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2 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP-LEFT TO BOTTOM-RIGHT: Simon Warburton (Interim Transport Strategy Director, Transport for Greater Manchester), John Robb (Writer, Journalist and Musician), Warren Heppolette (Strategic Director for Health and Social Care Reform, Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership).
NO LOOSE ENDS Some unexpected characters came up at our recent event at the People s History Museum in Manchester: from Morrissey to Roberto Unger, Benjamin Barber to Jason Bourne and George Osborne to the Beatles. And some thought-provoking philosophical questions. What if we treat the money we spend on education and welfare as investments not costs? What if we ask people about what they can do, as well as what they need? Should school trips from London to Manchester be compulsory? And of course there were also lots of practical ideas and encouraging examples of different sectors working together seeing collaboration as a duty, and understanding that each is a part of the other s solution. Examples like transport and health teams working together to promote and support active travel like walking and cycling. And making health and wellbeing a fourth life-skill in education and training. It became clear that what will be needed to make devolution deliver on its promise in Manchester and elsewhere is to weave together every one of these threads. And those threads include art and culture. There was real emphasis on creating a sense of a place, a sense of belonging and a sense of identity. This will underpin the success of devolution: civic pride as Manchester has in spades will encourage people to participate and contribute. Our speakers acknowledged we re living in complicated times. There s a new government to get to know. Largely the view on the impact of Brexit was positive although it brings unknowns and challenges it gives a chance to rethink and regroup. If you were there, thank you for coming along. If not, we hope this gives you a flavour of the day. It was encouraging to feel the genuine enthusiasm for the innovation that will come and confidence in what devolution will achieve. CHRIS GREEN PUBLIC SECTOR TRANSFORMATION EXPERT 3
4 RADICALS ASSEMBLE RT HON HAZEL BLEARS FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT What Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow. So said Benjamin Disraeli, recognising the city s pioneering spirit. And our opening speakers were inspired by the evocative surroundings of the People s History Museum, warming to the theme of doing things differently, doing things better, doing brand new things. But most importantly doing them together. Traditional services aren t going to work innovation will be critical. The Rt Hon Hazel Blears, former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government welcomed everyone to the event. She talked about the double imperative behind devolution: there s less money available at the same time as demand for public services is increasing. We ll need to find new ways of working: not just to keep the show on the road, but to make it even better. Devolution allows for intelligent design in a way that central government can t. TONY LLOYD INTERIM MAYOR OF GREATER MANCHESTER Tony suggested that, while devolution is well-entrenched, two issues could be problems in the near future: a lack of resourcing following the Brexit vote and a new national government that s an unknown quantity. Tony s strongest message was that it s crucial to get people to believe they re part of something. To see that their vote translates into action. We built this city on rock and roll JOHN ROBB WRITER, JOURNALIST AND MUSICIAN John gave a whistle-stop tour of the history of Manchester s identity from his unique vantage point as a long-term resident and a punk rocker. Around the world Manchester is synonymous with football, but music comes a close second and the lyrics of 80s rock band Starship ring true. He was clear that Manchester has always punched above its weight, looking London squarely in the eye. And he s a fan of devolution as it fits well with the city s radical and self-reliant attitude.
5 ON THE SOAPBOX Trying to plan local services for Manchester from London is like trying to land a jumbo jet in a bike rack. WARREN HEPPOLETTE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE REFORM, GREATER MANCHESTER HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PARTNERSHIP Warren described the need to connect the population to the benefits of economic growth. To do that you need to identify the barriers and work to overcome them and the case for doing that locally is compelling. And for too long the NHS has been thought of as an island. People s health depends on things like access to work, level of income, social connectedness, and quality and stability of housing provision. Innovation is key: people are going to come from around the world to see how we ve made this work in the years to come. Devolution isn t just about funding, it s a movement. JOHN THORNHILL CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE LTE GROUP For John, devolution is about growth and success for the many, rather than the few and he sees education and skills as a golden thread running between other public services. He contrasted thriving features of Manchester (airport expansion, new homes and arts venues) with poor life expectancy for older residents and low earnings for people living and working in the city. Collaboration can fix this. For example, GPs could prescribe work as a remedy for long-term health problems if adult education and training were available. Successful cities need an abundance of arts opportunities. MARY CLOAKE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, BLUECOAT CENTRE FOR THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS, LIVERPOOL Mary talked about how artists can shape the meaning and significance of the identity of places. There s evidence that prosperous places have a combination of hard and soft factors so culture has an important role. Civic issues arts organisations could take on through devolution, as identified by a Gulbenkian Foundation Inquiry include: creative education, closing inequality, the feeling of belonging and access to public space. And the conditions needed include: key decision makers understand the benefits, a commitment to partnerships, and positive and robust relationships with national and international bodies like the Arts Council and the British Council.
6 We want to be judged by how far we support sustainable growth, a truly low emission future and improved quality of life. And to make sure we re innovating throughout. SIMON WARBURTON INTERIM TRANSPORT STRATEGY DIRECTOR, TRANSPORT FOR GREATER MANCHESTER For Simon, transport is a great enabler. With devolution we can take local knowledge and understanding to establish the right conditions for growth. He talked about the long-term strategy for Manchester and the North. They re planning for people, not modes of transport. They re planning for places as people experience them not according to municipal boundaries. And they re planning for global travel, not just local and national. There are four priorities: bus services, roads, railway stations and long-term funding. Everything needs to work whether you re a resident, a business or a visitor. And that needs investment in innovation, capacity and resilience. We need to make devolution more virtuous. Neil believes the Treasury have made the terms of devolution too narrow. And while they focus on one school of economic thought, he suggested cities like Manchester take a mix-and-match approach whatever works. And this includes thinking about social inputs. NEIL MCINROY CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CENTRE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC STRATEGIES He thinks we need stretch devo: hard and soft infrastructure. So not just skills and transport, but education, social welfare and the arts. And we need fiscal devolution. Neil hopes Brexit could prove an opportunity to make a deeper effort to rebalance our economy and bring re-industrialisation.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE CLLR SUE MURPHY DEPUTY LEADER OF MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL Cllr Sue Murphy, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council pulled together the main thoughts from the panellists and talked about what she and her colleagues are doing to help make devolution work. She suggested the more powers you have the more powers you need. And she cited US political theorist Benjamin Barber who asserted that mayors should rule the world, because they re grounded in reality and have a direct impact on people s lives. She explained that Manchester s next steps in devolution will be asset-based. That involves looking for the value in everything including people. As part of the council s Our Manchester programme, councillors and council staff knocked on 1,000 doors interviewing people living in one of the poorest wards. They wanted to find out what it was like to live there and what people could do, rather than deciding what they need from a distance. The plan is to shape the place from the bottom up based on the voices of the people who live there. 7
8 EXPLORING THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES RT HON HAZEL BLEARS FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT We opened the debate to the floor. Hazel Blears took the questions, gave her thoughts and got our panellists to share their views. In doing it, she emphasised the connections between sectors so, where a question was about health for example, she made sure we heard from our transport expert too. Liverpool and Manchester city councillors, representatives from Healthwatch and the WEA, among others, raised some interesting issues. Four questions stood out: How do you make sure you re not just solving yesterday s problems? People s lifestyles are changing: younger people don t own TVs or cars and we all do more and more online. Everyone agreed that planning for 30 or 40 years ahead is essential and you need to involve the people who will be growing into policies in shaping the thinking. They suggested you should always challenge historical precedent, question assumptions take a lesson from punk rock. Transport expert Simon Warburton explained that more and more of Manchester s workforce live within the M60 that s why their long-term focus is on buses and active travel like cycling. John Thornhill described his skills-focused organisation s new plans for investing in online learning tools and work-place learning, rather than infrastructure like buildings and the transport to line up with them. Will devolution bring more opportunities for new market platforms? Working with private companies will become more important but they need to be the right ones. Businesses could be encouraged to change their articles of association to enshrine a responsibility to provide public service, not just make a profit to become B-Corps.
For health specialist Warren Heppolette the short answer was Yes more and more of the ideas and implementation will come from the social enterprise sector. Economist Neil McInroy wants devolution to herald this new way of thinking we should be fuzzying the boundaries between public and private. Cooperatives are important. And it s time for radical social innovation a route for devolution is to get on and try things and learn. It s time for snowcialism building things incrementally like a snowball. How can devolution help close the gap between people s health in the North and the South? Due North report demonstrated a significant disparity between health outcomes between the North and the South. There are many traditions in health that need a rethink around the training nurses and social care workers need, for example. And given that our health and wellbeing depends on so many factors, the NHS can t be responsible for everything. Simon Warburton explained that over the last few years his people have been working with people in public health to promote active 9 travel, like walking and cycling. At a local level, it s very easy to do. Training expert John Thornhill described his organisation s focus on careers, not courses, and that as part of that health and wellbeing are on the agenda all the way through they re seen as a fourth life skill. Given that civic pride is so important for the success of devolution, do we need crowdfunding for statues? Art and culture play a significant role in creating a sense of identity. Panellists commented on how refreshing it was to link the nuts and bolts of devolution to identity through art and culture. Arts expert Mary Cloake thought it would be wonderful to have a public art commissioning programme and not just for statues. With the digital world, the nature of art and who owns it has changed. Not surprisingly, John Robb suggested you don t need to tell people to make art to celebrate their culture. But you do need space for people to be creative in. People also asked where decisions should be taken in individual cities or the North more widely, how to support people leaving prison and how to rebalance adult education funding so people in the middle don t get forgotten. In every case Hazel Blears pulled the threads together and highlighted the practical suggestions panellists made and their optimism for the future.
10 PA S POINT OF VIEW To close, our Public Sector Transformation Expert, Chris Green, talked about his early childhood growing up in Manchester, his hopes for the city s future and the future of devolution. He summed up the strongest messages from the day. That a sense of place and cultural identity are essential for devolution to work. That we need to start weaving together the threads highlighted by our speakers and our audience, from health to transport, from skills to the arts. That everyone, all of us, are responsible. And that we mustn t miss the opportunity devolution brings to bring a sense of belonging, to innovate and to give power to the people.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP-LEFT TO BOTTOM-RIGHT: People's History Museum, Neil McInroy (Chief Executive, Centre for Local Economic Strategies), event panellists. 11
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