ADD2725 London Growth Plan development

1.1.    The Mayor of London committed to delivering a Growth Plan that will be an action-focused document setting out how London will drive economic growth; increase wages and living standards for low- and middle-income Londoners; create over 150,000 good jobs by 2028; and support the path to net zero. The London Growth Plan will be developed with boroughs, businesses, trade unions and Londoners. 
1.2.    A stakeholder engagement process to co-develop the London Growth Plan will include activities such as events and workshops; a Talk London campaign; surveys; and print media.
1.3.    Effective delivery of the London Growth Plan will require shared ownership and commitment to action from public and private sector stakeholders, and therefore a wide range of opportunities to engage.
1.4.    The GLA manages an open innovation programme, Challenge LDN, which has launched 28 open calls to date. It brings innovators together with London’s public, private and third sectors to co-design solutions to the city’s complex challenges. As the GLA enters a new mayoral term, a horizon-scanning and scoping exercise is required to identify potential delivery and funding models for future innovation challenges. This work will bring together partners across the public and private sectors to implement solutions, selected through Challenge LDN, across the capital. In this way, it will support ambitions outlined in the London Growth Plan.
 

2.1.    The proposed funding will support the development and delivery of the London Growth Plan. Objectives of the engagement process are to enable:
•    consensus on the content of the Growth Plan
•    action-oriented planning, reflecting broad stakeholder roles, responsibilities and commitments
•    inclusivity, ensuring engagement with representatives of London’s communities that reflect the diversity of its population.
2.2.    Activities to support the development of the Growth Plan include:
•    in-person and online workshops, focus groups and plenary events targeting government, business, trade unions, communities and other stakeholders
•    outreach campaigns including Talk London, social media and media campaigns, and printed communication materials
•    a scoping exercise to identify challenge themes, and a delivery model for the next set of open calls for Challenge LDN, that support the delivery of priorities to be outlined in the Growth Plan.
2.3.    These activities will be commissioned and managed by the Economic Strategy & Innovation team in the Economic Development Unit.
2.4.    The project will deliver the following outcomes:
•    an informed, robust and implementable London Growth Plan co-owned by all relevant stakeholders
•    broad-based consensus and buy-in across sectors (including government, business, trade unions, higher and further education, and civil society) to the Growth Plan
•    a community of stakeholders and partners across the private and public sectors. that would collaborate with the GLA in more meaningful and effective ways to deliver future innovation challenges under a new delivery model
•    effective support to scale up innovations that support the delivery of the Growth Plan, with improved access to investment, partnerships and engagement with members of London’s investor community.
2.5.    To deliver the above benefits, the following expenditure is proposed: 

3.1.    Public authorities, such as the GLA and boroughs, must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not, under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic that is connected to that characteristic; taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low.
3.2.    The relevant protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, sex, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. Compliance with the public sector equality duty will be ensured, namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010).
3.3.    An inclusive stakeholder engagement process has been designed that will include a Talk London Campaign and collaboration with GLA teams engaged directly with communities and civil society to ensure that Londoners with the protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act will be included. These Londoners will include women, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), youth, LGBTIQA+, and people living with disabilities.
3.4.    The Economic Strategy and Innovation team will ensure that the opportunity to participate in the Challenge LDN programme reaches diverse innovators, including those who do not typically participate in this type of activity, such as women-led and BAME majority groups. The programme will use marketing and communication campaigns that reflect the diversity of London, including through outreach to peer-to-peer networks, as well as through London’s Business Improvement Districts, through local authority and third-sector networks.  In the preceding No Wrong Door Challenge there was a requirement that 50 per cent of grants will go to people with protected characteristics.
3.5.    The Challenge LDN programme will work with delivery partners to reach diverse community groups and access harder-to-reach communities, including those with lived experiences of the challenges being addressed. This will enable the innovation process to be inclusive, and the product to better meet the needs of London’s diverse population.
 

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.1.    The Growth Plan and the open innovation programme will support the Mayor’s commitment to create 150,000 new good jobs by 2028; and a new London growth plan that can boost jobs and growth in both the foundational economy and well-established sectors. These sectors include finance and business services; retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism; manufacturing; logistics; built environment and construction. The growth plan will also support London’s fastest-growing sectors, including health and life sciences; digital (including fintech, retail tech, cyber and AI); creative industries (including film, fashion, TV, music and games); climate tech; and energy.
4.2.    Key risks and issues are listed below:

4.3.    There are no conflicts of interest to declare for anyone involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision.
4.4.    There will be a free and fair tendering process for any procurement that is undertaken in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code.
 

5.1.    Approval is requested for expenditure of up to £70,000 to support the development of the London Growth Plan.
5.2.    This expenditure will be funded from the Technology and Innovation budget within the Economic Development Unit’s approved budget for 2024-25.
5.3.    All expenditure will be incurred within 2024-25. The planned split of the expenditure is shown below. A more detailed breakdown is included in section 2.5, above.

5.4.    All relevant budget adjustments will be made. 

6.1.    The project will be delivered according to the following timetable: