Written evidence submitted by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority [POD 018]

1. About Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

1.1. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) is led by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and brings together Liverpool City Region’s six local authorities – Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.

1.2. The Liverpool City Region’s initial Devolution Agreement in November 2015 saw the Combined Authority secure an extra £900 million of funding over 30 years and identified a number of priority areas where resources and decision making would be controlled locally, including employment and skills, housing and planning, transport, innovation, business growth and support, energy, culture and finance.

1.3. Liverpool City Region is home to 1.5 million people and an economy worth £32.5 billion GVA.

2. Executive Summary

 Devolution is enabling Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to do things differently: to give those who live and work in the City Region greater influence over the decisions that affect them; to respond dynamically and innovatively to the particular opportunities and challenges found here; and to support projects that are helping transform lives and livelihoods for the better.  The tangible success of devolution in Liverpool City Region is already being felt in a variety of ways. This submission highlights this with reference to four case studies of activity undertaken by LCRCA. These are: o The Strategic Investment Fund: bringing together funding streams to join-up economic development projects more effectively and respond to regional priorities, as identified with partners. o Adult Education Budget: improving the design and delivery of post-19 education to ensure it more effectively meets the needs and aspirations of Liverpool City Region, its people, and economy. o The ‘Households into Work’ programme: an innovative, person- centric scheme to support those furthest from the labour market overcome diverse barriers to employment. o The ‘#LCR Listens’ engagement programme: continuing the process of devolution further by empowering those who live and work in the City Region to meaningfully inform the development of the policies and decisions that will impact them.

3. Introduction 3.1. Liverpool City Region is a place of transformation: from our rich heritage of social and industrial innovation, to the revolutionary science, technology, and culture that is produced here today. Devolution has been a critical recent chapter in this story, supporting the creation of new opportunities for individuals, communities, and businesses, and helping make our City Region an even better place to live, work, and invest.

3.2. Devolution has allowed us to bring meaningful decision-making closer to those it impacts; it has enabled more dynamic, and more innovative responses to the specific challenges and opportunities found in our City Region; and it has empowered our communities further.

3.3. We are already seeing the scale and scope of work that devolution has enabled in Liverpool City Region, having invested in schemes to:

 Create jobs and support apprenticeships, for example through the creation of the UCAS-style www.be-more.info apprenticeships hub.  Make it easier to travel in and around the city region, for example addressing challenges of bus provision through our pioneering and award- winning Bus Alliance between Merseytravel and the region’s two biggest operators, Stagecoach and Arriva.  Renovate and improve schools and colleges, deploying Skills Capital Funding to provide new sites and premises, learning and skills equipment, improvements to existing facilities, maintenance and investments in low carbon technologies.  Tackle homelessness, Liverpool City Region is one of just three places in England to be chosen to pilot the Housing First approach, providing an ordinary, settled home as the first response.  Support cultural events, Liverpool City Region is the first in the country to commit to spending the equivalent of 1% of its annual devolution funding from government to support cultural activities, including our annual Borough of Culture programme.

3.4. In this submission, however, we will focus on four case studies of activity by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority that typify the transformational impact of devolution, and how this is helping to unlock the full potential of our City Region, its people and its economy. These case studies are:

 The Strategic Investment Fund.  Adult Education Budget.  The ‘Households into Work’ programme.  The ‘#LCR Listens’ programme of public engagement.

4. The Strategic Investment Fund

4.1. The Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) is the LCRCA’s fund for strategic economic development across the City Region. It brings together a number of funding streams managed by the LCRCA: Growing Places Fund, Local Growth Fund rounds 1-3, Transforming Cities Fund (strategic transport fund) and the £30m per annum Gainshare funding awarded as part of the Liverpool City Region Devolution Deal. Together these total £655m of funding.

4.2. To date, approximately 240, SIF Projects, comprising £600m of funding, has been allocated to projects which will stimulate economic growth and improved transport infrastructure across the City Region (for example projects see Appendix 1.).

4.3. The direct effect of devolution may not have been to necessarily increase the absolute level of funding available for economic development in Liverpool City Region - whilst the £30m per annum Gainshare is the result of the City Region Devolution Deal, such funding could have been invested in other projects locally.

4.4. What devolution has allowed is for the City Region to develop joined up economic development projects which are tailored to meet regional priorities. The building blocks of this has been recognised in a review of impact of devolution commissioned by the Government’s Cities and Local Growth Unity (CLGU) and undertaken by SQW. The Combined Authority believes that, without devolution, progress in these areas would have been unlikely to have been achieved.

4.5. The work of SQW highlights that:

“changes in the way the SIF has been managed and delivered over the last four years demonstrate how city region capacity, partnership-working and strategic vision have progressed during this period”; and that “Stakeholders all agree that there was a far more strategic approach to developing and approving projects in round 2 in late 2018.”

4.6. The Combined Authority has made a conscious decision to increase the capacity to develop and deliver major economic development projects. This is in response to the recognition that constraints within partner organisations was limiting the ability to bring such projects forward. The impact of this has been recognised in the SQW report, with states that “project development support has been highly valued by partners and in particular the smaller councils with more limited internal resources”

4.7. The Combined Authority is also able to develop close working relationships with key partners across the City Region. This combined with the increase in capacity detailed above has allowed the progression of economic development projects on a partnership basis to improve the quality and economic impact of projects coming forward. This has also ensured that projects are more closely aligned to local needs – one of the key objectives of devolution – and are developed in partnership with local stakeholders.

5. Adult Education Budget (AEB)

5.1. The Liverpool City Region has a number of long-standing skills challenges that AEB provision can help to address; however, currently over half of AEB funding supports the delivery of national entitlements with 72% of programmes undertaken below Level 2. The national approach to AEB allocations has historically been reflective of prior year delivery, with limited understanding of impact or the potential for in-year movement of funding to respond to demand and drive the skills agenda.

5.2. Local devolution offers significant opportunity to ensure providers’ skills offers meet local employer and learner needs and through a targeted approach to investment. In particular, the Combined Authority will look to address:  The mix and balance of adult skill provision procured from AEB;  How provision is delivered and funded so that it becomes more flexible and responsive in its application; and  Its long-term impact on the lives of residents and the local economy.

5.3. How devolution is working – maximising the impact of AEB funding:  Supporting more residents in low wage sectors – fully funding learners who are employed and would normally be co-funded where they earn less than the Real Living Wage (£17,550), enabling a greater proportion of learners to access fully funded provision.  Increasing innovation and responsive delivery – providing additional funding for Test & Learn Pilots– to help providers develop flexible delivery methodologies aligned to key skills priority areas (ESOL, Maths & English and Digital Skills) to inform future investment.  Incentivising delivery to help more learners progress to employment – providing additional payments for work experience and job outcomes delivered through Sector Based Work Academies, to test the extent to which an outcome payment model improves the engagement, impact and progression of learners to employment.  Improving efficiency with fewer providers collaborating more – we have moved from 220+ providers to 33, with a clear emphasis on local and sector-based collaboration.  Maximising the funding directed to front-line delivery – capping the amount prime contractors are able to charge subcontractors at 20%.  Capacity building the AEB System – to accelerate the impact of devolution, supporting providers to better respond to local need, including a City Region wide mental health first aid programme 5.4. We have demonstrated clear system leadership where AEB is now focused on what the economy needs – not just what the system will easily fund. We are also linking AEB to other funding streams – Apprenticeships, National Retraining Scheme (DfE) and Skills Capital to ensure greater complementarity, improved impact and value for money.

6. The ‘Households into Work’ programme.

6.1. Households into Work started in March 2018 as a part of the Liverpool City Region’s Devolved Deal Agreement with central Government and with a budget of £4.45M for two years of delivery. 6.2. The programme aims to support unemployed people living in households not just to find work, but help them get to a point where just thinking of employment as a realistic option, is a major step forward.

6.3. Households into Work is jointly funded by both the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the Department for Work and Pensions, with other key stakeholders being Jobcentre Plus and the Liverpool City Region’s 6 local authorities.

6.4. Households into Work employs a team of 25 Advocates who have backgrounds in a range of different professions including: advice & guidance, social work, social care, criminal justice, mental health, advocacy, mentoring and housing. The team work across all six of the Liverpool City Region’s local authorities, mostly working on an outreach basis.

6.5. For up to 12 months, the advocates provide people who start on the programme with support which helps them tackle and resolve often complex and multiple issues which can affect their ability to find and sustain employment. This might include: mental illness, addiction or substance misuse, domestic abuse, isolation/lack of family or friend support network, housing and homelessness, debt issues and/or low self-confidence/self-esteem.

6.6. Unlike many other programmes which work with people on an individual basis, Households into Work takes a whole household approach. This is in recognition of the fact that other members of the household can contribute to the problems as well as to the resolution of the issues experienced by the individual. So involving other members of the household is more likely to achieve a longer lasting solution to the person’s problems, than simply working with them in isolation.

6.7. Households also have access to funding up to a maximum of £1,000 which can be used to purchase goods or services that tackle the issues which are preventing them from seeking or sustaining employment.

6.8. As of December 2019, a total of 1,061 households had started on the programme, of which 479 households had a second or third member of the household also on the programme. Although the programme is open to residents from across the whole of the Liverpool City Region, the programme is focused on people living in areas which, according to Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019, are amongst the top 20% most the deprived areas within the Liverpool City Region. This approach helps ensure that support is only provided to people who are most in need of it.

6.9. Many of these people are often reluctant or resistant to engagement in mainstream services, citing reasons which include: a) they don’t know about them; b) they lack the confidence to engage with them; c) they are fearful of coming to the attention of authorities; d) they think they are beyond help.

6.10. By December 2019, the programme had achieved and indeed exceeded all of its targets as shown in the Table 1 below. 6.11. An interim evaluation of the programme has been conducted by the Heseltine Institute and involved interviews with a range of stakeholders, including 44 people who have been supported by the programme. The conclusions of the interim evaluation have reported an overwhelmingly positive effect on those who have been supported, particularly with regard to their readiness for employment. A full evaluation of Households into Work was commissioned in January 2020 and is due for publication in July 2020.

Table 1: Measuring the success of ‘Households into Work’.

Measure Target Outcomes Variance Number of Households that have started on 800 1061 +261 programme Positive outcomes: Number of Households where individuals have completed at least 600 800 +200 one agreed activity (Progress measure) Making significant improvements / Moving closer to securing work: (Could be someone 500 651 +151 who has completed a training course, NVQ or work experience) Moved in to employment: Proportion of Households where an individual has moved 20% 22% +2% in to work (taken to be earnings equivalent to 16 hours per week for 4 weeks)

7. The ‘#LCR Listens’ engagement programme.

7.1. Running from mid-August to the end of October 2019, #LCR Listens was a mixed-method engagement project delivered by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and consultants Breaking Blue in order to open a conversation with residents, raise public awareness and understanding of the Combined Authority, and inform the development of City Region policy (in particular, the Local Industrial Strategy).

7.2. Comprised of an online survey, postcards, on-street interviews, focus groups, and a number of participatory workshops, approximately 3,134 people from across Liverpool City Region took part in #LCR Listens - making it the Combined Authority's biggest engagement project to date.

7.3. The most innovative aspect of #LCR Listens was a half-day deliberative event that took place at the Maritime Museum in Liverpool in November 2019. The event aimed to explore concrete policy proposals with residents of the City Region, providing a pathway for them to inform and influence the direction of the city region’s long term economic strategy and empowering them to fine-tune proposals as well as generate further ideas for policy development in partnership with Combined Authority officers.

7.4. The successful delivery of the project helped to clarify how citizens of Liverpool City Region view their local communities, the environment, and their employment and skills opportunities, as well as their long-term ambitions for the City Region as a place to live, work, and visit. But it also acted as an important way for residents to hold decision-makers accountable, and ensure that policies can be developed with communities. This more local, participatory, and inclusive form of accountability for regional policy could only be possible thanks to devolution.

May 2020

APPENDIX 1: EXAMPLE SIF PROJECTS.

Project Title: Blackburne House Project Description

Blackburne House, formerly the Women’s Technology and Education Centre (WTEC), was established in 1983 with the aim of progressing women from disadvantaged backgrounds into employment within technical professions – an area in which, at the time, women were significantly under-represented. 30 years on, it continues to support local and often vulnerable women to live independent lives, believe in their dreams and achieve their ambitions.

Amount Invested by (Combined Authority): £2.5 million

Total project Investment: £2.55m Outputs/Benefits Expected: Investment in quality equipment which was necessary for them to ensure that their students are getting the right skills, for the right jobs. By using local suppliers and supporting underrepresented people in our city region, Blackburne House is an example of how devolution can make a real difference to people’s lives.

Project Title: Halton Curve Project Description

The Halton Curve is a 1.5 mile stretch of track that links the Chester/Warrington line and the Liverpool/Crewe line at Frodsham Junction, providing direct rail services between North Wales/ Chester and Liverpool.

This is the first service to run direct from North Wales into Liverpool for over 40 years. Amount Invested by (Combined Authority): £12,796,267.92

Total project Investment: £17.86m Outputs/Benefits Expected:

The new service will generate 250,000 new trips, unlocking leisure and business opportunities between the Liverpool City Region, Cheshire and North Wales. As journeys between the Liverpool City Region, West Cheshire and North Wales are currently largely car dependent, it’s expected that the new service would remove the need for 170,000 road journeys helping reduce demand on key routes such as the M56 and A55.

It also supports Liverpool John Lennon Airport and its growth ambitions, opening up a much wider catchment for national and international leisure and business travel.

Project Title: Paddington Village Project Description

Liverpool has a thriving and respected life sciences sector. The City combines academic excellence in its universities with world-leading healthcare facilities and internationally significant sector specialists clustered within a City Centre setting known as the Knowledge Quarter (KQ).

The vision for Paddington Village is to leverage off, and complement, the concentrated assets and facilities of the KQ partners to make a major contribution to the economy of the City, Liverpool City Region, Northern Powerhouse and the UK as a whole. Paddington Village presents a significant development opportunity with a commercial focus on Life Science, Medical and Knowledge industry led development. Located at the heart of the City, the vision is that the scheme becomes a destination of choice for primarily research, education, health and science related business and institutions supported by appropriate ancillary development activity.

Amount Invested by (Combined Authority): £12m

Total project Investment: £20.5m Outputs/Benefits Expected:

The project will deliver much needed expansion space to support the growth of the Knowledge Quarter, with "market ready" development plots capable of delivering up to 85,800 sq m (921,50 sq ft) of commercial, research, academic, laboratory, residential, retail, hotel and car parking uses, creating a world class destination within the Knowledge Quarter.

The Paddington Village scheme will see the arrival of the Royal College of Physician’s (RCP) new £35m northern base, a new learning centre for the Liverpool International College and the new £35m Rutherford Cancer Centre North West. By bringing high growth businesses to the city and realising positive externalities of agglomeration, the project enhances LCR's ability to grow more successful businesses by promoting innovation and entrepreneurial activity. By making the site fully accessible with integrated amenities, it contributes to improving the region’s transport, energy and digital infrastructures.

Project Title: MTC Project in a box Project Description

A digitally enabled rapidly reconfigurable Factory in a Box (FIAB) test bed facility. A new industrial concept, applicable to many sectors, that seeks to reduce production costs, delivery times, and environmental impact whilst increasing product quality, which is rapidly deployable and remotely managed. FIAB is a platform for Small-batch globally distributed manufacturing. MTC is targeting this project to support the pharma, and the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industries in the City Region.

Amount Invested by (Combined Authority): Up to £14.95m Total project Investment: £17.25m

Outputs/Benefits Expected:

 The project will deliver 12 FTE highly skilled jobs as a requirement for asset delivery; these positions will be maintained post-delivery to work on solutions delivery.  Over a 10-year span, the project will create 43 FTE jobs to provide national solutions from the platform.  £41.3m (discounted prices) GVA over 10 years, £225m if based on MTC’s historic performance.

Productivity • Accelerated innovation and technology adoption within the Region’s industry. • Supply-chain integration creating a stronger regional ecosystem. • Future proofing of regional business assets. • Accelerated return on investment.

People • Skills development within the region’s business community. Upskilling activities are an integral part of this project3. • Attraction and retention of a highly skilled workforce.

Place • A national destination for highly skilled professionals fostering specialist conferences and events. • Will increase utilisation, add value, and improve regional assets such as the Hartree HPC. • Inward investment by providing investors with:  Platforms on which industry can test new product delivery;  Technology support;  Training and skills requirements, and  Market opportunities with the current members and industry partners capable of delivering at a global scale.