Metro Dynamics has recently developed an Inclusive Growth Toolkit to help places make informed investment decisions. This is an important step towards allowing places to assess the inclusive growth outcomes of interventions or investments, placing inclusivity at the heart of decision-making. The work is an open source contribution freely available to view and use.
Inclusive Growth is becoming an increasingly important issue in the UK. There has been a growing feeling in the country that economic growth does not benefit all places or groups equally. We believe that if future economic growth is to become more inclusive, robust and logical thinking is required.
As the new Mayoral Combined Authorities take control of new investment funds, and further spending is devolved, areas have more control over how money is spent locally. This is a real opportunity to change places for the better. However, if outcomes from spending are to improve, places need new tools to allow them to assess the potential of interventions and investments to foster Inclusive Growth.
The toolkit’s aim is to help establish a simple methodology to allow places to do this. The Toolkit can help Local Authorities, Combined Authorities, and Local Enterprise Partnerships determine whether and how an investment or intervention supports inclusive growth. This will enable decision makers to have a clearer understanding of the likely impact of particular investments on people who have been least likely to benefit from growth in the past.
This work was supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, alongside Sheffield City Region and Cardiff City Council, who have helped develop the model. We are also grateful for the support we received from representatives of Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire Combined Authorities, along with D2N2 LEP, New Economy and Cardiff and Sheffield City Regions.
As it stands, the guidance in the document is broadly ready to use, though there may be some local research needed to allow the impact measures to be sufficiently tailored to local economic and labour market conditions.
The Toolkit can be accessed here.