Official Report 425KB pdf
Agenda item 4 gives us an opportunity to report back on our fact-finding visit to Manchester, on which we spoke to key officers and officials about city region devolution and the use of local government pension funds to support local capital infrastructure investment.
I start by saying that, although there are some structural differences between the systems north and south of the border, there are certainly lessons that we could learn from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s experience. I felt that it was valuable for members to hear how much can be achieved through consensual partnership working by local authorities. Such consensual working enables economies of scale to be achieved, which works to the advantage of all partners, and it allows strategic planning, with a focus on integration of services, to take place over a longer timescale with shared goals and benefits.
That long-term vision was also demonstrated by the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, in the work of which it was evident that a great deal of effort has gone into creating local investment opportunities in the commercial sector and in affordable housing. The GMPF has been able to reconcile any risks associated with that type of investment because of the long-term nature of the investments and their positive social impact, and because the infrastructure investments in question are less volatile than other types of investment and provide a satisfactory return.
I invite other members to share their views on the fact-finding visit.
It was extremely useful to see how Manchester City Council works closely with other local authorities in the region to achieve economies of scale and a concentration of targeted resources that helps with economic growth in Manchester and greater Manchester.
I found it extremely enlightening to discover that the Greater Manchester Pension Fund has been able to pull various funds together to create public projects, particularly in the delivery of affordable and social rented housing. I know from having spoken to representatives of the GMPF last week that some of them are to meet representatives of local authorities and pension funds in Scotland. Therefore, it might be useful for us to look at the issue again at a later date and speak to some of the local authority pension funds to find out whether lessons have been learned and to encourage local authorities to use the financial power that they have through the pension funds to do more social and economic projects in Scotland instead of relying solely on international and other investments that do not deliver local social good.
I remind members that consideration of pension and investment funds form part of our budget scrutiny and that we will have the opportunity to tease out the issues further at our meeting in Inverclyde in two weeks’ time. I hope that members will take that opportunity.
I thoroughly enjoyed the day and spending time with my new colleagues. It was important for me and very useful for us to have that time out to get to know each other.
I was also very impressed with the vision of the people in Manchester: if they deliver on it, it will be very exciting. I like the fact that they are building on what is already there, because the local authorities have been working together for a long time. The introduction of the mayor is a development of what was already in place. They are not doing new things all the time; rather, they are growing all the time.
I share Mr Wilson’s view about the pension fund. I know that the Greater Manchester Pension Fund was going to speak to people in Fife, and in the next couple of weeks I will have a chat with the chair of the Fife pension fund to find out how that went.
The convener is right that we should keep an eye on the issue of pensions and perhaps revisit it as we proceed with the budget scrutiny.
It was a very professional day; the whole day was well prepared, well put together and very interesting. I was impressed with the direction and with the local authorities’ integration within greater Manchester. I know that it was easy to some extent because, as Jayne Baxter has said, they have been working together for a long time, but I was very impressed. It went very well and there are lessons that we can learn from it.
As part of our budget scrutiny, in Inverclyde and beyond, we will be able to tease out some of the issues. We will make sure that those folk who were not part of the visit have the information that they need to tease out some of the issues.