Agenda item

Question Time with the Cabinet Member for Economy & Jobs, Councillor Manju Shahul-Hameed.

The Cabinet Member for Economy and Jobs, Councillor Manju Shahul-Hameed was in attendance at the meeting to provide an update for the Committee on her Portfolio. During the introductory presentation given by Councillor Shahul-Hameed the following points were noted:-

·         Strengths within the Portfolio included a 5.46% rise in the number of businesses in the borough since 2015 with a current total of 14,675 businesses.

·         There was an enthusiastic business support network within the borough, who had organised the Croydon Means Business campaign.

·         There was an Economic Summit held in Box Park 2018, with a second summit due to be held in the Fairfield Halls later this year.

·         The borough had been hailed as a centre for enterprise and innovation by the Deputy Mayor for Business.

·         The Croydon Digital Public Sector Contract event had been arranged to help businesses sell to the public sector.

·         There had been the Croydon Works Health & Social Care recruitment event, which was attended by over 100 residents and resulted in employment for some of the attendees.

·         Potential weaknesses included the weekly pay rates rising in Croydon at a slower rate than the rest of London. 

·         Some of the large scale developments planned for the borough were taking longer to progress than originally anticipated due to the continuing uncertainty over Brexit.

·         Potential opportunities included the Creative Campus, which was being developed through a partnership between Croydon Council and Southbank University. This would help local children to access further education within the borough.

·         The development of the Metropolitan Centre would lead to improved business opportunities.

·         The Gatwick Expansion and the Brighton Mainline development would improve the rail links within the borough.

·         Potential threats included the changing structure of retail and the continuing uncertainty over Brexit.

Following the presentation, the Committee were given the opportunity to question the Cabinet Member on her Portfolio. The first question related to the current position of both the Westfield redevelopment and the various housing developments being delivered by Brick by Brick. It was confirmed that the new owners of Westfield, Unibail-Rodamco, had given a strong commitment to Croydon when they had met with the Leader and other Council representatives. The Mayor of London had also met with representatives from Westfield to push for the start of the development. Recently it had been confirmed that the redevelopment would begin in 2020. In the meantime, the Cabinet Member was working closely with the Croydon Bid on a number of projects to retain the vitality of the town centre, including the Christmas Market.

As reassurance was given to the Committee that the Westfield project was still progressing, it was suggested that further consideration needed to be given to increasing communication about the project to provide reassurance to the wider public.

Brick by Brick continued to develop a variety of housing projects, a number of which would complete this year. There was also a need to work with local landowners to provide new employment land within the borough. To encourage this, the possibility of including a policy on affordable workspaces within the new Local Plan was being investigated.

431 people had been supported on the Better Working Futures programme, to date 72 had entered and been sustained in work. It was advised that the initiative was funded by money given by the Department of Work and Pensions to the Council to work with people unemployed for more than two years and those with complex heath conditions and disabilities. People were coming forward to participate in the scheme, but it could be a lengthy process to help people who had been long term unemployed and had complex health and disability issues back into work.

As a follow up, it was questioned whether the long term progress of those who had completed the scheme and been helped into work was monitored. It was confirmed that this information was tracked and to date 60% of the participants who had found employment continued to be employed after six months.

In light of the lack of growth in wages in the borough, compared to the rest of London and the activities of the Mayor of London seemingly focused on the central London business area, it was questioned whether there was a strategy to grow the town centre and attract and retain bigger employers. In response it was highlighted that 99.7% of the businesses in the borough were small or medium sized enterprises (SME’s) employing less than 250 employees. The Council did have a scheme that encouraged larger businesses to work with small businesses to provide support. The Council also promoted the Good Employer Charter.

The changes made to planning policy by the Conservative Government allowing the redevelopment of office space to provide residential units had impacted upon the availability of employment space in the borough.  As mentioned above, there was an aspiration through the Local Plan to bring back affordable employment space. Recently there had been four delegations from China to the borough which demonstrated that the Council was actively promoting Croydon on an international level.

Croydon’s membership of the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership would be coming to an end, but the Council would continue to be a member of the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP) and was working with local businesses to gain representation on its Board.

The Committee agreed that it would be useful to invite the Cabinet Member for Economy and Jobs to a meeting in 2019-20 to focus specifically on the Economic Strategy for the borough, as Members remained unconvinced that there was enough of a focus on the wider strategy for the borough.

In response to a request for further details on the 39 children with special educational needs (SEN) who had been helped into either further education, work or placement through working with the Transitions Officer, it was agreed that this information would be provided after the meeting.

It was questioned whether there was a specific senior officer within the Council who had the specialist skills needed to address the needs of the Disabled Workforce. It was confirmed that such an officer was employed within the Gateway directorate and the role also included a focus on the homeless workforce.

As a follow up, it was questioned whether there was any sign of success in helping employers to make reasonable adjustments for the disabled workforce. It was confirmed that one of the principles of the Good Employer Charter was equalities and diversity. Feedback from businesses had indicated that they had a lack of resources to support people with disabilities or the homeless. As a result the Champions Scheme for businesses had been introduced to encourage larger business to work with smaller businesses on specific areas such as equalities and diversity, 

In response to a question about the support provided by the Council for SME’s it was confirmed that monthly surgeries were organised for small businesses along with 200 other local business events. The Council continued to promote its Business Rate Relief Fund, which had awarded almost £1m to create new or safeguard existing jobs. There was also the Croydon Enterprise Fund scheme promoted by the Council that had provided almost £400,000 of loans to local businesses.

In response to a question about how success was measured within the Portfolio, it was advised that the number of businesses supported and as a result the number of jobs protected and sustained could be taken as a sign of success. It was highlighted that as part of the Business Rate Relief Fund application process, companies had to confirm their employee numbers and how many jobs would be protected through a successful application.

It was agreed that data on the performance of the TMRW Hub, including its occupancy rates would be provided to the Committee after the meeting.

As the report highlighted that there were a number of planning conditions focussed towards improving the local economy, it was questioned whether the delivery of these conditions was monitored. It was confirmed that Officers do monitor the conditions to ensure developers remained on track to deliver on their commitments.

It was confirmed that the tender process for contracts awarded by the Council valued between £10,000 and £100,000 was being refreshed, with a report due to be considered by the Cabinet in the near future.  This would include a requirement for at least three tender submissions to be sought including two local bids.

As it was previously noted that four delegations from China had visited the borough, it was questioned whether other countries had also been targeted. It was confirmed that there had also been interest from India, with the Council open to interest from other countries. 

It was agreed that further information would be provided to the Committee on the applications made to the High Street Fund following the meeting.

Concern was raised about the possible impact from parking charges on businesses with the borough centres. In response it was highlighted that at a recent High Street Conference only one attendee had raised parking as an issue and recently one hour free parking had been introduced in car parks in the borough centres. Additionally Save the High Street had recently carried out a survey which had shown that parking was not one of the top ten issues for high street businesses. Information on the attendees of the High Street Conference was requested.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member on behalf of the Committee for her attendance at the meeting.

Information Requests: Following the discussion of this item the Committee requested the following information to be provided after the meeting:-

1.    Further information on the businesses that attended the High Street Conference event.

2.    Further information on the award of the High Street Fund.

3.    Performance information, including occupancy rates of the TMRW Hub.

4.    A further breakdown of the 39 Special Educational Needs Children to confirm the numbers helped into further education, employment or work placements through working with the Transitions Officer.

Conclusions: Following the discussion of this item, the Committee reached the following conclusions:-

1.    The wide range of events and activities being organised within the Economy & Jobs Portfolio was to be welcomed.

2.    There was significant concern that despite a wide range of events and activities being organised, there seemed to be little data to allow an assessment to be made on whether the outcomes from this work was having a positive impact on the wider economy within the borough.

3.    The Committee was concerned about the decline of Croydon as a major centre of employment compared to other parts of London and the South East over the last 20 years, and remained unconvinced that there was a wider strategy to reverse this decline.

4.    The Committee agreed to add to its work programme for 2019/20 an item to focus specifically on the higher level, strategic themes relating to the creation of employment opportunities, the attractiveness of Croydon as a place for businesses to locate to, and the promotion of the economy in Croydon.

Recommendation: The Scrutiny and Overview Committee agreed to recommend that the Cabinet Member for Economy and Jobs be invited to a meeting of the Committee in 2019/20 to discuss the strategic approach to job creation, business attraction, and the promotion of the economy in the borough as a place to do business in.