working together

Leaders Policy Statement 2013

& birmingham

prosperous democratic

fair
for a

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Contents
Leaders introduction: Working together for a fair, prosperous and democratic Birmingham 02 Looking ahead: An emerging new model of City Government 04

Valuing our employees 08

1.  A Fair City: Tackling deprivation and inequality and improving life chances 09 Social Cohesion and Equality 09 A city that supports families and values children and young people 13 Health and Wellbeing 16

2. A Prosperous City: Supporting jobs and sustainable growth Economic Development, Transport, Skills and Jobs

18 18

A Social Enterprise City 22 Using the councils buying power better 22 23

Providing new homes

International strategy 24 Culture and the visitor and creative economy A Green and Smart City 24 25

3. A Democratic City: Involving local people and neighbourhoods

29

Public Engagement 31 Local Decision Making 32 Neighbourhood Strategy and Transforming Place 33

Community Safety 33

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Leaders introduction: Working together for a fair, prosperous and democratic Birmingham
Our first annual Policy Statement explained how we would take forward the commitments in our 2012 Election Manifesto. This years statement shows what we have achieved over the year and sets out the priorities for action in 2013 14. Our aim is to be open and transparent so that people can engage with our priorities and judge our progress. Alongside these ambitions we are having to contend with the most drastic cuts ever in local government funding, including cuts of over 100m in the current year. In addition, the organisation we inherited suffered from a lack of strategic vision and momentum. One of our biggest challenges has been to rebuild a sense of direction and shared purpose across the organisation. The city faces huge economic and social challenges in the years ahead. We must respond to these challenges and develop a radical new approach to governing the city and providing public services, re-stating the role of the city council. So this years statement also gives an outline of the direction of change to come. Despite all of this, we have secured some real achievements during the year:  Introduced the Living Wage for council employees and adopted our Business Charter for Social Responsibility to get our contractors to follow us  Taken steps to drive forward improvements in safeguarding for children in the city, with a specific focus on improving front line practice  Successfully integrated the 79m Public Health function into the city council  Secured 63.1m funding for the Paradise Circus redevelopment which will open up a key part of the city centre for regeneration  Set up the city centre Enterprise Zone and launched our other economic growth zones to support key sectors  Established the Birmingham Jobs Fund and launched the Young Talent for Business Programme and the 1000 apprenticeships in 100 days challenge, following rapid work by a Commission on Youth Unemployment  Opened up the city council by creating a web streaming service for meetings, with 70,000 people accessing it in just a few months across 40 plus meetings  Embedded a victims centred approach to community safety across the council and partner services through the adoption of a Victims Charter and the appointment of a Victims Champion.

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We also set up the Green and Smart City Commissions, both of which have produced early reports, and we held an Arts and Culture Summit, a Sports Summit and a Symposium on Homelessness. We published a White Paper on Social Inclusion and we have set up the Challenge Unit that will support the Cabinet Member for Social Cohesion in his role of providing challenge to all parts of the council on these issues. The ideas generated by this work and the networks of enthusiastic contributors they have brought together will feed in to further action in the year ahead. This has been the year in which we have faced up to the reality of the challenges faced by the city. We have initiated a comprehensive and intensive series of service reviews to take a fresh look at all services, generate new ways of working and identify the things we may have to stop providing. We will identify the new strategic role of the city council and drive forward devolution and localisation with far more pace, so that it becomes real to local people. To succeed we must work as one organisation focused on shared priorities. We must focus on our core purpose of serving the people of Birmingham and turn outwards to partner organisations and community groups to help us deliver this. Importantly we must also reach out and form stronger partnerships across the city region. Three words capture our mission: Fairness to protect the most vulnerable in our city, open up opportunities to the most excluded and narrow the gap in life chances between our citizens Prosperity to help make Birmingham the Enterprise Capital of Britain and create a Green City and a Smart City that provides growth and jobs for all Democracy to deliver on our vision for devolution and localisation and to rebuild engagement in local democracy by putting local people and communities at the heart of everything we do. Our overriding priorities for this year are to make progress in:  Tackling deprivation and inequality, protecting as far as possible those worst affected by the cuts Improving educational performance Supporting families and making young people and children safer Helping people into work Setting out clear long-term plans for new homes and transport infrastructure  Taking forward the recommendations of our Green and Smart City commissions Driving forward devolution and localisation. In the face of growing challenges we have further stiffened our resolve to become even more ambitious, with a commitment to turn adversity into opportunity.

Albert Bore Leader

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Looking ahead: An emerging new model of City Government

A Resilient City and an Activist Council Birmingham will need to be resilient to get through the years ahead and a resilient city needs an Activist Council. Birmingham has always pulled together and adapted to change by being bold, inventive and creative. The role of an Activist Council is to support that resilience, that unity and that creativity. An Activist Council is open to new ideas, new partnerships and new ways of working. It understands that its role is to provide leadership, to broker relationships, agreements and solutions and to support the enterprise and initiative of others. A resilient city has strong relationships between the public, private and social sectors. It succeeds through working together and building up the strength of each to take action. It does not just create opportunities for the most able but also cares for the most vulnerable.

Working together, doing things differently There will need to be big changes in how we operate if we are to maintain an acceptable level of local public services and achieve the outcomes we want to see within the severely reduced funding that will be available. We need to develop a new model of city government that can support the following changes in the way we work:  Integration of services and budgets, for example through the Single Local Growth Fund, through Community Budgets and through integration of Health and Social Care. This will allow us to reduce costs and allocate money more effectively and to capture the savings from better targeted services. We know that we can do this even more effectively if government allows us more flexibility in how we manage and target budgets.

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Whole Place public services We see Whole Place working as a key element to tackling deprivation and inequality by delivering more cost-effective outcomes through better joint working across statutory, non-statutory and private organisations locally. We recognise that given the scale of Birmingham, we will at least initially need to adopt a thematic approach at city level, and implement in a geographically phased way in some areas. Our early areas of focus at city level will include: O  lder people: A transformational project to bring together social care and health work around Birminghams older people. Through integrated planning and care, we intend to reduce unnecessary admissions and costs to the public sector at the same time as improving outcomes for older people Y  oung people and families: Focusing on integrated approaches to early help across all agencies, third sector and private organisations. We will work to reduce future demand at the highest levels of need, including troubled families, and to ensure that our most disadvantaged young people are able to maximise their potential from education and training G  rowth, skills and training: Negotiating greater influence in directing skills funding locally. This will enable the supply of skills to be matched more closely to the needs of the local economy. We will work with local employers to ensure a coherent skills and training offer.

S  hifting spending from acute (problem fixing) services to prevention. It costs much less to prevent problems occurring, for example through early intervention with families and children, public health initiatives to reduce ill health or community housing maintenance schemes for small repairs, than to deal with the consequences of delays through hospital services, the criminal justice system, major housing repairs and so on. E  ngaging local people and helping communities to make their own contribution to tackling local problems and designing better local services. We need to value the enormous contribution of active citizenship and voluntary work in our neighbourhoods and the knowledge and judgement of people when it comes to dealing with local issues. We need to build stronger local civic governance in our local communities. We also need to help people make better life choices and to take control of their lives so reducing the incidence of chronic health problems and drug and alcohol dependency. We need to help people to gain better skills and qualifications and enable people to live independent lives in the community. D  eveloping a wider range of very local providers or hubs such as schools, community organisations and housing associations providing a wider integrated support to the life of the neighbourhood.

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Transforming Places A key element of the new model for city government is the focus on local governance and neighbourhood working in all services not just those that are devolved to districts. By coming together to focus on the local places in which people live we can find the linkages between health, housing, education, policing, social care, welfare to work and environmental services and design services that better meet the needs of individuals and communities. Instead of housing management or environmental services we will deliver neighbourhood management and neighbourhood services. A Community Budget initiative is already underway in Shard End and will assist in the development of this model. We want to make sure local people are at the heart of decision making and able to get the best from the more limited resources the council will have in future. We will be bringing together performance information across a range of services at the district level supporting the role of district committees in holding services to account on behalf of local residents.

Redesigning the machinery of city government To achieve this it is clear that we will need to redesign the machinery of local government and make it work better for the world we now live in. Over the year ahead we will be expanding our vision for a new model of city government and engaging with the government, the political parties and others to build support for change. Moreover, we can already begin to see the outline of that new model. It will require devolution of funding and decision making to three levels what we call a Triple Devolution strategy: 1. The City Region. The city council is concerned not just with the delivery of services within the city boundary but also with the wider economy of the Greater Birmingham area, stretching across the conurbation and into the surrounding commuter districts. We must operate at that level to support economic growth and invest in transport and other infrastructure. 2. The City. At the city-wide level it is vital that we work even more closely with our partners in the Health Service, the Police and Fire services, our schools, colleges and universities and the Department of Work and Pensions to achieve shared objectives. 3. The Neighbourhood (supported by our devolved District and Ward structures). We are also committed to devolving and localising our services within the city and enabling local communities to have a greater say over the management of their neighbourhoods. It is at the neighbourhood level that community groups can make a direct contribution to the goals we have set for the city.

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Above all we need to find ways of getting all three levels of the triple devolution working in harmony. Integration of health and social care at the city level will mean nothing without a neighbourhood and community level focus on helping people to be healthier and more independent. The regeneration of local neighbourhoods will require links to the city region economic strategy and the provision of transport infrastructure and housing that can make it easier for people to find work and a home. Public services as we know them were largely designed in the last century and have not been significantly altered since. We aim to challenge conventional thinking and set in place an agenda for change.

The Triple Devolution model of city government

Government devolves a single funding pot.

Government enables joining up of funding under community budgets.

THE CITY REGION

Strategic approach to economic development, infrastructure investment, land use planning, housing supply and skills.

THE CITY

Integrated public services with accountable commissioning. Health, social care and support, community safety, housing, environment, etc. City council and other services devolve funding and decision making to districts and neighbourhoods.

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

Districts provide integrated neighbourhood management and link into local hubs and city-wide services.

SCHOOLS

ONE-STOP SHOPS

HEALTH CENTRES

Local hubs such as one-stop shops, health centres, schools, housing associations or community organisations providing services and support community action.

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Valuing our employees

The public servants of the city perform a vital role in ensuring its social and economic success, often in very challenging circumstances. These are very difficult times for public sector workers with extensive redundancies made inevitable by the depth and speed of the spending cuts, as well as on-going uncertainty about their future role. We cannot promise to eliminate compulsory redundancies but we will work tirelessly to keep them to a minimum. Equally, we cannot hope to deliver our aims as set out in this statement without the support and whole hearted commitment of our staff. So we are affirming our Fresh Start programme to provide more support to employees and to encourage that commitment and performance. We believe that no public employees in this city should be forced to work for an inadequate wage, so we implemented the Living Wage as soon as we took office last year. We would urge all other public services operating in the city to follow suit and we have launched our Business Charter for Social Responsibility to encourage our contractors to follow our example.

Closer working with our staff (Fresh Start) We are engaging more with employees, to provide: Listening sessions with the Leader and Deputy Leader for all employees A focus on employee health and wellbeing and preventative measures  Robust management development pathways for all council managers to drive consistency and support for managers and the organisation  Economic support for employees through utilising tax efficient salary sacrifice schemes (Child Care Vouchers, Cycle To Work, Green Cars, Additional Leave), generating NI savings for the council to reinvest  Staff discounts with local retailers from applying the significant purchasing power of the council  An employee volunteering opportunity scheme launched to support our localisation agenda  Internships, work experience and other opportunities for young people through the launch of B Inspired A focus on celebrating employee diversity (e.g. LGBT Network) Recognition for excellent attendance amongst employees.

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1.  A Fair City: Tackling deprivation and inequality and improving life chances
Our caring, education and health services exist to create a fairer city through giving young people a good chance in life, helping people to live healthier lives and caring for those in need of support. They are a vital resource for reducing inequality, alongside the care that communities, families and individuals are able to offer. We are also determined to break the cycle of unemployment and dependency that blights too many households within the city. The citys tremendous diversity and cultural mix has for a long time been one of its great strengths driving innovation and giving us close links to economies around the world. We must ensure that this economic and social advantage is fully exploited in the years ahead.

Social Cohesion and Equality

The city remains very unequal

Birmingham Life Expectancy

(Life Expectancy 200810)

Male Life Expectancy Gap

11.8 years

70

71.7
Lozells and East Handsworth Lowest Ward Average

76.8
Birmingham Average

83.5
Sutton Trinity Highest Ward Average

YEARS

90

YEARS

6.6 years
Female Life Expectancy Gap

70

78.8

81.6

85.4
Sutton New Hall Highest Ward Average

YEARS
Shard End Birmingham Average Lowest Ward Average

90

YEARS

Source: Office for National Statistics Annual Mortality Extract

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Birmingham Unemployment
(Unadjusted Claimant Unemployment May 2013)

23.2% gap

0%

4.1%
Sutton Coldfield Best District Rate

12.1%
Birmingham Average

27.3%
Ladywood Worst District Average

30%

13.1% gap

0%

2.9%
Sutton Coldfield Best District Rate

8.1%
Birmingham Average

16.0%
Ladywood Worst District Average

30%

Source: June Unemployment Briefing Economic Research and Policy Birmingham City Council

Our relative position on income has worsened and Birmingham was the worst performer of the Core Cities in the decade 1999 2009. Low wages and unemployment are a critical challenge to the city.

Local Authority District Average Score on Income Deprivation Domain, Change of Score between 19992009
2.0% 1.0% 0.0% -1.0% -2.0% -3.0% -4.0% -5.0% -6.0% -7.0%
10

1.6% 0.5%
Leeds Birmingham England Bristol Sheffield Nottingham

Newcastleupon-Tyne

Liverpool

Manchester

-0.4% -1.0% -1.0%

-3.6%

-3.7%

-5.7%

-6.0%

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Deprivation and inequality is a dynamic process though the most deprived areas remain remarkably constant. Some physical areas of the city have benefitted from regeneration and may have very different populations from ten years ago. We need to understand in detail the relationship between people and places.

Economic Deprivation Index (EDI) at LSOA level Change in score between 1999 and 2009
The two income and employment domain scores ranked, transformed to an exponential distribution (to control cancellation effects) and combined with equal weights to produce the overall EDI score.

Legend Change
Above 10 better 5 to 10 better 1 to 5 better Around the same 1 to 5 worse 5 to 10 worse Above 10 better

This map is reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of Her Majestys Stationery Office Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Birmingham City Council License No. 10021326 2011

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Our achievements in 201213 Introduced a Living Wage for BCC employees  Published the Business Charter for Social Responsibility encouraging business to play a stronger part in delivering a fair society and better employment conditions  Worked with the Bishop of Birmingham and partners to deliver the Social Inclusion process which has involved over 1,000 local groups and agencies, developing an agreed agenda to improve inclusion in the city  Established a multi-agency Welfare Reform Committee, bringing together a partnership of key players, including those working on the front line with vulnerable individuals and communities. The committee is focused upon both short-term support and longer term policy development, protecting those affected by benefit cuts  Established an Early Help offer for children and families to ensure that families receive the early help needed to prevent problems, with over 1,600 families benefiting in the first year. Our plans for 201314  Host a major national conference to share good practice in protecting vulnerable people from the effects of Government cuts and welfare reform  Develop floor targets for social inclusion minimum standards for all groups across the city, for example around educational attainment, skills, employment and health. These will express our long term aim to reduce the gap between the most well off and the least well off communities in the city  Work with credit unions to help people manage their finances well; clamp down on loan sharks and companies providing unfair credit; and lobby for powers to limit the number of betting shops  Develop a debt advice, employment and job search offer with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Councils Landlord Services Division for the unemployed members of households affected by welfare reform and housing benefit changes  Help young people to travel around the city more cheaply by public transport and by improvement of cycle networks, to access jobs and training.

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A city that supports families and values children and young people
Research shows that 36% of our residents are under 24. We are Britains youngest city. This brings unparalleled opportunities, for instance in the digital capability of many of our young people and the willingness of many young peoples groups voluntarily to support the wider community. The first phase of each persons life is vital to their future well-being and, hence, the future of the city as a whole. Inequality, however, is stark. While the city as a whole out performs the national average for 5 A* Cs including maths and English at 60%, the figure falls to 30% of boys on Free School Meals, 23% for children with special educational needs and disability (who are 25% of our school population) and 15% for looked after children. Birminghams children deserve a fair deal and despite bucking national trends, we will not settle until every child has a fair chance to succeed. Overall our schools have improved well in recent years, but stark inequalities in performance between different parts of the city persist.

Sutton Four Oaks

Sutton Trinity

GCSE Performance by Ward 2012

Percentage of pupils achieving 5 A*C GCSEs (including Maths and English)
Perry Barr Oscott

SUTTON COLDFIELD
Sutton Vesey Kingstanding Erdington Stockland Green Sutton New Hall

PERRY BARR
Handsworth Wood Lozells & E.Handsworth Soho Aston Nechells Ladywood

ERDINGTON
Tyburn Hodge Hill

HODGE HILL
Shard End Stechford & Yardley North Sheldon

Washwood Heath Bordesley Green

LADYWOOD

EDGBASTON
Quinton Harborne Edgbaston

YARDLEY

Sparkbrook

South Yardley Acocks Green

Bartley Green

Selly Oak Weoley Bournville

Moseley & Springfield Kings Heath

HALL GREEN
Hall Green Billesley 64%> 5564% 5055% 4050% <40%

SELLY OAK

Brandwood

Longbridge

NORTHFIELD
Northfield

Kings Norton

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Our achievements in 2012 13  Integrated our family support and safeguarding services so that all children can receive the right service at the right time, reducing the need for inappropriate use of statutory child protection plans. Layers of management have been reduced and resources focused on the front line  Developed better safeguarding arrangements for vulnerable children, introducing a Childrens Safeguarding & Adoption Board  Put in place strengthened arrangements for improving adoption performance  Established a Steering Group working with Skills in Birmingham to take forward the Birmingham Baccalaureate proposal  Made progress with developing the Birmingham Education Partnership with schools and universities (incorporating the Birmingham Academy Trust proposed last year). A Shadow Board has been created  Established a Transitions Project Plan to improve support to vulnerable young people moving from childrens to adults services.

Our plans for 2013 14 We welcomed the impressive engagement of young people in our budget consultation last year. Their activism was a positive sign for the future of our young people and we want to respond to the messages they gave us, giving children, young people and parents a say in shaping the services they need. We will work with all local agencies to develop clear shared ambitions for families and young people through a Believe in Birmingham approach. We will:  Work with the Childrens Society to establish Child Action Zones through a whole place approach to improve the lives of the most deprived  Strengthen social work practice while further integrating service teams to form locality level Family Support and Safeguarding Hubs to provide advice, support and statutory intervention where this is required  Support the Childrens Safeguarding & Adoption Board in taking forward a robust approach to tackling the problem of child sexual exploitation  Focus on recruitment and assessment of adopters and take swifter action on the adoption of children when children do need a permanent home  Put in place plans to build up to 1,800 new primary school places, 400 special school places and up to 750 new secondary school places

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 Produce a Schools Development Plan to deliver sufficient high quality school places in the right locations to meet current and future population growth, integrated with the Birmingham Development Plan and Housing Growth Plan  Take forward proposals for an International School and for a Birmingham Community College as a centre of language excellence  Extend the impact and range of school-business links and provide a vehicle to support schools in providing up-to-date information, advice and guidance to every young person. A pilot programme on the Birmingham Baccalaureate will run from September 2013 with an initial cohort of 1015 schools  Launch the Birmingham Education Partnership with our universities and all schools to ensure that the education system promotes pupil achievement across the city with support services and with pathways through education and into work, including access to work experience, particularly for young people at risk of becoming Neither in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)  Publish more comprehensive performance information on local schools, including their contribution to the local community, health outcomes, keeping young people in education and training, and progress for children who currently do not achieve well at school. District Committees will be asked to provide a local focus for this process  Develop a charter focused on the employment needs of care leavers and deliver a Care Leavers Apprenticeship Initiative with a pilot within the Council for 10 care leavers, to be rolled out to other employers, and work with our universities to provide undergraduate degree places for care leavers with suitable educational qualifications  Introduce a new partnership model for the community youth service. This could include implementing a Birmingham Youth Trust as an investment vehicle for attracting and distributing resource. Connexions will be an integrated part of the Community Youth Service, supporting the delivery of the Birmingham Jobs Fund and a targeted service for young people not in education, employment or training  Develop a new Special Educational Need and Disability strategy incorporating all aspects of a childs needs in one coherent plan, taking them through childhood to adulthood and aiming for the best future for every child.

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Health and Wellbeing

Health and wellbeing starts with the right to family life: services delivered to children with needs that will endure across their life need to support and sustain a lifelong network of support from family and community. Health and wellbeing is a right to a house within a community capable of supporting people to live with lower requirements for formal care support. Health and wellbeing is a right to be supported by a thriving community that has the capacity to assist more people to fulfil their wish to live at home for as long as possible. There are very serious challenges as the most disadvantaged communities have the least social capital. This means that we need to understand where demands exist and plan at a local level to improve community response. Our ambition is to integrate social care and the NHS and to re-orientate them so that they are properly rooted in the communities that use and pay for them.

Our achievements in 201213  Introduced the Telecare home service to give reassurance to those who live at home, for those at risk of falls, dementia and home safety. 7,000 people are now using the Telecare home service  Received national and local acclaim for our Eyes and Ears campaign to encourage the reporting of adult abuse which led to an 11% increase in safeguarding referrals  Increased participation in leisure and sports activity by investment in Be Active, particularly amongst disadvantaged communities and staged the Great Birmingham Run in October 2012, with 18,000 participants and increased investment in Be Active as a start to helping make Birmingham an exemplar of health and wellbeing  Worked towards a single health and social care system by aligning Public Health, Supporting People and third sector spend. Developed pilots that provide teams around the GP to work in the community with people with complex needs.

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Our plans for 201314  Finalise and implement a Leisure and Sport strategy to reduce childhood obesity and help improve the wellbeing of the citys vulnerable children Implement the Domestic Violence Action Plan  Introduce Ageing Well Plans at a District level to provide an understanding of where there is demand for services that enable individuals to live at home to bring forward opportunities for improved community response  Implement a new strategy that extends across children and adults services, engaging with the NHS  Double investment in Be Active for another year to maximise opportunities for people to be healthier and more active  Introduce District Scorecards for health indicators which could include measures such as vaccination, stroke recovery and quality of care received.

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2.  A Prosperous City: Supporting jobs and sustainable growth

Economic Development, Transport, Skills and Jobs

Our city has been hit harder and faster than any other part of the UK by the worst recession since the 1930s. Despite this, we have made great strides over the past year and confidence within parts of the business community is beginning to grow. We have set out an ambitious programme of practical initiatives, key investments and fresh policies that are all aimed at both creating the conditions for local growth and ensuring that the people of Birmingham are well placed to benefit from the opportunities ahead. With around 36% of our population aged under age 24, we have a wealth of talent moving through our schools, colleges and universities. We aim to help equip our young people with the skills they need to succeed, to connect local people to local jobs, and help everyone develop more opportunities in life. Many of our aims can only be achieved by working at a city-regional level focused on the real economic geography of Greater Birmingham. So we are determined to build a strong city regional partnership of local authorities and to work closely with the business community and other partners to drive this agenda. During the year Birminghams profile has grown as we have focused on how to support local economic growth. British cities must be given more resources and more powers to invest in infrastructure and support growth. We have worked closely with the other cities and with our Local Enterprise Partnership to make this case to government. This has included the high profile Greater Birmingham Project with Lord Heseltine and a series of meetings with ministers, beginning with our cross-party delegation to see the Prime Minister last year. We intend to develop an integrated urban transport mobility framework to connect people, businesses and jobs. The development of HS2 will cement our position at the heart of the nations economy. Connectivity also extends to developing next generation digital infrastructure, ensuring access to the global economy and making the most of our own digital and data assets. The Green economy also presents tremendous opportunities for the city. There are significant new opportunities building on the innovations by our universities and the interest from business in installing energy and environmental systems in the city. These are vital in creating new jobs, reducing the citys total energy bill and making Birmingham a leading green city.

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Our achievements in 201213  Secured a 128m investment plan within the Enterprise Zone that will deliver 600,000 sq metres of floorspace and 20,000 jobs around the city centre and help kick start transformational projects such as the redevelopment of Paradise Circus and the extension of the Metro  Launched the Economic Zone Prospectus, a pioneering blueprint for the citys future economic landscape. The Prospectus sets out six zones where target growth sectors are aligned with key development opportunities. The Zones will attract 1.5bn of investment, generating in the region of 1.8m sq metres of floor space and 50,000 new jobs. Over 7m has been secured to accelerate delivery of these key growth sectors1:  Advanced Manufacturing Hub Environmental Enterprises District Life Sciences Campus Food Hub Enterprise Zone  IT, Electronics and Communications (ITEC) Park

M6

Birminghams Economic Zones

THE FOOD HUB

M6

M6 M6

A34

A38

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING HUB

M6

M5

THE ENTERPRISE ZONE

ENVIRONMENTAL ENTERPRISE DISTRICT Birmingham Airport & NEC

A38 LIFE SCIENCES CAMPUS A41

A45

M5 A38

LONGBRIDGE ITEC PARK

For details and a 3D map of the Enterprise Zones visit http://tinyurl.com/birmez. Further information also at http:/www.birminghamenterprise.org

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 Developed better financial support for local businesses through Finance Birmingham, whose offer now includes both an equity fund and a loan fund for SMEs, and a creative industries fund Opened the first phase of a Womens Enterprise Hub  Secured funding of 63.1m to enable the Paradise Circus redevelopment to go ahead opening up an important quarter of the city centre for redevelopment, generating around 10,000 jobs and circa 450m gross value per annum to the local economy  Set up and completed the work of the Youth Unemployment Commission leading to a major programme to create jobs for young people, supported by a Birmingham Jobs Fund (council commitment of 2m) combined with an ambitious challenge to employers to create 1,000 apprentices in 100 days.  Made progress on some important development projects such as opening the first half of the new concourse at New Street station; putting plans in place for a mixed use development at Icknield Port Loop, comprising 1150 new homes as well as retail, service employment and leisure uses; opening the new Eastside City Park and the introduction of six new city centre bus interchanges  Secured cross-party and wider stakeholder support for a 22.9m Cycle Ambition bid to make cycling an integral part of Birminghams transport network  Launched a new Car2Go city car club pilot to provide a further alternative to car ownership.

Our plans for 201314  Take forward the delivery of the economic zones with a range of activities to support businesses through simplified planning and investment in infrastructure  Publish the pre-submission version of the Birmingham Development Plan for consultation  Resolve the long-term future of the Birmingham markets and the development opportunity of the Southern Gateway on the site of the wholesale markets  Produce a City Centre Retail Strategy to define future growth opportunities in the City Centre for retail businesses  Boost womens enterprise by providing the second phase of the Womens Enterprise Hub with business incubator units and a package of support to encourage start-ups and enterprises

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 Take forward the recommendations of the Birmingham Commission for Youth Unemployment by re-directing 2m of council funding matched with up to 1.5m of National Apprenticeship Service AGE grants, the Governments Wage Incentive and Talent Match Big Lottery money, to a new Birmingham Jobs Fund to deliver jobs and apprenticeships for young people  Establish a Birmingham Youth Employment Partnership to grow a multiagency response to youth unemployment, with a call to arms for Birmingham employers to create jobs for young people  Take forward the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI). BCC is now the accountable body for this 125m programme which aims to help companies in the manufacturing supply chain to become globally competitive  Deliver a 3m investment from ERDF to support SMEs in Digbeth and the Jewellery Quarter, East Birmingham industrial corridor and Tyseley that will help businesses improve their properties, deliver new business floor space and create or safeguard jobs  Pilot local economic summits through District Committees to introduce local businesses to the economic implications of the Social Inclusion Process and help to build links between businesses and schools  Stimulate job creation through self-employment and business support measures and, generally, through the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce with a sign-posting scenario for Birmingham businesses  Transform the way regulation is delivered to business, improving the relationship between regulators and the business community that enables growth, employment and export opportunities  Publish a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for Birmingham building on the recommendations of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee report on Transforming Urban Movement through Cycling and Walking in Birmingham. This will set out a long-term vision and short to medium term steps towards this from our current position of over-reliance on private cars, with a 3D plan for transport options (walk, cycle, bus, car and Metro) that acknowledges future land use and movement around/in/out of the city  Produce an integrated transport strategy for the city centre that will support the proposed High Speed 2 line and enhance Birminghams profile as a welcoming, attractive and inclusive place to do business  Bring forward detailed plans to roll out a 20mph limit for Birminghams residential roads, supporting a safer and healthier environment for all.

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A Social Enterprise City

A social enterprise can be any kind of business and as such could deliver any services and products. It is particularly well suited to the environment sector and recycling, health and social care, education and child care, training and employment, hospitality, food production, sport and tourism. The sector is also particularly good at working with disadvantaged groups including ex-offenders, homeless and ex-homeless people, people with long-term ill-health and disabilities. Our plans for 201314  Promote and celebrate the social enterprise sector in Birmingham, specifically in Digbeth where there is an emerging Social Enterprise Zone  Enable social enterprise to fully contribute to the economic development and local regeneration of Birmingham, particularly with support that enables access to premises and for a social enterprise host for start-up and growing social enterprises in Digbeth or elsewhere  Introduce a social enterprise strand to Find it in Birmingham that will encourage purchasing and procurement with and between social enterprises  Create opportunities for social enterprise to address issues of community cohesion and empowerment

Using the councils buying power better

The city council has a significant purchasing power and we are determined to use this to achieve positive outcomes for the local economy and community. To achieve this we are developing a Social Value approach to commissioning and procurement, promoting business social responsibility through our Business Charter and through our own actions like implementing the Living Wage for council staff. Our achievements in 201213  Increased to 18,000 the number of businesses registered with Find it in Birmingham, which has led to 1,800 business opportunities worth circa 3.61m  Published the Business Charter for Social Responsibility (including the Buy Birmingham First policy and a Social Value policy).

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Our plans for 201314  Implement the Business Charter for Social Responsibility; promote the Living Wage across Birmingham and champion a Buy Birmingham First approach which supports local companies to bid for council work  Modernise Birmingham City Councils commissioning arrangements to drive forward and maximise the social value of council spending  Drive increased efficiencies, innovation, performance and value across the council through improved contract management, to be rolled out across the city council during the year.

Providing new homes

After years of inadequate house building we face a severe shortage of housing of all types, but in particular housing that most people can afford. This is driving up rents and house prices, forcing people to live in inadequate or overcrowded accommodation and creating an unnecessary burden on the public purse. So we are determined to use every means available to the council to support the provision of new homes of all tenures. We know that there is a need to build around 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years, a rate of new house building not seen since the 1960s. We want to ensure that there is a supply of housing of all types to meet the needs of all of our residents. Our achievements in 201213  Delivered 573 new affordable homes through direct provision and working with housing associations  Launched a new Repair and Lease scheme to bring empty properties back into use as affordable housing  Enabled an increase of new house building from a little over 1,400 new homes in 201112 to over 2,000 last year. Our plans for 201314  Provide 1200 new homes through Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust  Develop a Housing Growth Plan for Birmingham for the delivery of a wide range of housing types, tenure and affordability through the Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust, Housing Associations and private sector developers and by developing innovative forms of financing  Conduct a feasibility study on the potential of creating housing investment company models linked to council assets  Develop models to incentivise the development of private rented sector homes in the city funded by institutional investors.

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International strategy
Birmingham has enjoyed successful engagement in European and international affairs for a number of years that have seen the city access hundreds of millions of pounds worth of EU funding supporting growth and employment in the city and investing in many flagship initiatives such as the ICC, Brindleyplace, Millennium Point and Eastside. Alongside this, meaningful engagement with our European and international partner and sister cities has led to hugely beneficial collaboration illustrated by events such as the Frankfurt Christmas Market. Looking forward, this engagement will be strengthened through the introduction of the new European & International Strategy which sets out refreshed objectives and priorities.

Our plans for 201314  Act upon the new European & International Strategy for the city, with four distinct priorities:  Maximising European funding opportunities Strengthening international partnerships, trade and investment Enhancing influence and reputation internationally Developing better Joined-Up working with key partners.

Culture and the visitor and creative economy

Arts and culture make a vital contribution to the life of the city. They provide a quality of life which contributes to the wellbeing of residents, as well as attracting visitors and long-term business investors. Culture is an important component of the local economy and supports jobs in related areas such as tourism, hospitality and food. It has a close relationship with the creative industries which play a key role in driving innovation as one of the citys high growth sectors. Maintaining a rich and diverse cultural base is at the heart of what Birmingham is as a city. Our reputation is growing and much of our visitor economy and inward investment is attracted by what we have to offer as a place to work, stay and live. The Creative City initiative will develop and promote aspiring innovative and entrepreneurial talent, develop a local market for cultural and creative activity and enhance our reputation as a place to do business.

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Our achievements in 201213  Hosted an Arts and Culture Summit and identified several areas for action which will be taken forward in 201314  Delivered a Cultural Olympiad 2012 programme, celebrated the centenary of the Rep theatre and held two world film premieres  Created a new city culture team within the Development and Culture Directorate to create synergies between the visitor economy, skills and planning. Our plans for 201314  Establish a Sport and Leisure strategy for the city including a programme of major sporting events  Establish Birmingham as a Festivals City, with a coherent calendar and effective promotion of distinctive, ambitious and high quality events  Further develop localised delivery of culture, building on the Arts Champions and Local Arts Forum arrangements and Arts on the Move mobile service, supporting the implementation of District Arts Plans and celebrating districts cultural achievements  Hold a Youth Arts Summit to encourage a stronger voice for young people in cultural planning and delivery  Take forward a Tourism Business Improvement District which will maximise the potential partnership with hotels in Birmingham and secure investment into the local convention and conference economy  Open the Library of Birmingham.

A Green and Smart City

The Leaders Policy Statement 2012 committed us to accelerating Birminghams transition to being one of the worlds leading green cities. Our vision for a Smart City is about promoting state of the art digital access to support todays businesses and citizens to learn, to create and to do business. We were selected as IBMs UK Smart City for 2012. Our achievements in 201213 Green City  Developed and published a Vision Statement Building a Green City through the Green Commission, with a priority focus on publishing a new Birmingham Carbon Roadmap, linked to the national Carbon Budget plan periods through to 2027. The key priorities are to accelerate investment in how we heat and power our city; to create local renewable energy; to improve the way we travel and to widen our investment in energy efficiency programmes

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 Completed the procurement of Carillion Energy Savers to drive forward our Birmingham Energy Savers programme, which commenced in February 2013 to retrofit up to 60,000 homes in the next eight years  Consulted on new planning frameworks to guide future development and investment in the city and on the future role of Birminghams green spaces and ecosystems  Held discussions with the Green Investment Bank and European Investment Bank on our key priorities, with a view to creating a Green Fund  Began to transform waste collection in Birmingham with the introduction of wheelie bins in two pilot wards that ultimately will create a cleaner and more sustainable service.

Smart City  Established a Smart City Commission, drawn from academia, health, transport, education, utilities and business  Secured up to 10m to drive the take up of broadband services within the Digital Districts of Digbeth, Eastside and Jewellery Quarter. We are now working closely with government, the EU and major telecommunications providers to develop a programme of opportunities for local small businesses  Brought the Young Wired State Festival for Coding to Birmingham with hundreds of young people gathering to showcase their digital skills and innovative applications  Attracted major organisations to work with the city to host a Next Generation Skills event with Microsoft, Millennium Point and the Youth Unemployment Commission which has resulted in Microsoft announcing 100 new IT apprenticeships for Birmingham  Approved an Open Data Policy and Strategy as a key element of delivering our Open City ambitions  Incorporated a Smart City Development Fund into the GBS LEP Risk Capital Fund of Funds.

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Our plans for 201314 Green City  Complete the work of the Finance and Investment Task Group under the Green Commission to identify how the finance needs of the Vision Statement will be met and a Green Fund established  Publish through the Green Commission a new Carbon Roadmap for Birmingham in November 2013. This will set out the key actions and programmes to make Birmingham a leading green city  Ensure that the Commissions Green Vision is embedded in the citys marketing and investment work through Marketing Birmingham  Adopt a new Supplementary Planning Document Your Green and Healthy City which will drive a sustainable future and encourage green developments, jobs and investment  Adopt a Green Living Spaces plan to improve liveability and guardianship of natural spaces in the city  Undertake a detailed energy assessment with Department of Energy & Climate Change support and produce an Energy Plan.

The Carbon Roadmap The Green City vision, published last year will be taken forward through the Carbon Roadmap, which will set out four longer term priorities:  Create an Energy Plan for Birmingham and expand new district energy networks in major regeneration and development areas of the city and link these to existing housing to help reduce energy bills. This will accelerate the installation of new district energy schemes in the city, especially at Longbridge and at Icknield Port Loop  Publish a Sustainable Urban Mobility Action Plan for Birmingham. This will set out how we will improve travel by promoting alternative choices of transport and the procurement of low carbon/electric vehicles across public and private organisations  Improve the energy efficiency and affordable warmth of buildings, by continuing to roll out the Birmingham Energy Savers programme, which will see the retrofit of 60,000 homes, with annual savings in fuel bills and 40,000 people taken out of fuel poverty by 2020  Create decarbonised local energy generation capacity by building on the success of the citys existing solar installations and exploit the potential of the citys land and building assets to generate a renewable energy.

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Smart City  Publish our Smart City Roadmap and Action, building on the key themes of leadership and ownership, exploitation of new technologies, service transformation, support mechanisms for innovation, new information marketplaces, support to citizens and businesses to close the digital divide and profiling and influencing to attract investment as a recognised Smart City  Develop a programme of activities that build on our Digital Districts initiative to accelerate digital connectivity and stimulate growth in our high value businesses  Identify initial city council databases for a prototype open data platform and use this to drive the use of public data in the city and ultimately the wider city region  Improve digital connectivity for businesses in Birmingham and support SMEs and entrepeneurs to trial new technologies  Exploit the use of digital technologies in the transformation of city services through innovative approaches to procurement and service redesign  Attract European and national funds to deliver new digital hubs and other innovative projects and activities across the city  Recruit 2013 Digital Champions through the national GO ON initiative and work with schools, local communities and the commercial sector to reduce digital exclusion. Develop a Digital Inclusion Strategy that links to social and financial inclusion.

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3.  A Democratic City: Involving local people and neighbourhoods

Much has been achieved on the localisation and devolution agenda set out last year. However progress on creating a genuinely locally focused and integrated approach to local services has been frustrating. In order to ensure faster progress and to build support and commitment amongst all staff of the council, we will be issuing a Localisation Challenge to all members of the council and staff. We will launch a new approach to public engagement based on the principle of Engagement for Action, ensuring we move up the ladder of public participation from previous tokenistic approaches towards engagement that leads to real practical action and a greater democratic right of residents to influence and shape the services they receive The Cabinet Member for Social Cohesion and Equalities will continue work with senior managers across the council to drive forward the next stages of localisation and devolution, as part of the general portfolio role of challenging services to deliver. This will include paying particular attention to the localisation and devolution of housing management.

The Localisation Challenge The Challenge is to: Deliver fully on the commitments in this Leaders Policy Statement Drive forward the vision of Birmingham as a truly devolved city Achieve a significant increase in locally binding Executive decisions Focus the whole of the city council on shaping outcomes in local places Ensure that the devolved arrangements are fully responsive to scrutiny.

Reducing crime and creating safer communities is a high priority for local residents and the city council plays a key role in this as part of the Community Safety Partnership alongside the Police and other agencies. Local Neighbourhood Tasking meetings between the agencies and the community are a key part of our approach. Birmingham has become again the safest of the English core cities, according to the latest crime data. Other positive indicators include a below average level of re-offending and a reduction on offenders appearing before the court (partly because of increased use of restorative justice).

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Our achievements in 201213  Re-energised, the programme of devolution and localisation started in 2004, radically revising the councils constitution to pass Executive decision making on a wide range of services (e.g. council housing and libraries) to local District Committees consisting of local elected councillors  Established a new directorate focused on localising service management and delivery  Began the commissioning of a Social Lettings Agency to increase housing options for those seeking to rent  Licensed over 300 high risk houses in multiple occupation bringing the total of licensed premises to over 1800. The Midland Landlord accreditation scheme operated by the regional consortium Homestamp now has 2,000 members, 50% in Birmingham  Increased the number of households prevented from becoming homeless by over 7,000 and achieved national recognition for the work of the Youth Hub which provides support, advice and assistance to young people at risk of becoming homeless  Improved public engagement, for example through Cabinet Memberled public meetings on the budget, public questions to the Cabinet, revamp of the website, the Peoples Panel, open data, public dialogue and engagement around service reviews and the on-going live streaming of council meetings  Improved accountability by providing detailed performance data on local services to District Committees Developed a know-how guide and online support for neighbourhood forums  Appointed a new Victims Champion who has led on the development of the Birmingham Victims Charter and the launch of a new domestic abuse campaign Agreed the Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy Approved the Birmingham Alcohol Strategy  Carried out a review of Neighbourhood Tasking Groups and identified good practice across the city  Carried out Domestic Homicide Reviews through the Community Safety Partnership and implemented improvements.

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Our plans for 201314 District Committees will:  Adopt an annual Policy Statement that sets out objectives for the year at the first meeting of the municipal year  Adopt a Development Plan that sets out a vision for the district that can be used to shape service provision and long-term investment  Implement the new Homelessness Strategy: further increase the number of cases where homelessness is prevented and reduce the use of bed and breakfast accommodation  Complete the development of the new housing allocations system which is fair, simple and transparent and which allows people to make the best use of all available housing options  Develop a Letting Suite in each district quadrant working with tenants to self-serve to obtain benefits and understand their responsibilities as a tenant and launch the Log Book channel shift approach for tenants to manage their own tenancies.

Public Engagement
 Launch a youth engagement commission to establish how we can best engage with the disenfranchised youngest 26% of the city  Develop an inclusive and sustainable tenant engagement structure. This will include setting up ten District Resident Panels for all tenures supporting housing improvements and shaping better neighbourhoods. They will have a dual role of meeting statutory requirements for tenant engagement but also taking forward a much broader approach to housing in the life of the wider neighbourhood and community  Develop a new neighbourhood strategy in partnership with local communities that will focus on building networks of active residents and local democratic structures  Provide support to increase the number and expand the constructive activity of Neighbourhood Forums  Develop further the councils use of social media to engage with a wider range of residents  Launch a civic enterprise challenge inviting Districts, Wards and resident groups to bring forward innovations in the way local services are managed and delivered and new ways of effectively involving residents in the work of Ward Committees.

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Local Decision Making

 Set a clear timetable for localised decision making covering issues such as the timetable for District Committee decision making, routine performance reporting arrangements, District Conventions, local executive decision making, and good practice examples from Districts  Deliver an Organisational Development Plan and a cultural change programme in partnership with the Public Services Academy to drive forward the behaviours and innovation that supports localisation  Develop a devolution commissioning toolkit to support decision-making when contracts and services are being reviewed, to enable District Committees to have timely involvement in commissioning reviews.

Driving improved outcomes in each district As we build up the role of the devolved district committees, we are developing a district level focus on the performance of a range of local services. This includes: The proposed new Floor Targets on inequalities Performance data on social housing More comprehensive performance information on local schools District Scorecards for health indicators  Ageing Well Plans to understand how older people can be supported by their community  Local economic summits to work with local businesses in tackling social exclusion.

 Establish a Leading Localisation Programme so that our most senior officers have strategic responsibility for place alongside function. This will see 50 senior officers engage in the localisation agenda and the mission to make Birmingham a truly devolved city  Ensure that districts can determine the shape of local services in their patch. Starting off with a fundamental review and options appraisal of sport and leisure provision across each district, placing public health outcomes to the fore  Amend the city councils constitution to give districts greater involvement in financial decisions. The Housing Revenue Account Business Plan will evolve into a true budget for each district with the potential for surpluses to be reinvested in local priorities. The aspiration is that over time significant sums will be controllable in this way.

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Neighbourhood Strategy and Transforming Place

 Organise a Democratic City Summit to consult on the final shape of the Birmingham Neighbourhood Strategy, Transforming Place. The Birmingham Democratic City Summit will bring together active citizens from across the city to work together with the council to re-shape service management through the Neighbourhood Strategy. This strategy will build on success to date in improving outcomes in localities and provide a long-term sustainable framework for innovation and delivery driving forward localisation. District Committees will identify locality delivery zones and Cabinet will agree the framework in Autumn 2013  Develop a Sustainable Communities Prospectus in each district engaging the emerging District Housing Panels and housing providers in identifying the pattern of development required to meet our affordable and market housing strategy  Establish three trailblazers in Kingstanding, Ladywood and Longbridge for District Skills and Learning Partnerships with a roll out programme  Develop a Birmingham Citizens Charter in line with the Birmingham: Where the world meets Overview & Scrutiny report  Explore the setting up of Neighbourhood Welcome Centres as recommended by the Social Inclusion Process bringing together a range of existing facilities and services to make them more accessible  Establish a City Leaders programme in conjunction with the Public Service Academy which will equip leaders from across all agencies with the necessary skills and perspectives to drive forward our future vision.

Community Safety
 Work with the Police and Crime Commissioner on community-led policing in Birmingham through the Police and Crime Panel and the designated Victims Champion to promote the safety of citizens in Birmingham  Adopt the Victims Rights Charter to ensure that all victims of crime and antisocial behaviour receive a timely and meaningful service from all agencies  Implement key aspects of the Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy, including a neighbourhood early intervention approach. Council House Tenancy Conditions and Service Standards will be reviewed  Implement the recommendations of the Domestic Violence Needs Assessment due to be completed in summer 2013  Along with the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership, create a Local Policing and Crime Board to enable local communities to set priorities  Carry forward the current review of Neighbourhood Tasking by strengthening mechanisms for engaging active citizens in identifying local issues on community safety and quality of life.
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