The Economy Scrutiny Committee of Manchester City Council met on Tuesday, 2 June 2026. The meeting focused on introducing new members to the quarterly Economy Dashboard and reviewing the committee's work programme.

Economy Dashboard

The committee received an introduction to the Quarterly Economy Dashboard, a comprehensive report detailing 39 metrics used to track Manchester's economic performance and progress towards the city's economic strategy. Councillor Hussayn Salem, Chair of the Economy Scrutiny Committee, highlighted the dashboard's importance in understanding how economic growth translates into tangible benefits for residents.

During the discussion, officers from the council's performance, research, and intelligence team explained the dashboard's structure and the sources of its data. They acknowledged that some data has a time lag and that granular, local-level detail can be challenging to obtain. Councillors raised questions about the reliability of the data, particularly concerning employment figures and the impact of changes in data collection methodologies by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The committee was assured that efforts are made to be transparent about data limitations and to use multiple data sources where possible.

Several councillors highlighted specific areas of interest:

• Councillor Ghan inquired about the reliability of data, especially the significant swing in employment rates.
• Councillor Flanagan raised concerns about the accuracy of footfall measurements in city and district centres, suggesting the need for clearer mapping of monitoring points and consideration of different measurement models for various centres. He also questioned the apparent decrease in cycling figures, suggesting weather conditions might be a factor.
• Councillor Sangeray requested a deeper dive into the race and gender gaps in employment and information on support for needy young people ¹.

Officers committed to providing further detail on these points in future reports and discussions, including exploring the breakdown of data by ward and deprivation levels. They also noted that the ONS is developing a Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) to address data reliability issues.

Overview Report and Work Programme

The committee also reviewed the Overview Report, which detailed key decisions within the committee's remit and an update on actions from previous recommendations. As there were no outstanding recommendations, the committee discussed its work programme for the upcoming year. This included a work programming session where members discussed upcoming issues and priorities with executive members and officers. The committee noted that Councillor Johns had completed his tenure as Chair and a new Chair would be appointed.