for the benefit of local people. To be effective, an approach must be built on a clear understanding of the regional factors that contribute to getting our communities involved in our local economy as well as the barriers that reinforce exclusion.
Nationally, the financial stability of our own organisations is a prerequisite to drive economic inclusion within our communities. Stability creates capacity to forward plan and invest in areas closely aligned with inclusive economies, such as transport, housing, and planning. By contrast councils at financial risk are forced to pare back to statutory services, cutting investment in the very areas that drive economic inclusion.
Transport think tank, Centre for Cities, calculates that poor transport connectivity costs the North £16bn a year in productivity losses
Related to this point, economic inclusion is a systemic issue. Equity gaps in health, education, housing, and employment undermine our economic resilience. Recent research from Health Equity North found Yorkshire, the Humber and the North East were hit particularly hard by recent chronic shocks to the UK. Yorkshire, the Humber and North East had the lowest resilience scores in the country to the global financial crisis, Brexit, Covid and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. This makes a cross-service, cross-sector approach to rebuild economic resilience essential.
Geography also influences economic inclusion. The North of England is enviably beautiful but it's size and rugged rural areas make it a beast to navigate on public transport. In fact, transport think tank, Centre for Cities, calculates that poor transport connectivity costs the North £16bn a year in productivity losses. It also adds to workforce challenges, making it harder and more expensive for low paid workers from remote areas to afford to travel to work.
Together these factors create three priorities for many northern councils, informing their agenda for economic inclusion.
First, the need to maintain a laser focus on financial stability. Combined, unitary and Metropolitan councils tend to be more financially stable than standalone councils. The savings and efficiencies they can generate creates capacity and resource to invest in economic growth.
A second priority is to build back economic resilience. Salford's Media City testifies to the power of revitalising old industrial towns. At the same time, we need to remain alive to the fact that new economic hubs can be a mixed blessing. For example, the relocation of government services to economically deprived areas such as Darlington and the Tees valley is welcome, and positively impacts the local economy. At the same time, the higher salaries and enhanced terms and conditions these organisations offer are disrupting the local marketplace making it harder for other public services to retain and attract local talent.
Third, the need to value investment in systemic factors such as health, housing and employability through the lens of economic inclusion. From a health perspective that means working towards greater integration of health and social care services to improve health outcomes - a significant factor that determines whether a person is economically active.
It also means addressing factors that impact equal access to sustainable employment opportunities. Further changes to the apprenticeship levy will create opportunities to widen funds for skills development to include broader training and development. We are focused on supporting care leavers to achieve to achieve their full potential in education and employment, reducing the need for further support.
From an internal perspective, councils must continue to invest in workforce planning and OD to ensure our people are equipped with the necessary skills and capacity to drive service transformation. Given the potential AI has to create further efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery it's critical councils stay ahead of this learning curve.
As we move toward greater devolution it will become even more important for Northern councils to work together to petition the Government for more funding for bus services to improve cross-region public transport links and to build on the Government's recent announcement to provide £85m to support bus travel in the Yorkshire and Humber region. No single round of funding will fix all transport-related issues, but councils have a significant role to play, influencing the Government to build a robust transport system that drives rather than hinders economic inclusion.
Economic inclusion is a people issue that has such a profound impact on the life of residents, communities and our own workforces. HR has a significant contribution to make toward driving economic inclusion. We should stand confident in the insight and skill set we can bring to facilitate the necessary changes to drive greater economic inclusion.
Pam Parkes is president of the Public Services People Managers' Association
