Greater Manchester Devolution

28 July 2015

Greater Manchester is “Officially the most exciting

place in the UK”

The Guardian, February 2015

What is Greater Manchester? • Ten local authority areas• Nearly 3 million residents• Growing population – up 6.5% over the last ten

years• Almost 1.2 million households

What is Greater Manchester? • Generates £56 billion GVA annually – more than

double that of Merseyside• 1.4 million working people • Nearly 100,000 businesses • Tourist economy worth £7 billion every year • 1 million international leisure visitors annually• 5 million business visitors annually

What is Greater Manchester? • Includes three of the top ten most deprived areas

in England and Wales• Life expectancy is below the national average (-

1.6 years for women and -1.7 years for men)• One quarter of children in Greater Manchester

live in poverty• 8.1% of the population is unemployed compared

to national average of 6.5%• One quarter of adults have no formal

qualifications

Successes for Oldham• Superfast fibre broadband will benefit 99.6% of all

premises in Oldham by 2017 • Regional Growth Fund – over £10 million secured by

Oldham businesses and 600 jobs created • Metrolink expansion to Oldham Town Centre• £330 million Skills and Business Support (via ERDF and

ESF) – new programme to support growth for local companies

• Support for Invest in Oldham including Old Town Hall, Prince’s Gate and Transport Interchange

• Increased international profile

The GM Strategy• To move GM from being a cost centre to a net

contributor to national public finances• GM currently generates £17bn in taxes BUT

requires £22 billion in public spending

The GM Strategy: Growth and Reform Aim to close the £4.7 billion gap through growth and reform by:•creating high quality places that will attract and retain more productive people and businesses •reforming public services to improve outcomes for local peopleDevolution of powers and budgets to GM is vital to enable this

Devolution- GM Agreement• Signed November 2014 by council Leaders and

government with further devolution announced as part of the budget in July 2015.

• Agreed new powers and responsibilities around transport, planning and housing, skills and business support and transport.

• In exchange GM will have an elected mayor from 2017 who will oversee the work of the GMCA alongside council leaders

• GMCA has appointed an interim mayor, Tony Lloyd, who will chair the GMCA until then.

Devolution- GM AgreementTransport:•more powers over routes and fares through bus franchising•control of rail stations •better coordination of the major highway networks•the power to introduce smart ticketing •the promise of multi year budgets to support longer term transport planning.

Devolution- GM AgreementHousing and Planning:•power to develop a GM Spatial Framework•control of a £300 million recyclable Housing Investment Fund•creation of a GM land commission to oversee the use of the public sector estate•powers to allow the elected mayor (post 2017) to create development corporations and allow compulsory purchase (in agreement with local authorities)

Devolution- GM AgreementSkills, business and employment:•responsibility for local business support budgets•more control of existing skills funding and control of existing education and skills programmes so that they can be tailored to the needs of GM business•agreement to jointly commission the next phase of the work programme •mayoral power over Sunday trading regulations (subject to consultation)

Devolution- GM AgreementAlso delivers: •control of a reformed ‘earn back’ deal worth £900 million over 30 years to fund major projects and programmes •resources to scale-up our pilot to tackle complex dependency•a review of where children’s services can be better integrated and more efficient

Devolution- GM AgreementFire and Policing•From 2017 the elected mayor will oversee the work of Greater Manchester Police (replacing the Police and Crime Commissioner) and the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (replacing the current Fire Authority arrangements)•Until 2017 Tony Lloyd will continue to deliver his role as Police and Crime Commissioner alongside his role as interim mayor.

Devolution – Health and Social Care• Health and Social Care MoU devolving £6 billion of

health spending signed Feb 2015 by NHS England, councils, CCGs, NHS foundations and trusts. This covers:

– Primary care – Acute care– Community services– Mental health services– Social care– Public health

• Place Based Agreement to support prevention through joined-up public health leadership signed July 2015

Summary• No doubt this is an exciting time for Greater

Manchester• Opportunity to make a real difference for our

residents and deliver our ambition at the GM and locality level

But ….• We need to rise to the challenge• It will require us to work and think differently