In the first part of this series, I looked at the Foreword and Introduction of Hull City Council‘s Corporate Plan. The document as a whole is very important and should be looked at as a way of judging if the Council have done their job properly. The period that the plan covers is from 2009 to 2012 and is updated annually.
This part of the series is focusing on one of the first key areas of the plan – ‘Earning’. This relates to employment and businesses.
This version of the logo was found on hullstudent.com using Google Image Search.
Key Improvement Targets
In each of the four key areas (that were created by OneHull – the Local Strategic Partnership), there are several targets. These are then following by brief explanations of how these targets will be achieved and then you can go to the end pages to see much more specific LAA targets. The following are the Key Improvement Targets for ‘Earning':
- Improve the standard of principal and non-principal roads within the city
- Increase the rate of business start-ups in the city, to grow at twice the national average
- Narrow the earnings gap between Hull and the rest of the country
- Reduce the numbers of people claiming incapacity benefits, by helping them into sustained employment
- Increase the number of high-level skills jobs within the city
- Increase the levels of waste recycling across the city
- Increase the percentage of individuals engaged in formal volunteering
Target 1 – Principal and non-principal roads
Yes, you need roads so that new business and consumers can come into the city (amongst other things). That is beyond doubt. According to the plan, the Council want to invest £40m in the transport infrastructure, including £4m for a new park and ride system.
Unfortunately, there is no finer detail about where the £40m will go in the LAA targets (baseline figures and 10/11 targets marked as ‘TBC’, as well as there only being two targets relating to roads). There is no additional detail in the Sustainable Community Strategy either. In the report of the Head of Executive, which was first discussed on November 1st, 2010, there is very little mention of roads and the performance overview simply indicates that they have data and that they are neither behind or ahead of schedule. The appendix to the report is a little more revealing though. Apparently, they are expecting a lower number of principal and non-principal roads needing repair and the speed of the repairs is improving. Nothing else relating to roads is classed as ‘improving though.
So, my biggest complaint is the lack of detail about where the money is going. There’s also the fact that not a lot is classed as improving and there aren’t many targets related to roads. However, it’s good that fewer roads need repair and that there’s going to be some form of investment in the transport infrastructure as a whole.
Target 2 – Start-ups rate
Increasing the rate of start-ups is obviously a good thing because it promotes enterprise, increases job opportunities and improves the local economy. It’s one thing to state that, but it’s another to actually achieve it.
According to the following section, they want to increase the Acorn Fund (a Business Development Fund, which is run by the Hull Chamber of Commerce) by £1.5m and have it supported by a Working Neighbourhood Fund until 2011. As a side note the Head of Executive Report said the number of start-ups supported by the WNF has increased, but there was no specific number.
In a document relating to the Geographic Investment Programme/’Stepping Up’ (which is for 2009-2014), there isn’t a large amount of fine detail about allocation of money (in relation to start ups), but it does state that the Council intends to make use of £5.5m from Business Link Yorkshire and £0.5m from the International Business Development Programme.
According to a council report:
“In the 2nd quarter (July-Sept 2010) 372 new accounts were opened. Of these 168 were classed as self employed (with a resultant impact on employment levels), 162 were limited companies, 12 partnerships, 28 not for profit organisations, 1 limited liability partnership and 1 unknown”
These seem like good numbers so far – hopefully this will continue.
It’s important to note that any funding could possibly be affected by RDA cuts and local government restructuring, because of the recent General Election that the fact that Yorkshire Foward (the source of some funding) will be abolished two years before then end of the period that the GIP covers.
Target 3 – Earnings gap
The Key Improvement Target makes use of the word ‘narrow’, which could be considered a clever move. This is because any improvement, no matter how small, would mean they’ve met the target. The multi-area agreement would help, but more detail is required. After some research, I have found that this is still being developed, even though it was discussed as far back as 2008 (one year before the start of the Corporate Plan period). Narrowing the earnings gap in the long term will also be helped by any targets set in the ‘Learning’ area, which I will cover in the next post of this series.
Target 4 – Incapacity benefits
In the Corporate Plan, there is no target for 2010/11 for the number of people claiming an incapacity benefit helped by the Worklessness Campaign into sustained employment (it’s a ‘stretching’ target, presumably designed for a longer period). This is unfortunate. I think there needs to be annual targets for all areas in this plan. There isn’t much else relating to this area in other Council documents.
Target 5 – High level skills
In the LAA targets section of the plan, you will see that there is a noticeable difference between the target for 09/10 and the baseline figure from 06-07. This shows aspiration which is good, but I am unable to find evidence which shows that this target has been met. If anybody knows about this, please let me know. As for specific investment details, the Geographic Investment Programme document states that £2m will go into higher level skills, £3m will go into Hull Young People Aspirational Work and £2.5m will go into the Hull Skills Project.
Target 6 – Recycling
I have absolutely no idea why this is in the ‘Earning’ section. The targets relate to reducing rubbish on the streets and the increasing of recycling. People taking part in recycling does not increase their earning power, get them off benefits or increase their chances of a job. It is good for the city though.
Target 7 – Volunteering
Volunteering doesn’t mean the person earns money (of course). However, it’s important that it’s encouraged as it means people will have more skills and experience on their CV, which increases their chances of finding employment. I am skeptical about whether any targets for this can be met though, because there are still many people who are apathetic towards volunteering.
Summary & Conclusion
There are some pleasing aims and targets set out in ‘Learning’. It’s also good to see the amount of money being put into start-ups and increasing skillsets. However, there are some areas where targets are missing and on the subject of roads, there is very little specific information about where the money will be spent.
Once again, I should state that financing could change based on local government restructuring and the (terminal) status of Yorkshire Forward.
So, what do you think?