Agenda item

RSA

Sir Richard welcomed Charlotte Alldritt, Director of Public Services and Communities at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), to the meeting.

The RSA had approached the City Regions Board with regards to sponsorship of an independent commission on economic inclusion which would examine and support cities in the next stage of the devolution process. Charlotte discussed how the commission would examine the social challenges of cities, exploring reasons for differing levels of economic potential and helping as many people as possible to benefit from economic growth.

The commission would have one chair and eight or nine commissioners. It would recognise the interrelationship between cities and their surrounding areas and would be a cross party, non-political body. It would produce a number of interim reports and a final report, setting out key policy recommendations. The commission would arrange seminar series and engagement led activities. As ideas were still being developed at this stage, Charlotte requested that board members feedback on proposed ideas for the commission, including its name.

In the discussion which followed, board members raised the following points:

·         It was important that the commission built on and did not duplicate issues which had been covered before. The report produced by Lord O’Neill had touched on similar areas, and therefore, it would be important to link the reports together and consider how they would reference each other. The approach and methodology in part four of the appendix was highlighted as particularly important when considering how devolution would affect the lives of constituents represented by board members and in understanding what was preventing some areas taking advantage of the devolution offer.

·         The commission’s methods of direct engagement needed to be carefully considered as some communities had already been asked many questions by bodies working on similar areas. A key component for making the commission work was to co-ordinate it with work already happening and avoid a fragmented approach. Members were assured that though the commission would take account of other work going on, it would remain independent.

·         The wider LGA including all regions and cities would need to have the opportunity to feed into the report. Individuals appointed to the commission should have a wide range of experience and include those from all areas of the country. It would also be important to get the perspective of individuals at public service level. Board members were assured that this would be the case.

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·         There was concern that the language currently used to explain what the commission could achieve did not do it justice. The commission needed to clarify what it would try to influence. The case had to be made for doing things differently. “Good, well directed growth” was suggested as an example of how language could be positively used.

Decisions

The City Regions Board:

1.    Noted the report.

2.    Agreed it would contribute to setting up the commission.