Transcript

Welcome to the meeting of the Skills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission to all our members in our virtual meeting room and to everyone watching online. This meeting has been recorded and live streamed now. Please can you all keep your microphones on mute throughout the meeting. This will prevent audio feedback. If you'd like to speak, raise your hand to get my attention. The chat function must not be used to have conversations with other participants or to provide personal information. Please only use the chat function to alert me that you wish to speak, to raise points of order or to report tech problems. This is a formal meeting of Hackney Council. Please note the press may be in attendance. The rights of the press and public to record and film the meeting will apply. Item 1. So it's our March meeting. Introductions. So I'm Councillor Clare Potter and I'm the Chair of the Skills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission. So I'm going to go to introductions to members first and I'm going to start on the back row on my left. Councillor Pinkerton, if you'd like to say that. Councillor Patrick Pinkerton, I'm the KS Nov Ward. Councillor Davies. Councillor Liam Davies, State Newington. Councillor John Locrasse, Hagerston. Councillor Martins. Councillor Jasmin Martins, de Beaver Ward. councillor davis councillor liam davis state newton councillor john lacrosse haggiston councillor martins councillor jasmine martins debaver ward august cuddly councillor benny's august can be a member of the commission councillor sadek councillor ali sadek kings park and vice chair of the commission and councillor councillor penny root um victoria ward thank you if i go over to the cabinet members on my left and i will start over on the left with thank you chair uh councillor guy nicholson deputy mayor cabinet member for delivery inclusive economy and regeneration thank you uh councillor sam palace councillor the ones councillors for case no ward and deputy cabinet member for the inclusive economy councillor carol williams cabinet member for employment hr inequalities thank you everyone and now to officers thank you for attending tonight if i can start with the introductions on my left thank you very much uh i'm matted mere interim assistant director for regeneration and economic development um emmanuel teffra economic development officer i'm occurring interim economic development manager thank you and well welcome all um we have had one apologies councillor smith but he is in in attendance on online welcome councillor smith um we've also had officer apologies from suzanne johnson who's who is the director for regeneration economy and housing development do we have any other apologies tracy no okay okay urgent items urgent items order of business there are no urgent items and the order of business is as laid out in the agenda item three do members have any interest to declare thank you members no interest to declare so we go to the substantive item for the meeting which is an update on hackney's economic development plan and plans for engagement so the commission requested an update on local economy data and also progress with the council's new economic development plan and how this will align and link with regional plans as set out in the london growth plan which was recently published the discussion will consider how the emerging economic development plan will seek to shape and influence the delivery of an inclusive economy for the whole borough we will also hear about the council's plans for engagement with local businesses in relation to economic development plan just to know the commission previously had an update on the economic development plan in february 2024 and the local economy in december 2022 and the links are in the meeting papers and we we will be in interested to see what has changed in that time i'd like to thank all officers for preparing the presentation as requested um but before we start to hear from the presentation um i'd like to hear from deputy mayor nicholson and also deputy cabinet member council palace am i correct in thinking deputy mayor nicholson you're going to go first yeah thank you chair if that's okay that's okay yeah thank you yeah um and and i will be very very brief because we've got the substantive presentations that you were just describing chair um and um which make good reading and there's a lot to reflect on i think and we'll when we get to the end i'm sure there'll be a lot of discussion and debate and questions and before i hand over to councillor palace you mentioned this word growth uh and it certainly is a word that is out there used quite frequently at the moment by all levels of government and of course local is no different um we have one very strong and resilient local economy and um the work that councillor palace has been leading on alongside councillor williams and myself um is designed to try and shape some of that growth to invest back into the host community residents of hackney and how all of the local community can take advantage of this great economic growth at local level suffice it to say that what we have always tried to ensure throughout this process and officers likewise have been focused on this is to align the growth ambitions coming down from government at a national level with those reflected in the london growth plan as you were mentioning um that the mayor of london recently brought forward um and that now our plan our local economic development plan sits there at the front line if i can describe it in that way of local level to deliver and with that chair if i may perhaps just hand over to councillor palace and thank you yeah thank you very much thank you deputy mayor nicholson um it's nice to be back at the commission i was here through my first term so it feels a bit surreal to be on this side but i mean exciting um so um thank you for giving us the opportunity um to be here again and give an update um on on the plan um it's really important we get your feedback um at this stage before we go out um to engagement um which we're looking to do in april um and may i just want to pay testament to all the officers because this is really um an ensemble piece um across many different departments it's very ambitious document it's very innovative um and it's very cross-cutting um and it draws upon uh the commission session you had in september last year on green skills it also overlaps with the last session um on um employment skills and also procurement so it kind of brings a lot of things together um there's also a key component around the circular economy and green economy and we don't have officers from the kind of climate team here today just want to flag that there may be some technical questions um that we might need to take away and follow up with them and councillor young um it's not here um today but i know that she's been in previous commissions um and um there's been i just want to reassure you that's been very much uh you know working across departments on this um and and really making sure that we are honed in on the priorities coming from central government um from the gla and around the growth plan but also cut these priorities in terms of our um manifesto and our corporate plan i just wanted to give a very quick um overview of just kind of roughly kind of where we are um uh kind of challenges the opportunities what we've achieved um how it's aligning with uh kind of the regional growth plan and then just finally kind of uh overview of what the kind of key objectives of of the plan are so the challenges are clear i think we're all aware of them you know we've had 14 um years of a conservative government and um under them pay has been driven down productivity is down by two percent um since the great recession in 2008 that's one of the key things that the growth plan was uh talking about we've got a skill shortage at the moment we've got one million young people not in education employment and skills um and uh you know we're starting to really see the economic cost of climate change um you know uh in the growth plan and they estimated one billion was lost in terms of productivity because of issues around um heat and overheating um and um we know we've got to do so much to tackle um the climate emergency um and to transition our economy something which councillor williams talked about um at the um commission meeting in in september we've also seen some overarching changes in our economy something which the growth plan really brings out which is kind of a reordering of global trade which i'm sure we're all aware of post brexit and now with um unfortunately mr trump um the rise of uh the gig economy um and and also um the opportunities that ai brings but also some of the perils um and we've also seen new centers of growth emerge across kind of london um and um that's something i know officers um will kind of go into a bit more about the different areas of growth um in in hackney the opportunities are obviously clear as well we've seen unprecedented growth in the borough um and and that is something which we welcome um and we've got you know the highest growth rate um in london something which can be outlined you know in in the plan but we also are the third most deprived um in london with the seventh most deprived um you know in the country um and we need to make sure that those you know uh what's happening kind of around the silicon roundabout is actually being felt by um you know uh people in all corners um of of the borough um i just want to talk about some achievements um in terms of what we've done since um the last inclusive economy strategy and and what we've put in place um you know around our manifesto you know delivering affordable workspace we've had a one million um affordable workspace fund um setting up hackney impact which is consortium of um different organizations from hackney co-op developments social founders i've attended lots of those sessions um and the businesses that we are engaging in with really look like hackney um and and they represent hackney um and it's it's been great to kind of see um that developing um and the support that we are offering to businesses um in terms of being contract ready in terms of procurement with the council and but also in terms of scaling up um you know the markets team for example have created 3800 uh 3880 more local job opportunities since 2018 2019 you know we are seeing more local jobs in this borough um which are being catalyzed by um you know by the council and partners um so just in terms of of the government um and their plans so invest 2035 is the big document it's the green paper which the government has come out with um outlining kind of big um growth sectors this is a government that believes in state intervention that believes you've got to be shaping the economy and believes we've got to make sure um that growth is um working across um the the country um but we you know can't forget london um and london is a major um obviously driver of growth but as we know in this bar there's many uh pockets of of deprivation and we've seen gb energy um launch we've seen the local energy pans and everything we're doing in this plan large adapt and we played a key um role in shaping um the mayor london's growth plan um we made a submission um to the growth plan which was about um calling for the social economy um to be included um in the plan and it's great to see um that social businesses and supporting them is now a key part of the plan and also about getting finance to social businesses um and we're going to continue to advocate um for you know a fairer um economy which puts social businesses and co-ops right at the center of driving a high skill high wage fairer and more productive um economy um the growth plan has many different elements to it it's got an inclusive um talent strategy um which is all about getting high skills it's got a youth guarantee which is uh dealing with um young people not um in education employment and training and it's got a high street fund so all of these things are things we're going to be um looking to engage with um and and channel and just in terms of our plan um before i pass over to officers um you know our economic development plan is very much based you know on our manifesto and looking forward um it's about forming a truly mixed economy one which puts inclusive and green growth at the center of our local economy from championing the circular economy to supporting social businesses from providing those with long-term disabilities pathways back into work to using our procurement and convening power to drive up living wage employees in hackney and local spend and we're committed to showing that net zero is not a nice to have but integral to our economy but also the future of our planet we want to ensure that the growth is felt as i said across all corners of our borough especially those areas that are most deprived um ensuring that those in borough um get the opportunities through programs like um lift um to get into those high skill growth areas um and we want to make sure that we are shaping growth and showing that we have a diverse set of different business ownership models um which we believe are kind of integral um to creating a fairer and more uh productive economy so i will hand over to officers on that note and i don't know who wants to go first sorry i'll pass over to mattin meer who is the assistant director of regeneration economic development thank you mattin thank you chair uh just to say very briefly um in the the pack for the meeting we have shared with you two presentations which was requested one is to give you an update on some of the key statistics for the bar um we did an update of a version that you've seen previously and a second presentation which is on an update on where we have got to on developing a hackney economic development plan which again you had an earlier presentation as mentioned earlier um we thought it would be useful to have the statistics presentation first which will provide hopefully some of the context for how the key priorities and missions in the economic development plan uh have been developed or are being developed and then the second presentation we've divided that in two parts as requested and we're proposing we take the statistics presentation first followed by the first part of the update on the economic development plan and then we can pause to take some questions and obviously discussion and then uh when you're ready we will move on to the second part which is around what the plan is for the draft plan for engagement over the next few months if that's okay i'm going to hand it over first of all to emmanuel who's going to take us through the thank you thank you um thanks martin um yeah just to add to what martin said so essentially we're going to or i'm going to provide an updated version of the data presented to second december 2022 which is under the discussion item understanding the local economy um so that would do stuff around wages businesses and kind of employment for hackney um and it's also to kind of provide an economy changes in recent years and a comparison um against like london borough averages um so if we just start with business growth um so just in terms of active businesses hackney um vastly outperforms the london average here so in 2023 that was 20 uh just over 29 000 businesses versus just over 16 000 for an average london borough and since 2018 there's been a growth of 5 310 um in 2018 and 2023 um and in terms of the definition for active businesses here this is businesses that had either turnover or employment at any time during the reference period um and this uh kind of data is from the office for national statistics so in terms of headline business data i think this is quite key in terms of uh evidencing hackney's kind of entrepreneurial culture um so in terms of business births um again greatly outperforming the london average 15 over 15 versus just over 10 percent um but that is also seen in terms of business deaths um so there are higher business deaths in hackney versus the london average um and just speaking about i know council palace mentioned high growth businesses and high growth sectors in hackney um so here hackney performs really really well so hackney has the third highest percentage of high growth businesses compared to all um uk local authorities between 2018 and 2023 um the definition is to the side there um but essentially the details how many businesses as a proportion of the overall business base um have an average growth in employment of greater than 20 per year of a three-year period um and i suppose um kind of around this this gives us the opportunity to really look towards employment and skills and training um to ensure that residents can profit from high growth in hackney and just in terms of green businesses by ward so hackney is home to 301 green businesses which support over 800 jobs these are kind of concentrated in hoxton and shoreditch um but there is i mean there is also the opportunity here to really kind of build on the kind of green businesses that are already in hackney um and yeah i think emma's presentation will speak a bit more more about that as well um and just in terms of core and enabling circular economy sectors obviously the definitions here are a little tricky um but worth kind of reading through as well uh kind of core businesses are businesses that ensure material cycles are closed so particularly around kind of reuse um and uh in terms of enabling circular economy uh jobs this is specifically around businesses in the supply chain which help core circular economy businesses to accelerate growth and kind of scale up as well um so hackney hackney's business base has a huge kind of proportion of these businesses compared to other london boroughs um which is good um and obviously provides the opportunity to further capitalize and focus on circular practices in hackney um and so this is some information from the ons business register and employment survey um i think we should definitely take some of these statistics with uh possibly a grain of salt but um it provides a kind of idea of the proportion of employees in each of the various kind of uh sectors so i think here hackney has a greater proportion of employees in professional scientific and technical activities compared to the london and great britain average um yeah and in terms of headline employee data um the employment rate in hackney so this definition is the proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 in paid work or who had a job that they're temporarily away from uh so here hackney again outperforms and i suppose another thing to kind of mention is that hackney's employment rate grew quicker than the london average between 2019 and 2023 um but in recent years the london average in terms of employment rate growth has has outperformed um acne as well um and in terms of unemployment in hackney so unemployment grew slightly between 2023 court two and 2024 court two um but it remained well below the london average and hackney here is definitely in the bottom half in terms of unemployment by london borough as well um and in terms of payment account in hackney again there's been a slight uptick between 2023 and 2024 this kind of matches the the kind of general trend so all of the parts in gray are other london boroughs um so yeah i think here we see employment skills can kind of come in here as well but there is an acknowledgement that the work in the economic development plan also needs to stretch across the council um in terms of the support we're giving to people claiming and in terms of economic inactivity hackney again has performed quite well and there's definitely a sense that hackney's economy um has been fairly resilient in quite a difficult uh regional and kind of national context um so hackney has had lower economic inactivity so 13.8 percent in 2023 um versus the london and uk average um so there's been a recent i would say after pandemic um fall in terms of economic inactivity um and in terms of gross disposable income and median weekly pay for residents um hackney here is largely tracking the london averages so 29 000 um in terms of the average in london and 29.6 um in terms of the hackney average in terms of gross disposable household income um and in terms of gross median weekly pay um again there's not really much difference here but hackney slightly outperforms the average median of all local authorities in london and in terms of increases from 2019 to 2024 um that has almost exactly matched the london average as well so uh council palace mentioned a kind of deprivation and poverty and a need for a kind of cross council acknowledgement of these issues and uh kind of um address these issues as a kind of council-wide approach um so hackney has um extremely high income deprivation um so it was the third highest in 2021 in london um but we do also need to acknowledge that these figures haven't been updated from for the trust of london since 2021 um so there's still more work to do in different data sources to kind of assess um and in terms of low pay and hackney which is obviously intrinsically linked to deprivation um hackney has seen a slight decrease in residence resident jobs paid below london living wage um but and kind of despite this hackney um currently overperforms i would say the london average so has fewer jobs paid below london living wage um and kind of moving slightly to a town center approach so focusing on key areas in hackney's economy i would say despite the so this time period is between the end of 2022 to the end of 2024 and it details um kind of transaction levels essentially so consumer spend in eating and retail in shortage um and i would say despite kind of significant economic uncertainty during this time period um generally consumer spending eating and retail on on weekdays ended up in shoreditch and um similarly for dorston as well and in terms of nighttime spending i know this is a big kind of a focus for the council at large um including through the nighttime economy strategy as well um so hackney has the highest nighttime spend share in london this is obviously due to kind of high quality nightlife and food options but i think uh in the economic development plan we're conscious they also need to be accompanied by a focus on safety and crime um and really pushing that as well and just to finish up here just in terms of the gla economic forecast so this is what the gla believes will happen to london's economy up until 2026. um so here they've used the kind of 20 29 uh sorry 2019 kind of pre-pandemic as a kind of baseline here and have suggested that london's gva so um us value added will would rise by 0.5 percent in 2023 1.2 in 2024 and 1.9 in 2025 and 2.2 in 2026. obviously a lot of these figures can be revised and will continually be revised um but it would it's just a sort of interesting to give an idea of what the gla believe um would happen to london's economy um i'll probably leave it there and hand over to emma who can i suppose speak a little bit more our economic development plan takes one of these statistics into account and has a clear plan and actions to kind of deliver based on that thank you very much your presentation emmanuel is that just to ask if it's possible to speak up a little bit um are we now going to the the update so over to emma thank you okay so uh my presentation's in two parts uh firstly we're gonna cover the update on the economic development plan as matin's already said the main things that i aim to cover are why we need an economic development plan the context including the alignment with regional and national context an overview of some of the key achievements in recent years the four missions outlined in the plan information about how the plan will be implemented and then in part two we'll be looking at the plans for engagement which we'll hope to cover the objectives of the engagement the key stakeholders the engagement methods a focus on business engagement and the timeline for the engagement plans and then finally we will just look at the next steps if you need to indicate where we move the slide on then please um do tell us thank you sorry so firstly um we think it's important to look at um why we need an economic development plan and this really slide is just kind of i think we've already touched on already but despite immense growth in in the borough um economic growth and he continues to rank highly in indicators of deprivation with many residents unable to meet their basic needs so prd partner in regeneration and development consultants were commissioned in 2024 to prepare an updated evidence base and prepare a draft plan in consultation with key stakeholders the highlights from the data collected show that hackney experience as we've already said the highest growth rate in london and it also shows that the business line in business landscape in hackney it's made up of 99 of small medium enterprises highlighting the entrepreneurial culture in the borough hackney is also home to international businesses being geographically located between two of london's major economic and business growth areas in um close to the city of london and also um the to the east of uh hackney uh the olympic park so the planet is strongly aligned with corporate priorities and the mayor's manifesto commitments it's also aligned with regional and national priorities are set out on this slide the key themes which cut across include sustainability inclusivity and a focus on supporting key growth sectors it's also worth noting that the plan also takes into consideration the financial challenges facing the council and therefore the focus is on what can be achieved with existing resources and through working in partnership with key stakeholders if we look at the national context the government's industrial strategy is a 10-year plan for growth with a focus on high growth sectors and tackling barriers to growth we've taken these priorities into consideration in the development of the draft economic development plan and consider there to be a stronger alignment our draft plan focuses on high growth sectors which include the creative industries digital technologies as well as professional and business services we also have a focus on upskilling in key growth sectors and supporting good jobs and inclusive growth the job economic development plan is also closely aligned to the london grade plan which launched on the 27th of february both aim to drive inclusive growth while tackling climate challenges the london growth plan focuses on strengthening london's global position through fostering high growth sectors and developing inclusive talent which is also reflected in hackney's approach particularly in upskilling residents and supporting underrepresented groups with hackney strength in digital creative and green sectors hackney is well placed to contribute to the london growth plan growth plans also have a focus on supporting small businesses and sustainability is also key in the economic development plan with net zero goals embedded in planning and procurement to create an economy that balances growth with environmental responsibility before going into the emerging priorities in the draft plan i'm just going to do a quick run through some of hackney's key achievements in the last few years uh the last five years um starting with affordable workspace the council has been successful in creating opportunities for affordable workspace and this includes a requirement for at least 10 percent of employment floor space in new developments to be designated as affordable workspace through a planning section 106 requirement which has resulted in over 6 000 square meters of affordable workspace we've also developed an approved list of affordable workspace providers and we are spending um we have an affordable workspace fund of um just over one million pounds between 2024 and 2025 um to support providers and businesses via grants for improvements to facilities to existing workspace providers and to safeguard jobs and create new jobs or businesses in relation to supporting local businesses the council has maximized opportunities for business support through external funding for example the council successfully administered millions of pounds of grants for businesses following covid and more recently has used uk spf funds to award grants to support energy efficiency with local organizations uk spf funds have also been used to commission hackney impact it's a consortium of organizations providing business support so far they've helped over 200 businesses run eight run 19 networking events and over 70 workshops they've supported the creation of 25 new enterprises and supported 55 new products and services last year we also relaunched the hackney responsible business charter which now has 30 businesses signed up committed to over 180 pledges in terms of maximizing the benefits of regeneration developing an area-based approach to ensure the benefits of growth and re-generation are maximized for the priority areas and the local community for example development of the hackney central town center strategy um working with the community led to a successful grant bid for 19 million funding from central government to deliver improvements in public realm and the hobson regeneration strategy which last year led to a 3 million grant from the gla for a civic partnership program i think we touched on earlier the markets team they've also been really successful and have increased businesses from 2018 to 29 by 365 percent creating thousands of job opportunities for residents additionally the employment and skills and sorry employment skills and adult learning service has supported over 3 000 residents annually to upskill and has supported hundreds of residents into quality jobs and apprenticeships including opportunities in growth sectors like tech and the creative sectors for example through working in partnership with the lift program the leading inclusive futures through technology partnership and created pathways to quality jobs for example through its apprenticeship program the lift program alone has created um supported over 700 hackney residents and achieved over 400 job outcomes the core strategy is um set out in four emerging missions i've set out in this slide um i'm now going to run through these um each mission is um the idea is it covers a 10-year time frame and the plan also includes 10 outcomes to cover a five-year time frame so mission one residents are able to actively participate in the economy and society the data tells us that hackney has seen a significant increase in number of jobs compared to london and is forecasted to accommodate a significant amount of london's employment in the next 30 years including sectors like construction the green economy business services education health and the creative industries this expansion is driven by growth in high skilled sectors with large increases in ict media and the creative sector and financial professional services which has been accompanied by growth in the entertainment sectors and hospitality however 17 percent which is equivalent to 35 000 residents have no qualifications and the data suggests that many residents are in low paid insecure work and are more likely to be economically active due to long-term sickness when compared to the under average to produce this mission examples of priorities in the draft plan includes providing specialist employment provision for target groups for example residents with disabilities targeted promotion of foundation foundational skills training in areas known to have high concentration of residents that lack qualifications and provision of training aligned to the labor market needs for example digital skills health and social care courses mission to hackney's economy is climate resilient and sustainable the data tells us that three quarters of local emissions are from consumption and waste there's been a 275 increase in hackney businesses in carbon intensive sectors since 2011 the good news is that hackney has a growing green and circular economy as the manuals already touched on over 300 businesses operating in the green economy supporting over 800 jobs with a large percentage of green businesses projected to expand over the next three years so delivering net zero is forecasted to create thousands of good jobs one of the main means to achieve in this mission is through the commitment to develop a circular economy strategy and action plan which is being led by the sustainability and climate team mission three hackney's economy is acknowledged as fairer and more inclusive the data tells us that over the last the last decade the number of businesses has increased and industrial rents have also increased significantly in 2021 25 of hackney's procurement spend was with local suppliers to progress this mission examples of priorities in the plan include continue to roll out the affordable workspace fund and there's also a focus on increasing social value through the council's sustainable procurement and insourcing strategy particularly with a focus on the source local first policy mission four regeneration and investment benefits more of hackney's places and communities in the draft plan the borough has been separated into three geographical areas sharing economic characteristics and opportunities in the north of the borough this area this area is recognized for its foundational economies it's home to one of europe's largest regeneration projects and it typically has lower commercial land costs in the central corridor and is established a world-class reputation for its creative sector and his area is home to industrial sites its position close to stratford and the east bank also presents significant opportunities for residents and in the city fringe london square mile is seen as the primary drive so close to the square mile is seen as primary driver for high value economic activity the area is home to key hubs for international businesses however it also includes concentrations of low paying work in the supply chain of larger companies to progress this mission examples of criteria in the in the plan include generating social value from commercial office developments particularly in the city fringe areas so now we move on to the how how will the plan be implemented there is a draft implementation plan which will inform the key measures of success and the hackney responsible business charter features throughout the missions in the plan it invites local businesses to make pledges linked to priorities of the plan for example focused on decarbonization or through prioritizing inclusive practices and providing good work governance is expected to be linked to service and directorate monitoring and the governance will also involve external stakeholders we're going to look at models of good practice elsewhere and learn from them we recognize that the council cannot do it alone the role of the council is expected to be as a convener bringing people together providing strategic oversight and as an asset owner using council assets for good where possible as part of the engagement process we will refine the draft plan and so following the engagement process we'll refine the draft plan and delivery plan and as part of that we will identify how we will measure the success and through key kpis and the role of the economic development team going forward will be monitoring and working with partners to deliver those so i'm now going to move on to part two sorry i'm going to go for questions i think thank you emma um thank you all for that presentation there's a lot of um information there i think what i'll do members i will kick off with a question and then i will throw it out the only other thing i wanted to say is because i want to make sure everybody's got time to have their questions answered thoroughly you make sure you perhaps don't ask more than two questions at a time and you're concise just to make sure we're not rushing at the end um so my question is quite general it might be more appropriate to go to the cabinet members first um just taking into consideration the council's financial position um and the corporate transfer transformation work what will the impact be on some of the key deliverables for the economic development plan from what you can see so far council deputy bear nicholson is that one for you do you think or council palace come in winner yeah yeah yep sorry thanks yeah um and the impact of the current sort of budget position i think one of the first things just to kind of reflect on is that we're dealing with a very kind of live and thriving business community so when we're talking about uh bringing about social value bringing about investment back into the community we're talking about it from a income generating community um now that's not to say that local businesses don't have challenges just in the day-to-day business of doing business of course but um what we're dealing with here is a very different constituency from that of the public sector i think that's the first thing just to kind of emphasize that our focus is on that very active community that happens to be resident within the borough or at least based in the borough um now the impact of course is always going to be there in the background is the business of revenue resource and do we have to put it bluntly um the boots on the ground now um i think all three of us here and i'm sure if councillor young was here this evening as well she she would advocate the same thing we see this as a great advantage to the council in terms of its future finances in terms of its future sort of strength basically um there are great opportunities for this council and some services that it delivers um to be had through positive engagement with the business community unlike residents uh those who are conducting business in the borough um have to purchase a range of services they have to buy law and the council is in a position to be able to provide those services and sell those services to local businesses and that's just one kind of example so you mentioned the commercialization kind of work the transformation work within council that's going on at the moment um and what i would suggest chair is that you know commission colleagues may want to reflect on what kind of services the council should be selling to local businesses what what it is that the council should be doing as part of its transformation kind of objectives to enable that um how can it increase that kind of revenue source but by providing quality services services that businesses need to be able to be to run effectively to run effectively from day to day i think also what i would point out is that emma's helpful presentations that have described a very wide range of in effect when i say council-led activities should we say that the council is one of the main um kind of actors in those particular activities so council of palace and emma mentioned street markets for example um and the economic impact that street markets have there is a local council service that to all intents and purposes is trading at no cost to the council itself because it manages its outgoings with its income and its income rests on successful street markets and all credit to the market service and to the traders to to achieve that but equally one of the other elements that the market service provides traders with is business support and advice for traders so should a trader wish to kind of enhance and strengthen their particular business then they have access to advice and support to do that alongside a safe trading environment and that's the other kind of side emma very eloquently described the context that's been a man well um also the context of the hospitality the entertainment industry and the importance of football in hackneystown centers and the contribution that that football makes to a local economy its well-being its resilience and its ability to be able to generate income um and again all credit to the council it is the council that runs the environmental services the community safety services uh 24 7 in the case of shoreditch um and it's not far up 24 7 in the other town centers too um again really important and that's where the risk is which is why it's important that we begin to look um as a council begin to look at how we can generate income from that community and the doing it um with the community rather than uh and providing quality services of course which hackney council always does very quickly um i mean economic development hasn't always been one of the largest departments you know um in in in the council um and you know our business support um um you know have always you know been based on basically external funding you know we get it from you know um shared prosperity funding um and um you know that's one of our strengths because we get to work with a whole um host of different organizations and and that's what we've seen with like the impact that you can really respond to kind of community needs in very different ways um and i've seen that from the sessions and that i've attended myself also this work is very cross-cutting so a lot of it is already kind of existing work and which we're kind of bringing together so in terms of employment skills um but also in terms of you know the climate team and i think um this would be something you know for the commission um to kind of keep on monitoring just how that cross-cutting work is happening um and how we can have that kind of one council you know approach which i think is so integral for um you know a piece like this the other element is that um in terms of our procurement strategy um we've upped our social value requirement to 15 we're looking to get to 20 as soon um as we possibly can that really puts us at the forefront of councils you know in the country a lot of councils don't really have a social value requirement and they're definitely not in double figures what that allows us to do um is to um especially uh you know organizations um in in in the borough and businesses in in in the borough and which are really you know feeling um you know the effects of you know the last 14 years and coming out of covid and a whole host of things it means that we can really be continuing to be ambitious in how we kind of procure um and and we go out there so in terms of um you know i know you talk about the vcs sector and things like that so that that's that's a previous sessions that that's a way that we can engage with with that sector as well we can engage with local businesses um and use that power of procurement and that's drawing upon you know our existing department so i would say that economic development has always punched above its weight um as a department um it will very much uh continue um to do so um but we are absolutely focused on being as ambitious as we can thank you both um i'm looking to members now so we've got councillor sadek councillor martins councillor davis and councillor narcross i'll take you in that order so cancer sadek first thanks chair um i was quite struck as you as you worked through the slides about the um well two two things that potentially felt to be in tension to me whether the very positive story on employment rate in the borough the creation of new jobs the creation of new businesses and the lowering of unemployment but then on the other side when it came to household income the third most deprived borough in the city and there were other references in there for example more of the value created in hackney should stay in hackney i think the statistic on green economy jobs was 300 plus businesses 800 jobs which is 2.6 people per business um all of these considerations are making me wonder um are the jobs that are being created in these high growth sectors really benefiting the most needy within hackney and can more be done to ensure that that's the case who would like to take that question emma um i guess um that's why we have um the program uh live um leading inclusive futures through technology is really successful um in delivering training in areas skill areas of skills in growth sectors in terms of technology um i think as well the apprenticeship programs that we've had in employment skills are also really good pathways into um some of those jobs um but obviously these are the areas that we're looking at in terms of making sure that the training we deliver through employment skills adult learning service is in those areas of skills and of growth jobs acting thank you chair just to add to that i think at the heart of the the draft economic development plan there's an acknowledgement clearly that um the growth in the borough hasn't necessarily benefited everybody or all parts of the borough equally and hence one of the key objectives of this plan is over the next 10 years and this is not going to happen overnight this is acknowledged as a medium to long term strategy and a plan to reverse that and to ensure the council is playing a role with the stakeholders to ensure that more of the benefits going forward are targeted and more of the local existing communities as councillor nicholson i said at the beginning are realized and benefiting existing communities so therefore the the four mission and the 10 or 11 objectives are all designed to facilitate that so i think it's fair reflection and i don't think we can say otherwise um because the statistics speak for themselves but on the flip side of the positives are hackney has seen significant economic growth for the last 10 years and the projection is uh it's likely to take a significant amount of london's growth in the next decade as well the challenge for the council is how do we um work with our stakeholders to ensure that we are providing the best opportunity for our residents in terms of breaking down barriers to good work in terms of providing training uh in terms of employment um how do we as emma's presentation said council's going to play and kind of links in with the previous question in terms of what role the council can play in council's financial situation situation um uh kind of impacting on our ability to realize the ambitions that are set out in this plan um so clearly there's a recognition that this is not for the council to do alone and one of the key purposes of this document is essentially a call to action from our partners so we have certain clear role where the council plays a leading leadership role um whether that's as a planning authority as a owner of assets in terms of our land um as a convener as a place leader but ultimately a lot of that delivery will have to be through lots of other partnership um working with businesses particularly larger businesses in the borough so our effort is essentially in this document is is all about how do we address that particular point exact point that you've made in terms of equality and distribution of that wealth across all parts of the borough thank you and i'll thank you martin i'll also bring in councillor williams the cabinet portfolio holder in this kind of employment skills area i guess just to illustrate the point the matin is making tomorrow the mayor and i will be at the launch of this green skills hub over by the olympic park where we'll be working with the construction center on the launch of new fabric training rigs um and metin was making the point that we have we have to be a convener and i think that's what we've done very very successfully with the lift program we've worked in partnership with other london boroughs and convened employers um within that geographical area to deliver opportunities for hackney residents um and without using those convening powers we could potentially um leave behind whole sections of our community as we um as the green skills revolution um begins begins to emerge um so we have to use that convenient power and we are we are doing so um the construction sector traditionally has been very white very male there's a very high gender pay gap there's a very high ethnicity pay gap um there are sections of the community with protected characteristics that are excluded or have additional barriers and challenges to entering jobs within that sector it is our role as a convener to work with the construction sector especially as these green skills start to emerge to break down those barriers and so the challenge that we'll be giving tomorrow um and the work that we'll have to focus on in the intervening years coming years is how we use opportunities available to us um to open doors to residents within our community who otherwise wouldn't have access to high paid high skilled jobs within that sector there are lots of jobs that are available um to our diverse communities that are in the lower end of the pay scale what we've got to do is open opportunities we have to break down barriers and we have to um challenge uh i guess that the the the the diversity gap across the sector and deliver real change for the future thank you council williams did you have a follow-up question um cancer deck or are you satisfied with that answer great okay thank you thank you for that um so moving on to council martins thanks um i have a couple of questions so i can keep them short um just uh really quickly as well um the data that was covered um in terms of um employment um covered the span 16 to 64 which is quite a large um yeah i just wondered if that could um a more uh breakdown closer breakdown can be provided and also just onto my two bigger questions um emma you talked about um support for um disabled people and the long-term sick i just wanted to um understand what does that look like and i think especially with people with complex disabilities the world of work isn't set up for them so things like you know people who are on medication that makes them drowsy or sleepy halfway through the day for example or people who can't do heavy lifting just what does that support look like because i think especially in the context of what we've been hearing nationally as well i don't think the support uh provided at the moment is tailored towards those people um also um i wanted to kind of touch on how we're incorporating 15-minute cities into this um into this line of work um and what role the council can play in ensuring diversity of businesses as well i think what you often find um particularly in a place like hackney is you have several coffee shops that are doing similar things and it doesn't really serve the communities that live in those communities so you almost find that this um a disparaging factor between those living within the community and then those just passing by so how can we make sure that you know the businesses that are living within our communities also serve those people who reside there on a day-to-day basis thank you so shall i go to you council williams first no okay um so we have the question about kind of supporting residents you know with medical needs um emmanuel would you like to take that yeah well i could take the first the council's first question so specifically around kind of a breakdown for um employment kind of by age um i'd have to go and have a look at that but i suppose the kind of the ons figure gives a kind of wide-ranging as you say um kind of figure that sets that out but i'd have to go away and kind of bring a breakdown emmanuel do you mind i ask if you get a bit closer to the mic because it's yes okay very gently spoken thank you that's a good good thing hopefully um yeah i was just saying on the question around a breakdown by age for employment in hackney um i'd have to go away and have a look at that um maybe speak to the employment skills team as well um but i suppose the ons figure at the moment sets out a kind of wide range that kind of could be broken down at a later point and i'm happy to do that and maybe emma on the other question thank you um so as you may be aware and employment skills service has a service called hackney works which is a frontline service providing uh tailored employment support it's open to any hackney resident however we do sorry we i formerly am from employment skills and so um the employment skills service also have two programs specifically for working with residents with disabilities um one of those is targeted at residents engaging primary care services and the other one is funded through adult social care and is targeted at residents with quite complex needs um typically learning disabilities autism um and the difference between the hackney works general support provision and the um new programs that i've just mentioned um those two programs uh follow a model of support model of employment called ips individual placement and support um and the difference being that the advisors work on those programs have very small case loads uh so they're able to do a lot of handholding with residents um they will do a lot this traditional employment support so they will help cvs and job applications but where those programs differ is that they will um advocate for the clients they will um take clients to uh job interviews if needed they will negotiate reasonable adjustments with employers um they will work with the employer engagement team in seeking work placements where possible and so there is quite a lot of targeted provision with those two programs um hopefully i've answered that question yeah really helpful just to follow up um in terms of working with employers i guess how do you get them to be a bit more flexible to support those um with disabilities or complex needs um because also navigating the system as it stands because i think at the moment even if you work part-time you'd still receive uc for example um and then those job coaches encourage you to gain full-time employment but if you're not capable of doing that it leaves you in a stalemate so just what work does do does your team do to kind of support um those people but also encourage businesses to be a bit more flexible so i guess sometimes it's about using the levers that we have through section 106 um so using the um relationships that we have with employers um through section 106 we can negotiate work placements um we can um talk to employers about more flexible working arrangements um and also i think there's a lot of things that employers are not necessarily aware of which the team can talk to so for example funding through access to work there's a lot of support available um to support people in the job to um address any barriers relating to their disability whilst in work so i'm going to come to councillor williams now who's going to comment further on this and then i think we'll go back to the question you asked about kind of diversity of local business businesses within the 15 minutes and then i think counter palace and council nixon may will come in on that one councillor williams um so uh i'm not sure if you were referring to the work that the partnership we have we have with injus so there is a partnership um with injus and they support people with long-term health conditions and disabilities into employment and there's also some um a piece of work i can't quite remember chair whether this was discussed at the last um second meeting when we we uh made a presentation with with uh the assistant director in employment and skills team um but there is a devolution of sub-regional partnership a piece of work around the sub-regional partnership um which we are as a council bidding for to deliver active support for residents in who are inactive um disabled residents those living with long-term health issues and who have additional barriers to employment um and that will include the sort of pastoral hand-holding sort of work that emma has discussed um and or a piece of work is currently being done that is being scoped at the moment um i'm hoping that we'll be able to announce more details of that for for members very very soon um so there is already a lot of thinking and around how we can do this and it is in line with government announcements um so it's not going to be about the current way we work it will be a new way of working uh to overcome some of the challenges for those residents who are living with disabilities just as you've described thank you council of williams and now i think we'll go on to the kind of diversity of the local business offer and how we support support that diverse range um council palace you want to come in first or deputy yes i can come in first yeah um great um so firstly affordable workspace um you know uh very much committed to that you know um that's all kind of discretionary really and you know um local authorities don't you know have to have a kind of an affordable workspace approach we do in hackney and we try and maximize um the amount of affordable workspace we can get through section 106 contribution but also looking at our own policies and our own land is that something we're definitely going to explore further um in the strategy um you know uh through the voluntary um uh letting strategy we have about 50 organizations which are on you know on our um on our sites you know that's effectively kind of social value leases you know um with with low rent we try our utmost you know on our own property um when there are organizations on there um to to offer as lower rent as we can um and then um you know uh affordable workspace is set within our local plan we've got our local plan review which will be coming up shortly um so absolutely how we can maximize that um will be will be key going forward and how we can do that place shaping in terms of our our town centers especially when we um you know own assets um i would say um the other thing is the responsible business charter um that's a key lever that we have and we really want to um expand that um further and look at different incentives that we could potentially use to do that um raise awareness um around that we have a really um you know really good comms offer around shop local um and we we highlight a lot of different businesses who um are aligned with the principles of the responsible business charter so i think it's also going further on that i think one of our commitments around that is also about who you are employing and how accessible you are so i think that kind of talks to some of the points you were just talking about there um councillor um martin's but i also um think what's really key um is about how we convene about how we say we are a london living wage employer we try and raise you know wages through doing that we're looking at um how um we can convene with other uh public sector organizations like housing associations nhs looking about our supply chain um increasing spend with you know local businesses but also our business support program our business support program very much looks like the bar i've attended you know um sessions we can get all the stats to you and i think it'd be helpful to have the kind of breakdown um of of that for for members to see um but um that's really important because that's about you know scaling up local businesses whether they could potentially contract with the council and that's why we've upped you know our um social value requirement that's why we've got you know 25 25 local businesses are procuring with accounts now we want to go further on that so using the power we have um power we have there um and we've also got a big component of the plan is breaking down our own contracts um so they're in smaller lots which is one of the key things that came out of our social business research um but also about meet the buyer events um and i think that's one of the things we will look at doing further in terms of this convening piece so um how we can work with other public sector organizations and how we can get um you know more apprenticeships out of um you know uh larger um you know corporations um never in in the borough um so i think that speaks to some of the things that we can do um to make our you know high streets a place really for local homegrown businesses um you know that are delivering uh you know growth um uh which which reflects the borough um but also kind of reflects the area deputy mayor nicholson thank you chair and thanks council martins i mean just to kind of pick up a little bit on what councillor palace was just sharing um in regards to the 15-minute city i'd like to think that happening has been a trailblazer and for the last 15 years has been creating 15-minute cities um but on a more serious note um what we've tried to do and councillor palace touched on it is to sort of read across between economic development physical regeneration that may well be kind of town center or local center lead regeneration um and make sure that that read across is sound and solid and one of the mechanisms to do that is of as councillor palace also referenced is through planning policy um which um is kind of very very much focused in hackney on ensuring that there is mixed-use town centers unfortunately um even planning policy cannot control the market and if five entrepreneurs wish to establish five coffee houses in close proximity to each other i'm afraid the council can't intervene into that kind of particular kind of example um it is really for those businesses to compete what one would hope though is that actually through competition some of those entrepreneurs might recognize that actually there is a bigger market they could access by dropping their prices and being competitive with their pricing um and i think that's something just to reflect on our objectives have consistently been over the years the ability to go and find and and i kind of forgive me for those that have heard me kind of use this metaphor in the past but it it kind of sums it up a little bit is that you could go into our town centers in navarra and if you so choose you can buy a loaf of bread for five pounds that's your choice your decision and there will be a baker who will be making and selling loaves of bread for five pounds each equally you could also walk into the same town center and if you so choose buy a loaf of bread for a pound and there is a quality product whether it's one pound that you're spending or five pounds that you're spending and it is that as you rightly point out that range of offers within the town centers that are very very important there are certain things that the council can do to enable that and certain things it just has no power to do so as i mentioned earlier but um councillor palace mentioned the strength of convening and that is one of the great kind of advantages of an economic development team as working with a regeneration team and a regeneration team that is bringing forward and forgive me i'm just going to look to you so i get the title of the job description correct the town center growth yeah thank you um whose responsibility would be to ensure that that connection and that bridge is made between business community the physical spaces i.e the town centers the local centers and the different teams within the council itself um to to bring about uh those diverse and and mixed town centers um that are the destinations actually that that we all demand and cry out for um and there we go hopefully that's some sort of helpful feedback i am recognizing we're only three questions in and uh we might not have time for the next presentation if we're not careful so we need we need to ensure that so some of the things we need to do so can i ask um all people involved with giving and answers to be tight tight and concise okay we'll allow a little bit of extra time if members agree this item but we'll still try and keep to time as much as possible so councillor davis then councillor narcos i'll take your two together and then as i note council root had a hand up um and council august canley and and councillor pinkerton okay councillor smith shall i just come and check whether you want to raise a question um you could chair but i think we might have run out of time by the time you get to me so i'm happy to take it up with with uh you know members later on okay well maybe we can do it in the next section if you don't get chance to raise it now about engagement okay so over to councillor davis thank you thanks for your presentations as well um i have a similar question to councillor sadek but i'll change that um a question then about empty space and dead spaces i know it was lightly mentioned in the london growth plan around high street specifically but yeah it'd be interesting to hear how we might be looking at a plan for that so both empty commercial space also potentially like suitable outdoor space that could contribute to the local economy and how we might think about bringing that into our local plan thanks and so now for us yep thank you and thank you for the presentations there's some really really good stuff in there um my question was around sort of success really so you know what will success look like and how it'll be measured i think you've got you know four four really great missions there you know you go into into detail about the priorities you've got the range of sort of key data alongside them i was just wondering how would you will you measure the success of those missions and you know what specific metrics will you use and what sort of indicators to sort of um demonstrate progress will be will be used um so first of all the question was about um making use of empty commercial space and outdoor areas and then what will success look like so who would like to take the first question i'm happy to make a start and others might probably come in as well um in terms of statistically at least and i haven't got the exact statistics in front of me but um in terms of um high streets in hackney particularly our key high streets um the vacancy rates are comparatively low to a lot of the other places that we looked at previously in terms of um vacant units and one of the things recently uh some of the commission members might be aware there's a new government legislation that's been announced which is around this high street auction uh and as part of that we have looked at vacancy rates across the borough to see if there are inherent fundamental issues in any town centers or high streets where there are high level of vacancies due to landlord inactivity or deliberately landlords or leaseholders kind of keeping property empties with the view to perhaps looking to change uh use etc and that wasn't evident from statistics however obviously there are um some vacancies and vacancies in high street happen for various reasons uh not necessarily because somebody is maliciously trying to uh achieve an ulterior motive um we have looked at that particular policy in terms of whether that would be something that uh hackney would want to pursue and um would benefit from um so we're continuing to review that um it's quite early days uh we're looking for further guidance from government in terms of kind of uh implementation of that and what might be the um kind of challenges around costs and legality responsibility uh responsibility etc um if in the future there are areas or a particular kind of location where there is a significant problem um then there is that legislation that we could potentially look into but at this stage so far um we haven't felt that there was a particularly strong need for that um in addition to that i think generally i think again statistics um uh we can share uh more specific details but my understanding is in terms of particularly around commercial um space in the borough uh vacancy rate turnover are relatively low partly because we have quite a relatively low level of industrial space in the borough um and there is a high demand for it so um it isn't something that we're seeing as a significant issue whether in terms of high street retail or in terms of industrial uh space short yeah yeah yeah sorry chair yeah i'll try and keep it short um cancer davis thank thanks for your question um in regards to open spaces and and i'm just going to kind of carry on from where matt and perhaps left off if that's okay in regards to kind of open spaces and using those for economic led activity um i i would just sort of really point back again to the market service who lead on outdoor trading and the licensing for trading and they run a very very thorough program that encourages street trading where it's appropriate for such activities to take place obviously um not all outdoor locations are appropriate for street trading for all sorts of different reasons that we need to go into now but very obvious environmental and safety reasons um and um i i'm sure you would agree that the borough street market's very very successful indeed and our destinations in their own right and increase um the volume of trade and turnover not just on the stalls themselves within the market but also all of those bricks and mortar based businesses that are in immediate proximity to a street market and there is a proven link between um the bricks and mortars businesses and their prosperity um and their trade um and which a very clear link to it being enhanced by the presence of the street market for example so your point about using outdoor spaces is very very very pertinent very valid indeed um in regards to um empty spaces the only thing i would add to what matt was talking about in one or two of the levers and the mechanisms that are coming forward in new legislation and just exploring all of that is the other role of the regeneration teams um operating within the town centers which is to be quite frank advocacy by word of mouth and being there and the council encouraging um those conversations and connecting people with people and that may be um a local business or a national business of some description who might want to move into or is looking for a premises and connecting them with a landlord for example um so the advocacy kind of role of of of connecting prospective tenants with a space um it is also features as part of the council's service now that is not in the economic development plan per se because that sits within the regeneration team but um those activities do go on and obviously complement the work of the economic development team thank you thank you and and over to the four missions each of the missions and what will success look like and how will will it be measured uh yes so in in developing uh the graphical development plan so far um we have um through commissioning prd who are the consultants that came in have developed quite a extensive uh evidence base uh in terms of um uh statistics around some of them that we shared with you today uh and the intention is as we move to the next stage of um developing or further developing and refining the implementation plan uh we will be um uh setting out clearly the key measures that we will be using going forward and the ones that we will be able to monitor uh going forward clearly at the heart of it all are some of the key highlights that we have presented in terms of some of the uh statistics around particularly kind of inclusion uh in terms of how the economic benefits is shared and spread across the borough and what in terms of looking at statistics around not just growth but employment uh economic activity um health of our town centers um so i think it's it's something we welcome your views on as well in terms of this commission in terms of um uh how we should propose to move forward in terms of developing a framework for measuring success in the next five years we've got a clear we're hoping to have a clear program of activity but beyond that as well um anybody else wants to add anything else based on the statistics we've shared um not not really much more to add apart from to say that yes exactly we'd welcome a kind of um input around kind of tracking what success looks like um as mattin mentioned there's this clear kind of kpis that are already being worked into the economic development plan so for instance around the percent uh percentage of residents that are earning above the london living wage um the percentage of residents claiming benefits who are in work trying to get that number down um and yeah we'd also be kind of happy to maybe 18 months or 12 months down the line come back to the scrutiny commission and kind of update you on the wider kind of statistics in hackney's economy as well um thank you um i'm going to quickly go over to council route and council august cannelly council route first thank you very much um i was just trying to compare our plan to the london growth plan a little bit to sort of work out how we sit in relation to london and to the city overall and i was a bit confused because in some places it feels a bit like we're measuring in different measurements so for instance the the london growth plan talks about how the last decade overall in london has seen a sort of stagnant period in productivity growth and i think it london grew by only 0.12 percent um and the target for the next decade is upping to two percent productivity growth um and we heard from you about big growth in businesses but also quite high death of businesses as well because we're dealing with very small businesses quite a lot of the time in hangney so i just wondered on that sort of two percent target whereabouts do we sit in that because um it feels a bit like it's hard for me to sort of see where we're sitting compared to to other boroughs and particularly boroughs i suppose i'm thinking about newham having been over there recently and they're all big companies that are now sort of moving into the stratford city you know and the big education organizations and arts organizations and what have you and we don't have those big names it feels to me like um we're relying on much smaller businesses for our productivity growth and and by their nature they are quite fragile um so that's just one sort of how do we sit into the bigger picture and on the same sort of subject um just thinking about the threat from ai um the london growth plan again says that um there are some types of business which particular have got exposure to the threat from ai and it mentions finance and insurance information and comms and also professional and technical services i just wonder how exposed are we to the threat from ai in the future i'll take council august cannelly thank you um two quick questions if i may first is um about the budget and the potential impact on our businesses given the profile of the businesses in the borough um i think there was a figure of 99 10 percent in smes um are you aware of any difficulties the small businesses um face as a result of the budget some of the provisions introducing the budget in particular national insurance rises for employers um appreciate it's a national issue but is there anything locally that can be done to assist those and the second question is um in relation to section 106 we're really pleased to hear that why their powers are used in relation to providing affordable workplace under the planning legislations given the government's very ambitious house building targets can you envisage any um opportunities of using either section 106 or cil by way of capitalizing more on that and utilizing those funds for wider purposes rather than simply providing affordable workspace thank you so first of all we had alignment with um london growth targets um and the threat of ai so we just take that first so council will leave the council parts of indicate they want to come in can you just tell me which which subject area ai okay okay so shall i come come to you councillor palace to talk about the the the target yeah thank you council about yeah so i was at the launch with deputy man nicholson um and um you know we have been involved in a lot of different sessions as part of the grove planet you know london councils and and the gla and london and partners all been involved so officers have had you know sight of kind of uh drafts that they were kind of you know emerging and we as i said we did a big you know uh uh submission around social businesses and around the social economy and it's so great to see that that is in the plan also financing for um social businesses um through cdfis um which are basically non-profit banks there's 150 million from the british business bank which can be available um uh and that and that's kind of working towards the government's you know um objective of doubling the co-op sector and getting finance out there yeah in terms of the productivity figures um you know since 2008 as i mentioned in opening remarks productivity has kind of fallen by two percent the target is to get that up it's also um you know to get um real term income uh up for the most deprived communities i think by 20 percent that that's what um the plan um outlines as a high street fund as inclusive um talent strategy which is about um re-skilling um and upskilling people um all of this absolutely overlays with everything that we are focused on um in our own um you know strategy we are are focused on um ensuring those high productivity sectors are getting support they need for you know maintaining the public realm in terms of what we're doing in in terms of planning in terms of the area action plans um and you know um if you look at silicon roundabout i would say it's very much thriving um and if you look at all those um uh businesses around um old street they are driving um you know um the economy and very much at the forefront of it and that's because we're you know so close to the city also we've got really innovative green businesses you know in in in the borough um and a lot of them are around green finance and they are once again um you know leading um the way um i think you know one of the key threads that comes out of the growth plan is about inclusive uh growth um and is about green growth and if you look at what we're proposing in terms of our really ambitious targets around supporting green businesses the circular economy zone that we're looking um to to launch we're really showing what is possible um in in creating uh you know a economy which is growing um but um is is looking to get towards those um net zero um targets so i would say you know looking at the figures hatley is you know leading the way in terms of one of the you know highest great growth growth rates in in um in london that continues to be the case um but we're going to do everything we can to ensure that it's felt um by all residents of the borough whether that's around skills whether that's around looking at alternative modes of ownership because we know that drives higher wages um and whether that's about our convening power and what we can do around procurement councillor williams the threat of ai i wasn't going to talk about the threat of ai i was going to talk about ai more broadly it's i don't think it's just a threat it also delivers real opportunities for um our residents for our business community as well as for for local government and we do need to to look at both of the opportunities as well as the threats the threats because we have to understand we have to carefully consider the implication for for data and privacy for example uh but we also have to look at the opportunities on how councils um can leverage ai um and for stakeholder engagement governance um and successfully use a lot of the ai tools they're already out there there's an abundance of them on the market we already know um that local authorities are up and down the country are turning to ai um we can learn from them we should be learning from them but also and very importantly job seekers are already using ai as well as in their job search in their interview preparation um and so we need to move very very quickly as an organization as a local government um to assist residents where they um need a little bit more guidance on which one of the ai tools um out there to use or uh the risks of using one over another um so i don't think that we should be afraid of ai i think we need to embrace it but also understand the challenges that they present thank you just looking to offices whether you had anything to add on those two subjects don't you don't feel you need to if you feel cabinet members have fully included yeah okay sorry emma and i just thought it was worth mentioning that hackney impact of the consortium that provide business support actually used ai to in sort of enhance um support businesses recently with their applications for grant funding and they felt that previously um certain demographics had not been as successful in grant applications because perhaps english isn't their first language so they supported local businesses with ai tools to support them with their grant applications which did result in quite a successful outcome thank you emma um and then over forgot for counter august cannelly's question on um difficulties for smes um any particular comments in relation to the budget and national insurance and also in terms of section 106 who would like to take those um i i i can speak to kind of the kind of wider british context um i do know that the british chamber almost did some research fairly recently i think in january and february of this year and i think they mentioned that 82 percent of british firms that were surveyed said that the nris will impact their business negatively um and most most businesses said the increase in in ni will impact recruitment and prices um most seriously um and i think 91 of the firms who took power smes um so they kind of replicate the general uh proportion of smes in in hackney um there hasn't been any hackney specific kind of research on on the niris or changes in the budget um but i suppose there's something we can continue to kind of take up with hackney impact as the kind of consortium that represents quite a lot of businesses in the borough um and yeah that's that's why i'll leave my moment and i unless mattin has anything else no just very briefly yeah i think um we have we haven't done any borough specific work as emmanuel has said but i think the general sentiment is uh nationally that both increasing national insurance and coupled with increasing um minimum wage um also reduction in um business rate of relief uh in terms of retail and hospitality business um um likely to have a challenging impact for businesses and particularly acne where we have a large number of small micro businesses um so i think the general expectation is that uh it will be um a challenging period from april for a lot of more businesses um in terms of kind of uh what we can do and kind of our role particularly around business support and your point around uh budget i think council nixon already uh obviously added at the beginning of the first question in terms of kind of um council's role and and the wider picture but a lot of the program that we we run or have been running ourselves in terms of grant programs in terms of business support have been externally funded rather than the council's core funding so in a sense the budget um and the current financial position of the council is in has less of a direct impact on the program so we currently fund acne impact through funding from central government through a program called uk spf shared prosperity fund we've also had section 106 money going towards um and also national uh business rates um uh program whereby we're setting up things like portable workspace grant and green energy grant um so in terms of the direct impact budget linked to business support um there is a less of a direct link um i think there was a question around uh section 106 and kind of um what can be done more than affordable workspace um obviously the section 106 is uh the primary purpose of section 106 is to mitigate the impact of uh development on a particular location or area so it's a case-by-case basis based on the nature of that development and what mitigation is required in terms of uh a range of um activities and and section 106 funding is secured on that basis um and then allocated a substantial part of that goes towards in terms of skills and employment support uh in terms of of creation uh training etc um and we are in discussion with planning colleagues as well in terms of uh particularly around business support and what might be the remit of section 106 and how can potentially if there's scope for that to be broadened within legislation in terms of wider business support uh obviously there is a process to go through in terms of local plan review over the next few years starting from next year thank you um counter palace did you briefly one yeah i just coming very briefly i just wanted to say you know i think on on ni um the difficulty we face is we had a government which left us with a massive bill you know a low skill low wage um economy and nhs at its you know at its feet um and what's so essential and as we see this in the growth plan is that we need more housing we need nhs um you know which is which is working which gets people back into work um and you know if you look at the hackney business survey and from what businesses are saying you know they want that high skilled labor force they want that workforce that's able you know to to work so um we've had to make uh you know those kind of decisions as a as a government ultimately to get our economy back on its feet to get productivity going and and you know getting the nhs back and running which this is going into ultimately it's the highest amount of uh money we've seen for public spending and since um 2000 and the 2000 spending review so i think it's just going to be taken in that wider context and i know that's you know businesses are looking for an nhs which is functioning they're looking for a government which has got proactive industrial strategy they're looking for a government which is going to build a new generation of housing and i just want to echo what mattin is just saying the last point about um section 106 we're definitely going to be looking at that in in the local plan review what we can do around um the spd on planning gain and and and a lot of it goes towards employment and skills at the moment a lot of what hackney works does um you know is is funded through that we've also got the hackney community fund which is funded through neighborhood sill um so there's a lot which is you know going to but i think we can always go further and it'd be great to get you know members input here about any ideas about that as well okay we are really over time but i want to get the last two questions questions questions and we will very much counter through engagement and i'll ask the questions i think just to keep that item very very tight so council pink pinkerton and then i will bring you in council smith if you want to ask the question otherwise i can ask it yeah i will okay so council that'd be great thank you jeff uh thank you all very much um i just wanted to ask about on the slide for mission four um the borough is kind of divided into three geographical areas um i just wanted to ask if you could say a bit more about what the plan sets out in terms of delivering an inclusive economy in what that uh division calls the kind of the north of the borough and so i think that would be a part of the borough uh containing some of the wards with um maybe the lowest levels of economic activity and also some areas uh of the borough uh that border on you know where economic economic activity kind of crosses into neighboring boroughs i know you've already talked about um the city fringe in the south and the air the areas boring on the olympic park um but is there any more detail you could set out about um those other areas in the kind of north or west of the borough where economic activity would uh cross into those neighboring um boroughs thank you um i'd also add uh to the yeah to the north or west where you've got the neighboring borough with islington sorry i missed that um the cancer space yeah thank you chair and thank you everyone for um i mean it's quite an amazing amount of information that you've actually sort of relayed today i mean it's it's just it's extremely positive um and you know now we just want to see action on all this stuff because it's really quite innovative and castle palace you know fantastic work you're doing there castle williams too um and uh councillor nicholson okay i'm gonna be really cry me very quick with these questions so previous work by s uh by seg in 2018 about um the community engagement um uh basically businesses highlighted that many ethnic community business owners cited they were unaware of the council's work on business support um has the take-up of business support by this cohort of business owners improved as far as you know and is the council more aware of their business needs as a result of that um like accessible financing and culturally appropriate business mentoring for example and if yes how are these addressed in the uh economic development plan um the future of hackney impact is it going to continue the other question and i'd just like to sort of raise um an issue here about um kind of more deliberative growth um like for example care skills recognition i mean do we have qualification pathways and skills recognition for community care workers many of whom are from immigrant communities with invaluable experience but without um formal credentials so i'll just i'll just leave it there um but i think there's so many great ideas here that um i mean i could wrap on about this all night frankly but it's it's really good work and thank you very much everyone for it thank you thank you council smith so we have a question about ge geographical areas and also working on um for about right across the diverse kind of high street we have thank you chair um yes so in the economic development plan as we've um as you've seen in the in the presentation um there are broadly three distinct uh kind of parts of the borough in terms of uh types of neighborhoods businesses um and in in in hackney we have got five uh identified five priority regeneration areas um which are um uh dawson hackney central hackney wicks shorwich and hoxton uh which are the areas where there is the biggest opportunity for growth and development but also uh regeneration uh and therefore also opportunities for the council to um influence and direct and and kind of uh secure those benefits for the local communities and hence given our uh resources um uh primarily those are the five areas where the bulk of the work uh in terms of regeneration growth is is concentrated having said that there is a clear recognition there are the uh smaller town centers and high streets where there is also need for intervention um and particularly going forward um uh there is some additional resources being allocated within our team uh as was referenced by council nicholson earlier as well which will provide us with a little bit more capacity and resource to be able to also um do some more work in some of those areas so namely uh we're currently engaged in finsbury park with the neighboring boroughs around finsbury park accord um so that work uh we're looking to progress and develop further um obviously we've got woodbury down uh which is in the north of the borough and that sits on the borders of uh hiring gate so there's there's lots of opportunities for crossbar working and from a place making perspective and in terms of infrastructure development uh stanford hill also is another area where there is an area action plan um and we're also working with number of stakeholders there particularly around things like um uh key or core shopping facilities etc which are um currently of a concern to local residents in terms of uh supermarkets closing down etc so we're engaging in that process and trying to support um both residents but also working with landowners and and major employers uh and and and similarly um some work around um stoke newington although that's probably the more of a central uh part of the borough um so this so there are those type of activities and we're obviously intending to um as i said allocate some additional resources going forward emma emma emma um just noting that your question was about the north of the borough and just suppose worth also highlighting that how new works does have an office in uh woodbury down area um we do a lot of work with barclay homes in terms of making sure that residents are connected to those job opportunities in that part of the borough and then and then we have the question about um working working with um global majority businesses where it was previously identified that they didn't feel much connection how has this developed over the last few years and what does this look like in the context of the economic development plan um yeah i think one of the as part of the the next phase of developing the plan our intention is to undertake a quite an extensive as you will hear hopefully soon in terms of kind of engagement program and consultation program uh with a whole range of stakeholders and in particular kind of identifying uh global majority um groups and i think monetary groups in terms of that process to develop that program um and particularly working with some of the key stakeholders in that community but if you want to add anything comes to palace yeah i just want to say i mean i think it'd be really good if we can get the stats from um at the impact and share it with the commission as well because i think in in terms of that you know we're seeing a high proportion of you know women we're seeing a high proportion of ethnic minorities engaged um global majority um it's it's classified ethnic minority on on on on the report so but global majority um i think the other thing that um we really want to do in terms of the engagement which we can pick up in a in a in a moment um if we have any time but it's about you know how do we engage um with communities like the haredi community um there's a great um organization called gold star and which works with parade women getting them into to work um to work um and you know i'm actually touching on councillor pinkerton's you know question as well you know that's one of the um key areas we're also looking at so i would i would say um you know in terms of historic figures on business support i think that's something that officers can maybe get to um the commission um it's before i was you know uh uh in in this role in particular but it'd be interesting to see where we can do a bit benchmarking on on previous feedback um but in terms of hackney impact as it stands we can get those figures to you but it very much looks you know like borough um and there's a whole range of different you know businesses uh engaging um in uh with hackney impact social enterprises and co-ops um and and and in in between as as as well so i think that's really important but i think it's also really important that we um make sure global majority voices are part of um the engagement process as as we go out and we've got that acted into um into the engagement uh plan if there's any particular organizations um any particular businesses um you think we should be engaging with um then please do do let us know if that's on the ward level you know happy level um that'd be really useful um as we kind of shape the engagement plan but also go beyond thank you counselor palace um if you don't mind council smith um in terms of the second part of your question can we request a written answer because we've got a nice segue now to to the engagement um thank you and um i don't know if you mind a quick canter through that presentation i apologize that we've got the short end and then i'll ask a couple of questions thank you thank you so part two um engagement activities um the objectives of the engagement activities will be to collect feedback on the draft plan the economic priorities the challenges the opportunities and build a consensus on the priorities of the plan going forward from key stakeholders this will also include identifying solutions to any identified barriers to meeting the priorities of the plan and to raise awareness of the plan the next step is to carry out an equality impact assessment to identify the key stakeholders we will work with um sorry we will work with key teams and strategic groups in the council to identify the best ways to engage key target groups including black and global majority groups and the harada community suggestions so far have included working with organizations known to the council like interlink who will work with a radio community in terms of engagement methods um we recently met with the resident insight team um and they've informed us that there's already quite a wealth of information which will be relevant to this um in terms of the resident survey which they've done um so we will make sure that we uh review that information which is already available as part of the next steps um we will also uh prepare a summary document working in conjunction with comms team so that we can engage with stakeholders effectively um we will develop a web-based uh survey um as well as carrying out one-to-one and group discussions with key stakeholders in terms of business engagement specifically we will make use of existing networks and forums for example for example the hackney business network stoke newington business association pubwatch eastern trades guild we'll work with organizations like hackney impact consortium who are currently working with local businesses on the uk spf funded program um as we've already touched on they're already working with quite a diverse group of businesses and entrepreneurs we will also explore opportunities for an event so this slide sets out the uh planned engagement activities and time frames uh the main engagement activities we anticipate taking place in april and may and then once those um once the engagement tools have been finalized and then the analysis we will take place in june so this slide just sets up the next steps and time frames so following the engagement activities um schedules to take place the final plan will be reviewed um and and we will take the final plan to uh cabinet alongside the circular economy strategy and we're scheduled to go to cabinet on the 21st of july and so thank you everybody um i hope this has been helpful that has been helpful and that was a very great counter really really appreciate that um so i suppose the main so couple of questions you have explained you know the wide variety of methods you're kind of using to engage with businesses i think we're particularly keen on how you are engaging with hackney sole um traders i mean it was identified in a previous update but it was hard to capture that kind of data so it'd be good to know whether you found a way of engaging with sole um traders and kind of small businesses um and you have talked about the you know the whole range of engagement but how will you ensure that you know you are the sample that you're talking to our representative of hackney so if you could answer i hope that summarizes what you want to ask commission um if you'd like to answer those questions please sure thank you very much um so in terms of uh small businesses micro businesses sole traders obviously um um as emma sets out of one of the e-channels we're going to be using is um uh local business representative groups um um in terms of pub watches and uh traders associations but also particularly happy in fact we've obviously got a network of uh local businesses um so that's one of the the channels we will also be um doing a web-based engagement in general which is for wider population and also obviously another uh channel on the route for engaging with smaller businesses um and then again also i think in terms of within the economy development and regeneration team we have links particularly for the area-based uh programs in terms of uh local um areas particularly like doorstone and central in terms of uh kind of links local level so we will be uh there's going to be a fair bit of legwork involved here as well in terms of kind of how we uh reach out to um to those business communities and obviously small businesses in the bar varies from uh small high street shops to uh kind of a single business entrepreneur in a kind of workspace uh operating in particularly creative sectors um so again we'll be looking to work with some of the kind of workspace providers um as a kind of another route to being able to get access to the tenants um so i think it's a combination of range of those ideas at the moment it's still in development and we're seeking obviously um ideas and suggestions and insights from members of the commission today as well um and uh yeah we're you know happy to take on any uh suggestions thank you um very much well i'd just like to thank um you all for attending today it's been very insightful um really appreciate the input from cabinet members and just one final question before before you go in the london growth plan it refers to the in inclusive economy strategy that is pre-covered so i just suppose a question would be for us is just to understand is that going to be replaced completely is that now part of the proposed economic development plan just for us to help to put that in into context yes i think there is a there is a recognition that the inclusive economy strategy uh developed five years ago a lot has changed um my understanding is that we're not looking to explicitly say this economic development plan is a replacement for this inclusive economy strategy and that's part of the reason why it's called a plan rather than a another strategy so i think some of the key principles of the inclusive economy strategy remains this is a further iteration and update um of the directional problem and more like work plan to to realizing the aspirations and visions that were set out in that strategy okay thank you very much i'm just going to look to cabinet members if you did want to say a very brief comment or do you feel that you've you've expressed in in general so you can reference to that okay okay well i'd like to thank you all for attending we are going to continue with our meeting but if you would like to leave we obviously look and forward to the publication of you know the draft and plan and plan the next iteration good thank you chair okay committee swiftly moving on with our agenda agenda sorry just flicking pages um there we go so minutes of the previous meeting um so we've got the minutes from the january meeting in in the agenda pack um pages 59 to 88 are items on the libraries and voluntary sector um can we agree those minutes that's great great great great thank you karen and solicitor moving on to item six um our work pro program we have got one one more meeting for this municipal year we've um met with councillor young and um kyla leading on this work so we have scoped it out and it looks to be a promising session um i also want to ask the committee members to perhaps think about the program for the next municipal year um it's good to start scoping out certainly the june and july meetings um now so one of my suggestions would be in the corporate peer review it was recognized that hackney um it was advised that hackney um accelerate it's at work work around our corporate estate our assets particularly in line with the challenges we're currently facing so i would like to suggest that one of those meetings that we look at that and invite the corporate um asset team i don't know what whether members have got any thoughts on that at all um first yep uh yeah thank you chair that makes me think of customer service and i don't know if it's appropriate for us to be talking about customer service in this meeting um i mean the customer service offered by the council is what i mean um but yeah it makes me think of that and how that maybe could be incorporated into something like that you just mentioned and i don't think um customer service is part is part is part of our brief but it's probably scrutiny panel okay but in a relation to there is an item i wanted to point out to you because you were very keen to look at at our fleet um transport fleet and uh since uh talking to council young and tyler we we um found out that that's under corporate assets so my suggestion would be that that comes in a session in june or july when we look at our corporate assets okay yep anybody else got any other comments on the work program either the end of this municipal year or the start of next but can i please ask the commission to start to think about that um you know in terms of our strategic plan and any areas that you would like us to cover um okay over to item seven any other business that haven't had any so i'd like to formally declare the meeting closed thank you thank you chair have a good evening everyone good night bye gilder