Your WISE insights for July 2024
Headlines
General election results in the WMCA area
The Labour party have won the 2024 General Election with a considerable majority and Sir Keir Starmer MP will be our new Prime Minister. This is the same party as the Mayor of the West Midlands Richard Parker.
Locally, the Labour party have made sizeable gains in the West Midlands, taking seven seats from the Conservatives. The Conservative party, on the other hand, have lost 9 of their MPs. We also have a new Independent Member of Parliament, with Ayoub Khan winning in Birmingham Perry Barr. Overall, the WMCA sees 13 new MPs.
Birmingham
Birmingham Edgbaston – LAB HOLD: Preet Kaur Gill MP
Birmingham Erdington – LAB HOLD: Paulette Hamilton MP
Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley – LAB HOLD: Tahir Ali MP
Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North – LAB HOLD: Liam Byrne MP
Birmingham Ladywood – LAB HOLD: Shabana Mahmood MP
Birmingham Northfield – LAB GAIN: Laurence Turner MP
Birmingham Perry Bar – IND GAIN: Ayoub Khan MP
Birmingham Selly Oak – LAB HOLD: Al Carns MP
Birmingham Sutton Coldfield – CON HOLD: Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP
Birmingham Yardley – LAB HOLD: Jess Phillips MP
Coventry
Coventry East – LAB HOLD: Mary Creagh MP
Coventry North West – LAB HOLD: Taiwo Owatemi MP
Coventry South – LAB HOLD: Zarah Sultana MP
Dudley
Dudley – LAB GAIN: Sonia Kumar MP
Stourbridge – LAB GAIN: Cat Eccles MP
Halesowen - LAB GAIN: Alex Ballinger MP
Kingswinford and South Staffordshire – CON HOLD: Mike Wood MP (only partially in the WMCA area)
Solihull
Meriden and Solihull East – CON HOLD: Saqib Bhatti MP
Solihull West and Shirley – CON HOLD: Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP
Sandwell
Smethwick – LAB HOLD: Gurinder Singh Josan MP
Tipton and Wednesbury – LAB GAIN: Antonia Bance MP
West Bromwich – Lab GAIN: Sarah Coombes MP
Walsall
Aldridge Brownhills – CON HOLD: Rt Hon Wendy Morton MP
Walsall-Bloxwich - LAB HOLD: Rt Hon Valerie Vaz MP
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton North East – LAB GAIN: Sureena Brackenridge MP
Wolverhampton South East – LAB HOLD: Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP
Wolverhampton West – LAB GAIN: Warinder Singh Juss MP
Changes
LAB: 21 (+7) CON: 5 (-9) IND: 1 (+1)
Note: Boundary changes mean there are now only 27 MPs in the WMCA area, compared to the previous 29. The above 'gain/ hold' indicators are based on who held most of the new seat at the 2019 General Election.
Productivity in the WMCA area
The annual update to the regional productivity figures was released in June. These showed that productivity per hour rose in the WMCA area from £34.10 in 2021 to £34.50 in 2022. However, when inflation is taken into account, this represents a fall in productivity of 1.8%, while for the UK as a whole there was a 0.1% rise. Still there was a great deal of variation across the region. While productivity was down in Birmingham, Coventry and Walsall (-1.9%, -5.8%, -5.7%), there was growth in Solihull, Dudley, Sandwell, and Wolverhampton (3.4%, 1.7%, 3.2%, 0.2%).
WMCA Economic Dashboard
This month, the business activity index remained relatively stable, while the future activity index continued its slow upward trend, suggesting local businesses are hopeful that the economy will start to pick up soon. Q1 2024 export values continued to rise while imports remained steady. Finally, the total claimant count rose marginally in May while the youth claimant count has continued to plateau. For all the latest regional economic data, see the annex.
Productivity and economic growth
UK growth and inflation update
The economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2024, driven by the service and production sector while the construction sector contracted. In April, overall growth in the economy has initially been estimated at 0.0%. Nevertheless, inflation has now fallen back to the Bank of England target rate of 2.0%. While inflation has fallen back, interest rates are yet to fall as the Bank expects upward inflationary pressure over the coming months – particularly with core inflation remaining at 3.5% and service sector inflation at 5.7% in May. Still, interest rates are expected to start falling soon.
Major economic boost and thousands of new jobs on the way as Investment Zone delivery plan gets green light
The WMCA has approved a plan for a West Midlands Investment Zone, expected to attract over £5.5 billion in private investment and create 30,000 jobs through tax incentives, direct funding, and business rate retention, focusing on advanced manufacturing, green industries, health-tech, and digital technologies, powered by three key sites: Coventry-Warwick Gigapark, Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, and Wolverhampton Green Innovation Corridor.
Climbing the summit: big cities in the UK and the G7 - Centre for Cities
The report examines secondary cities' roles in addressing the UK's economic underperformance, highlighting the productivity gap with G7 countries, analysing the performance of large cities, and discussing necessary reforms to close the prosperity gap. Interestingly, the report notes no relationship between the size of the manufacturing sector and productivity. It reveals that Birmingham has a similar proportion of jobs in the manufacturing sector to Munich, which has a productivity level similar to London. Birmingham is also only slightly more geared toward manufacturing than San Francisco, which is the most productive city covered in the report. While, overall, the report points out that manufacturing may not be the solution to our productivity problems, it equally does not evidence that preferencing the service sector is.
Physical Inactivity & Productivity in the Midlands – Midlands Engine
The research explores how physical inactivity affects productivity in the Midlands, finding it plausibly reduces productivity and increases absenteeism and presenteeism. A rapid literature review and primary data collection through surveys and focus groups informed six key statements. While it’s unclear if inactivity directly impacts unemployment or early job market exit, evidence suggests active commuting and workplace interventions can effectively boost physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour.
General election briefing: reindustrialising and rebalancing the UK economy – Centre for Progressive Policy
The Centre for Progressive Policy recommends a UK Manufacturing Mission to boost manufacturing's share of GDP and employment, creating better-paying jobs in disadvantaged areas. This strategy should include reforms to enhance technical skills and establish Regional Co-Investment Funds to increase public and private investment. Alongside manufacturing, a comprehensive industrial strategy should also aim to improve job quality in service sectors like social care and retail. Addressing the UK's weak public infrastructure, dysfunctional planning system, and technical skills shortages is essential for this inclusive economic growth.
A productivity plan – The Productivity Institute
The plan argues that next UK Government must prioritize productivity through broad-based policies supporting business and public investment in skills, innovation, and a net-zero transition, aiming to double current productivity growth to 1% and potentially increase it to 1.5-2% for sustainable public investments. It should do this by addressing chronic underinvestment, leveraging best practices beyond London, and improving institutional communication, with political manifestos recognizing productivity's importance and proposing supportive policies.
Backing breakthrough businesses: the first report of the Private Business Commission
This report examines factors affecting business growth in the UK, focusing on funding, capital markets, taxation, and employee incentives. It presents ten policy proposals to support high-growth businesses, informed by the Private Business Commission's research.
Levelling up, five years on? – Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
Five years after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'levelling up' pledge, the IFS report and NIESR briefing evaluate the early progress towards its goals and offer policy recommendations aimed at achieving long-term regional regeneration nationwide.
The government’s record on tax 2010–24 – Institute for Fiscal Studies
This study of tax policies from 2010 to 2024 reveals UK tax policy changes increased revenue but also added complexity with numerous new taxes and rule changes. Persistent challenges include employment penalties, outdated council tax valuations, and the absence of a comprehensive motoring tax plan.
Lessons from the Dutch 'Sustainable Wellbeing' approach
Madiyha Ghafoor (WMCA) reflects on a seminar at the British Embassy in The Hague earlier this year that highlighted the Dutch focus on "sustainable wellbeing," which prioritizes long-term quality of life and environmental sustainability over mere economic growth, and applies tailored, regional policies to achieve these goals, offering valuable lessons for the UK on incorporating broader, future-oriented considerations into policy development.
Place-based growth
Place-based growth, innovation and The Quadruple Helix – Atkins Realis
This report examines challenges in fostering place-led growth in North England, highlighting the N8 Research Partnership's role in leveraging academia, industry, government, and citizens to drive innovation and productivity, emphasizing the importance of human aspects, cross-sector collaboration, and the role of education.
Entrepreneurial ecosystems, agency and regional development
This paper examines the emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems and new industrial paths in regions, using Cardiff city region as a case study, highlighting the roles of human, political, and collective agency in promoting regional economic revitalization.
How are the UK Core Cities responding to retail-related challenges in city centres?
The research examines how the UK Core Cities, an alliance of 11 major cities, have strategically addressed retail challenges like e-commerce, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the cost-of-living crisis, highlighting varied plans and results.
The transformative potential of inward investment on industrial cluster development: the case of the semiconductor industry in Wales
This paper examines the compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales, focusing on the role of inward investors in regional economic change amidst global industry pressures and government interventions, contributing insights into regional development in disadvantaged economies.
Our local economic future - CLES
In this briefing, CLES urges political parties to implement six bold actions—reversing austerity, reframing devolution, promoting wealth building, empowering climate action, enhancing local employment, and revitalizing planning—to harness the power of local for economic change.
Realising the growth potential of our major UK cities - Savills
The analysis forecasts 10-year job and GVA growth for UK Core cities and high-growth locations, emphasizing housing's role in economic growth, and advocates for efficient infrastructure planning and cohesive local development plans to boost investor confidence and support development.
Midlands universities launch £3m campaign to attract global R&D investment and drive economic growth
Ministers and Midlands universities launch £3m campaign to attract global R&D investment and drive economic growth.
Evidence-Based Insights: Cultural, Recovery, Policy, and Place in the UK
Dr James Davies summarises the approach taken on an evidence review of the role of culture and cultural recovery in place-based policies as part of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub.
Business support, clusters, and innovation
Leadership diversity, business advice and firm-level innovation outcomes – Enterprise Research Centre
This research finds that diversity in leadership teams positively influences firms' propensity to seek external business advice, which enhances their innovation outcomes, with more diverse teams benefiting more significantly from the advice.
The Lilac Review: interim report
This report recommends that government, financial services, and business support organizations make entrepreneurship more accessible for disabled entrepreneurs by addressing structural barriers, implementing a trust-based approach to reduce proof burdens, and providing mentorship, particularly from those with relevant lived experience, based on insights from disabled entrepreneurs' experiences.
The rise (and fall) of tech clusters
The academic article investigates the organic emergence and sustainability of technology clusters, finding that localized knowledge spillovers, skilled labour availability, and low commuting costs are critical factors for their formation. But it suggests that without advancements in infrastructure and communication technology to reduce distance decay in knowledge sharing and coordination costs, tech clusters may face fragmentation over time.
Are social impact bonds an innovation in finance or do they help finance social innovation?
This paper evaluates the alignment of the Social Impact Bond (SIB) approach in the US and UK with theoretical expectations of social innovation, finding limited evidence that SIBs attract private finance for social service delivery and support stages of social innovation like piloting and scaling. The piece concludes that significant variation exists between the US and UK and within the US in their impact on social innovation ecosystems.
Spatial distribution of bioeconomy R&D funding: opportunities for rural and lagging regions?
This research examines how the shift in bio-based innovation policy from biotechnology to the bioeconomy concept impacts regional disparities in public R&D funding, finding evidence that rural and lagging regions with less knowledge-intensive activities can benefit from this shift, particularly in bio-based R&D funding by the German federal government between 1995-2001 and 2009-2015, and concludes on the spatial implications and potential for regional development.
The role of clusters in addressing societal challenges in European regions
The paper discusses how clusters in European regions, exemplified by cases in Norway, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, UK, and Austria, can address environmental challenges, climate change, and economic resilience through integration into national cluster policies, emphasizing the importance of long-term funding, strong management, collective leadership, and alignment with Smart Specialization Strategies to effectively reposition regional economies within global value chains.
Employment and skills
PwC’s 2024 AI Jobs Barometer
The release analyses over half a billion global job ads to assess AI's impact on skills, employment, wages, and productivity, noting significant demand growth for AI skills, a wage premium for AI roles, and increased productivity in AI-penetrated sectors.
The great skills divide: how learning inequalities risk holding the UK back – Learning and Work Institute
This study explores how educational inequalities affect UK economic growth, noting the UK's lag in qualifications, declining adult learning participation and investment, rising skill demands, and concluding that greater ambition is needed to improve literacy, numeracy, and qualifications.
Technological invention and local labour markets: evidence from France, Germany and the UK
The paper examines how technological innovation impacts employment and skills across three European countries, finding that innovation fosters job creation across various skill levels, particularly benefiting workers with vocational skills, although the employment effects diminish over time and vary significantly across countries, suggesting that technological innovation can stimulate regional employment growth, particularly for non-graduate workers.
Pensions: a vision for the future – Social Market Foundation
The current pensions landscape is complex and unsustainable. This report envisions a simpler, fairer, and more sustainable system by integrating the three pillars—State Pension, workplace provision, and personal provision—into a comprehensive framework.
Apprenticeship numbers down since the introduction of the Skills Levy
This report looks at the impact of the new Skills levy on apprenticeships since its introduction, finding apprenticeship numbers are down 34% nationally since 2015-16, before the levy and other reforms were introduced. Completion of apprenticeships is also down, with half of people completing apprenticeships. In the West Midlands the number of apprenticeships per 100,000 population has fallen by more than one quarter. Nationally, falls in apprenticeships in deprived areas mean apprentices are now just as likely to be from the least deprived areas, having been half as likely before.
Further Education workforce
The Department for Education (DfE) has published official statistics on the size and characteristics of the further education (FE) workforce in 2022/23. 10% of the total FE workforce in England were from the West Midland region. The West Midlands region had a total of 20,484 education workers, a 4.1% increase from 2021/22.
|
|
West Midlands Region (%) |
England (%) |
|
|
By Characteristics |
Female |
64.6 |
65.2 |
|
Male |
34.9 |
33.4 |
|
|
Disabled |
7.1 |
7.3 |
|
|
Black |
3.8 |
3.7 |
|
|
Asian |
8.6 |
6.0 |
|
|
White |
80.6 |
86.1 |
|
|
By Job Role |
Leader |
3.2 |
3.2 |
|
Manager |
8.9 |
9.3 |
|
|
Teacher |
38.3 |
40.0 |
|
|
Support |
25.0 |
25.0 |
|
|
Admin |
24.2 |
22.3 |
|
Research into seldom-heard groups within the Scottish social security system – Scottish Government
This evidence review assesses social security benefit take-up rates among seldom heard groups in Scotland, evaluating the Scottish Government's efforts to increase participation and identifying barriers, and concludes that accurately estimating take-up rates for these groups is very difficult due to current data limitations.
The disability employment gap for graduates: research on barriers and interventions throughout the job-seeking journey – Shaw Trust
This research reveals that disabled graduates, particularly those with sight loss, mobility impairments, autism, or multiple conditions, face a significant employment gap compared to their non-disabled peers, shaped by individual factors, the employer ecosystem, and support systems, and offers guidance on improving career support services for these graduates.
Inclusive growth: can data support policymakers and the higher education sector meet this objective?
The report explores how education provision and local skill levels impact productivity, finding that low levels of both often coexist in areas of prior economic decline. It suggests targeted investment in education.
Health and social care
Addressing health inequalities in times of austerity: implementation of a place-based approach in multitiered local government
The case study examines how a local authority developed a place-based strategy to tackle poverty and health inequalities amid reduced public service budgets. It identified clear foundations for place-based action, as well as enablers and barriers to significantly transforming practices towards asset-based approaches among local authorities, partners, and the public.
The Care Act 2014: ten years on from Royal Assent – Local Government Association
This report assesses the achievements of the Care Act 2014, drawing on expert opinions to evaluate its impact and recommend changes for increased effectiveness, emphasizing the need for a people-focused social care system, increased funding, stronger prevention efforts, and improved workforce support.
Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration introductory release
The Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration is establishing research infrastructure to reduce health inequalities and embed a culture of evidence-based decision making to improve the health of Coventry residents. The team has released a video explaining the purpose and importance of the collaboration.
How does access to community health services for older people vary across the Midlands? – Midlands Decision Support Network
This report analyses the availability and accessibility of community health services for elderly residents aged 65 and over in the Midlands region, highlighting disparities across socio-economic, demographic groups, and the impact on demand for urgent healthcare, with recommendations for integrated care boards and future research.
Devolution and local government
Funding local growth in England: how the next government should simplify the funding landscape – Institute for Government
The study examines simplifying central government funding for local and combined authorities in England to support local growth, identifying problems with current fragmented funding, proposing five criteria for a reformed system, assessing current government progress, and recommending a clear strategy, expanded single settlements, and streamlined funding sources.
On the brink: heritage in the cost of living crisis – The Heritage Alliance
This report analyses the impact of the cost of living crisis on the UK heritage sector, highlighting challenges related to energy bills, staffing, public engagement, cost-cutting, and funding, and recommends actions for the UK government and heritage sector to enhance resilience, support the workforce, and ensure broad access to heritage benefits.
A preventative approach to public services: how the government can shift its focus and improve lives – Institute for Government
This report examines the benefits and barriers of a preventative approach to public services, defining prevention as measures that reduce the likelihood or severity of acute demand and improve spending efficiency, and recommends government actions to prioritize prevention, embed it into spending frameworks, support local budget autonomy, and enhance accountability and learning systems, illustrated by case studies like Sure Start and the NHS diabetes prevention programme.
Climate
Climate action: international learnings on the governance of national and local government collaboration – Local Government Association
The study examines climate change governance in the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, South Korea, and the US, offering insights and recommendations for England by comparing national policies, local autonomy, integration, funding mechanisms, and sector-specific approaches with the UK's strategies.
Making environmental policy work for everyone - New Philanthropy Capital
The report outlines eight priority areas for government to ensure UK and England-level environmental policies benefit disadvantaged and marginalized groups, based on feedback from nearly 800 individuals and charities, and includes recommendations on representation, fairness, accountability, accessible information, improved housing, renewable energy access, clean transport, green jobs, and quality green spaces.
Housing, retrofit, and planning
How can co-creation support capacity building for adaptive spatial planning?
The paper investigates how co-creation in collaborative planning, exemplified by the Hegewarren polder case in the Netherlands, enhances institutional capacity by developing intellectual, social, and political capital, despite challenges in integrating this approach into spatial planning practices.
A piece of the housing puzzle - New Economics Foundation
This report reviews the re-emergence of community-led housing in the current housing crisis. Significant barriers, especially financial instability, hinder its expansion, necessitating targeted policy support and collaboration to realize its potential for addressing local housing needs.
Switching to social rent: delivering the homes we need through the Affordable Homes Programme - New Economics Foundation
The report examines potential modifications to the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) to support building 90,000 new social homes annually in England, emphasizing the urgency due to rising homelessness and economic insecurity, advocating prioritization of social housing over other tenures, addressing the underspend of current grants by increasing flexibility, recalibrating AHP towards social rent housing, and allowing social landlords to combine AHP grants with other funding sources.
The value of a social tenancy: updating and developing the model in 2024 - Sonnet Advisory
This report updates the Value of a Social Tenancy (VoST) model to assess the economic and social value of social housing for 2023/24, revealing that the social value of tenancies across six housing associations was at least £5.27 billion, averaging £23,777 per tenancy, and underscores the need for more investment in social housing to address the housing crisis.
First-time buyers: age-old problems, modern solutions: a roadmap for change - Building Societies Association
This report investigates barriers for first-time homebuyers in the UK, addressing purchase and ownership costs, and recommends government policies to make homes more affordable, available, and tailored to first-time buyers, including tax reforms and improving the private rented sector as a gateway to homeownership.
Housing subsidy’s long-term shift from supply to demand and what might be done about it - CaCHE
This report examines the shift from supply-side to demand-side housing subsidies since the late 1970s, explores reasons for this change, and suggests reversing the trend by increasing social housing supply, making benefits more effective, ending Right to Buy on new council homes, and promoting mixed-tenure developments.
Net zero retrofit of older tenement housing: the contribution of cost benefit analysis to wider evaluation of a demonstration project
This article examines retrofitting older tenement buildings in Scotland, using a Glasgow project to show that retrofitting can offer better social value than demolition and rebuilding, though investment levels depend on specific assumptions.
Decarbonising home heating: thirty-seventh report of session 2023–24 - House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts
The inquiry on the decarbonisation of home heating highlights the challenges of heat pump adoption—such as costs, complexity, and household confusion—while noting the need for trained installers, better progress monitoring, and addressing the exclusion of certain households from the fossil fuel boiler phase-out, emphasizing the significant barriers posed by installation costs and the necessity of decarbonising electricity generation.
Interventions for cold homes: a rapid review of the health impacts
This research found that structural interventions to improve home heating and temperatures enhance mental health, quality of life, and reduce health service use, while the impact on physical health varies by demographics, and highlights gaps in evidence on financial interventions and comprehensive impacts on quality of life, mortality, and costs.
Realizing net zero in social housing: strategic public procurement and internal stakeholder engagement
This research on Bristol City Council's social housing directorate finds that Strategic Public Procurement (SPP) can support net-zero targets by addressing social value objectives, though tensions and disconnects between internal stakeholders—due to unclear strategy, resistance to change, and insufficient training—must be managed to ensure effective implementation.
Disabled people in the housing sector: seventh report of session 2023–24 - Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee
This report finds that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has not prioritized housing accessibility for disabled people in England, as evidenced by a lack of new accessible homes, difficulties in adapting existing homes, and insufficient progress in policy implementation and Disabled Facilities Grant reforms, while also highlighting the need to recognize the diverse needs of disabled individuals.
Transport
Data Insight News 28 July 2024
This latest edition of Data Insight published by TfWM covers recent research analysis on congestion following major events at Villa Park, the acquisition of the National Travel Survey Special Licence version, and a project in collaboration with University of Warwick looking at predictive transport modelling.
Regional business news
Plans for the landmark Smithfield Birmingham regeneration project have been approved
The project includes a market aimed at attracting domestic and international visitors, approximately 3000 homes, office space totalling more than one million sq. ft and a network of public squares and green spaces. The scheme is said to have the potential to create 9,000 jobs.
New pitching competition for tech startups in the West Midlands
A £1m pitching competition for West Midlands-based founders has been launched to uncover promising new tech startups in the region. The One to Win competition was launched at London Tech Week by TechWM.
New space for small independent businesses in Coventry
A new shopping venture will soon be launched at Coventry's Creative Quarter in a bid to attract more independent businesses. FarGo Village has confirmed that Indie Mart will be unveiled in The Market
Hall in September. Indie Mart will involve up to 60 small independent makers, curators, vintage and thrift traders selling from space on the shop floor while not having to be physically present.
Plans Unveiled for £150 million Wolverhampton Canalside South Regeneration Scheme
Wavensmere Homes has unveiled detailed plans and computer-generated images of the £150 million proposals to redevelop Wolverhampton’s Canalside South – a former industrial site benefiting from frontage onto the Wyrley & Essington Canal and the Wolverhampton Branch of the Birmingham Main Line Canal.
Over £20 billion of Investment Opportunities
West Midlands Combined Authority showcase £20bn+ of real estate and regeneration opportunities in updated Investment Prospectus.
Society
The role of small voluntary sector organisations in tackling complex social challenges: lessons from a charity serving asylum seekers and refugees
This study presents a case study of leadership practices at a small asylum seeker and refugee charity during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing collaborative, client-driven, collective, and voluntary practices within the charity, and highlighting its significant role in addressing social challenges faced by asylum seekers and refugees.
Academics evaluate West Midlands violence reduction partnership network
The report details the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership's efforts to form a stakeholder network using a public health approach to violence prevention, highlighting gaps in early years support, issues with role continuity, and ineffective funding mechanisms.
High streets, ageing and well-being
This study examines how local high streets in three Edinburgh town centres support older people's well-being, finding that well-being is enhanced by the streetscape, spatial organization and accessibility of amenities, and the provision of housing for town centre living, while noting the limited focus on older adults in high street policies and research.
The West Midlands Insights on Society and Economy (WISE) newsletter is a monthly publication by the West Midlands Combined Authority that sets out the social and economic trends that matter to the West Midlands. The newsletter contributes to our understanding of the economic conditions of the West Midlands, as part of the wider regional research and intelligence ecosystem. Further information is available on the West Midlands research and insights website at wmca.org.uk/research and previous issues are available at wmca.org.uk/wise.
This edition was prepared by Phillip Nelson, Victoria Tidy, and Tawfieq Zakria, and incorporates commissioned content from the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) and other regional partners.