Agenda item

The Committee is asked to consider and comment on the proposed approach to Levelling Up in Warwickshire ahead of the consideration of this matter by Cabinet.

Nigel Minns, Strategic Director for People introduced this item, supported by Sarah Duxbury, Assistant Director of Governance and Policy. In February, the Government published the Levelling Up White Paper, which outlined its strategy to “spread opportunity and prosperity to all parts of the country” by 2030, through twelve national missions. The missions were detailed in an appendix to the report. The approved Council Plan included a commitment to the Levelling Up agenda and to understanding what that meant for Warwickshire. Additionally, two reports had been considered by Cabinet setting out the overall direction on, and proposed approach to Levelling Up, with a planned further report in July after consideration by the four overview and scrutiny committees and a range of stakeholders.

The aim was to create a reference point for the Levelling Up agenda, complementing existing work and highlighting specific challenges and opportunities in the county. The report provided an outline of the emerging approach along with content tailored to this committee’s remit and to seek member input to feed into the subsequent report to Cabinet.

The detail of the report listed the twelve missions in the White Paper, and a diagram mapped these to the Council Plan areas of focus, showing a considerable degree of overlap. Equally there was overlap between the remits of the overview and scrutiny committees, the missions and areas of focus. Appendix 2 to the report set this out in more detail, highlighting the areas of most relevance to the remit of this Committee.

The report outlined the stakeholder engagement to date. Using the feedback received, alongside the ongoing engagement with partners and stakeholders, the working definition for Levelling up in Warwickshire was anchored around:

·         Increasing opportunity and social mobility

·         Reducing disparities

·         Building community power

·         Creating sustainable futures

The report then set out the key features of the overall approach, reflected in five key principles which complemented the Council Plan. Core to the Levelling Up agenda was the need to prioritise effort and activity to where it was most needed. Attention would be focussed on specific places and groups, determined by robust evidence, whilst enabling other places and communities to address local levelling up imperatives through more community powered approaches. Robust, credible data would be used at a variety of geographical levels to determine where interventions could have the biggest impact. The report outlined the frameworks which would be used. The Community Powered Warwickshire programme was a key lever for the Levelling Up approach and would be central to delivering the Council’s vision.

Following approval of the Levelling Up approach, the Committee would be able to consider how it wished to track progress, through the related strategies, elements of the Integrated Delivery Plan, and the new Performance Management Framework.

The following questions and comments were submitted, with responses provided as indicated:

• Councillor Rolfe spoke of the difficult times presently with cost of living increases, people on low incomes, in poverty and reliant on food banks. The levelling up aspirations were wonderful, but there would be widening gaps, especially in areas perceived as affluent. It was questioned how the current position would be addressed.
• Nigel Minns responded that the challenges were recognised in this approach. A plan would not be set out at this stage. It was more about the overarching approach and principles, engagement and the start of the journey. There was a long way to go. It was important at this stage to have a ‘golden thread’ running through all strategies and could be argued previously that elements had been viewed in isolation. Councillor Rolfe linked poverty to poorer health.
• Councillor Holland supported the levelling up aims. Currently there were widening gaps with higher inflation benefitting those with assets and impacting most on those with lower incomes. The presentation had rightly been complex. Some things could be measured easily, an example being life expectancy, which according to data from the Office for National Statistics had reduced by two years. The geography was important, with a comparison made to the large areas used for the JSNA and the much smaller areas to measured crime data.  More use could be made of local councillors’ knowledge including town and parish councillors. He then referred to data showing that people with a mental health condition on average had a lower life expectancy by 20 years. He thanked officers for the presentation, welcoming the approach. Nigel Minns assured that there would be extensive engagement, including with very local councils and groups as part of the community powered approach.
• Councillor Marian Humphreys spoke about securing money to build new schools, nurseries and health facilities. There were challenges for rural areas with a lack of bus services and regular concerns from parents who did not secure their child a place at the local primary school. A need for wide engagement and at an early stage.
• Several members complemented the report.
• Councillor Matecki welcomed the ambition but was concerned at the potential to deliver this. He considered the current system was broken and there was too much focus on bringing in a new system. 
• Chris Bain of HWW spoke about inequality through age discrimination, for both younger and older people. A need to ‘age proof’ when designing things like housing, transport, lighting and public spaces, as an essential part of levelling up. There were additional layers of challenge for older people from an ethnic minority group. Including these aspects at an early stage would be helpful.  Nigel Minns acknowledged this as an important point, also referencing the combined challenges around age and rural isolation. This and the previous points from councillors were all being captured, to feed into the subsequent report.
• Councillor Drew raised points which rested within the remit of the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee and would be referred to that committee, when it met later in the day. They concerned transport infrastructure and delivery of priority road schemes. She reminded of the declaration on climate emergency and decisions to support active travel, with pedestrian, cycling and use of public transport. She suggested that this part of the document be updated accordingly to take the emphasis away from passive travel by car.
• The Chair referred to the State of Warwickshire document published last year. Several of the points raised in the levelling up report had been included in the earlier document, as activity which should be, but currently were not, being undertaken. She sought reassurance that they would be tackled as part of the levelling up process. The Chair then referred to regional levelling up and devolution. She was aware that the majority of the County’s areas in deprivation were located in Nuneaton and Bedworth (N&B), also speaking on impacts for life expectancy and service provision for health and education. There were many good points in the document about the desired outcomes, but not the potential work which was needed to achieve them. In N&B there was a low starting point and huge disparities across the County. She sought more information in how the process would be undertaken to achieve the desired end point.
• Nigel Minns confirmed that many of the communities in deprivation were located in N&B, some were in North Warwickshire with others located elsewhere in the County. He had met with the chief executives of both councils who would prioritise those areas. Something different was required as there had been several initiatives over previous years.  Currently the focus was on the overall approach and setting a priorities list strategy. The report would go to Cabinet and a series of action plans would be developed. It would then be for members to hold officers to account on how the actions and targets were being achieved. He was unable to comment on the regional relationships at this stage but acknowledged there would be aspects for both the sub-region and the West Midlands. The Chair responded that the regional element was included within the levelling up document.
• The Chair raised that some previous programmes and interventions had not been successful, evidenced by the resultant data. There was a need to change the approach to achieve the desired outcomes.
• Nigel Minns responded that some previous schemes may have been too siloed. This was a fundamental change of approach that all work had a levelling up focus to it. He used the ‘health in all policies’ approach as an example. For levelling up, all policies and strategies would be assessed to see how they contributed to levelling up and to ensure a coherent holistic approach. This was about levelling up Warwickshire, so the community powered approach and broad engagement in a different way, was key.
• The Chair stated the need to level up Warwickshire internally, before looking at adjacent areas. There were significant disparities within the County which should be addressed as the priority. Nigel Minns confirmed that this was the focus. Looking at the wider levelling up agenda, it was unlikely that Warwickshire would be a priority when compared to many other urban deprived areas.
• The Chair sought a geographic breakdown of the numbers of questionnaires completed in each area of the County.  Sarah Duxbury confirmed that the Voice of Warwickshire survey could be broken down. Currently, officers were reviewing and analysing the responses, and this information would be circulated. The Chair welcomed the focus on internal levelling up stating the need to look at the north of the County.
• Discussion about the bidding process for the first round of levelling up funding. There had been no successful bids in North Warwickshire. The Chair said this was project specific but formed part of the wider levelling up agenda. Examples were provided of the bids submitted in both N&B and North Warwickshire.

Resolved:

That the Committee:

1. Notes the report and asks Cabinet to consider the points raised above.

Refers the points raised on transport to the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.