Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the item and highlighted:

a)    The third pillar of the Economic Strategy focused on inclusive growth, aiming to ensure that economic development benefitted all residents focusing on systemic change and long-term commitment;

b)    46.2% of women in Plymouth earned below the real living wage (£466 per week), and it needed to be tackled through inclusive growth;

c)    13,600 people were economically inactive due to long-term sickness as of December 2024;

d)    46,000 residents lived in areas ranked in the bottom 10% nationally for deprivation;

e)    The importance of tackling the barriers for people getting into work;

f)     The strategy set ambitious targets: lifting 3,000 people out of poverty and helping 5,000 economically inactive people into work;

g)    Four themes were identified: good business models, accessible local jobs, community sector empowerment, and employment pathways;

h)    The inclusion of Inclusive Growth within the Economic Strategy was unusual compared to other places across the country.

Lindsay Hall (Real Ideas Organisation) added:

i)     Emphasised the national significance of Plymouth’s inclusive growth strategy;

j)     A new reporting system had been developed to measure the projects progress against the work of the five pillars of the economic strategy;

k)    The importance of social value procurement, and the appetite to do more in this area from different organisations in Plymouth such as Babcock through the Plymouth Charter;

l)     Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was a choice for businesses and was different from legally mandated social value, but it was important to connect them.

Claire Taylor (Plymouth Marjon University) added:

m)  Social mobility was to enable those within Plymouth communities from lower socio-economic backgrounds to secure the net level of high-quality education and employment opportunities relevant to them;

n)    The importance of removing barriers to engagement, particularly for those who identified with protected characteristics.

Councillor Penberthy added at this stage:

o)    A project called Building Bridges to Opportunity was a citywide system approach to tackle poverty in Plymouth and would link in with the work on this pillar.

Supported by Anna Peachey (Manager for Economy, Regeneration and Partnerships) and David Draffan (Service Director for Economic Development), in response to questions, the following was discussed:

p)    The idea of a four-day working week to support gender equality and mental health;

q)    Work with women to identify the barriers they face day-to-day;

r)    Engaging trade unions to tackle employment practices such as zero-hour contracts and fire-and-rehire policies and working with employers to promote better practices and how it can work better;

s)     Some impact was already tracked, but a dashboard and spreadsheet were being developed to track progress;

t)     Some change was long-term and would take time to show in metrics;

u)    It was important to understand the lived experiences of women in the city and reflect this in the work of this pillar of the economic strategy;

v)    Local data was being used to avoid assumptions based on national trends;

w)   More data in the future was needed at both meetings, and in communications, to ensure the work was evidence based, but also to show marked improvements;

x)    Pathways to employment and the government’s new target for Level 4 qualifications;

y)    The importance of variety of progression pathways and removing barriers to engagement;

z)    What made this strategy different from previous was strategic, systemic buy-in and the opportunity to leverage social value;

aa)  Statistics showed persistent inequality rather than worsening conditions;

bb) The importance of holding partners accountable for inclusive growth outcomes.

The Panel agreed to note the report and the continued focus on inclusive growth as a key element of the Plymouth Economic Strategy.