I welcome this debate. I think it’s a very timely debate, given the discussions we have ongoing in Wales about the role of cities and the role that cities can play in regenerating regions of Wales. I want to make the case for two approaches in this discussion today. The first is the case for looking at city regions, not just cities themselves. I obviously speak as a Member for a constituency that is within one of our city regions, but not at the geographic centre of it. So, these issues are important to those constituents of mine who are looking to this debate for economic opportunities in the future.

The strategy focusing on cities is based on the idea of agglomeration: that the more businesses and economic activity you have in geographic proximity, the more likely you are to have growth. That is a very well-established economic theory. It’s not without its doubters and, in some sense, it’s increasingly contested with the role of technology and digital connectivity and so on. There’s a question as to whether that geographic, physical proximity is still the glue that has been so useful in the past. But it seems to me, whatever the outcome of that debate is, the idea of a city region where you have a core city that drives economic growth, from which we hope policy will then spread out to the surrounding areas, is clearly, it seems to me, a commonsense, practical way forward.

The other aspect that I want to make the case for today is that the kind of growth that we see in cities and city regions should be inclusive growth, where all the residents are able to participate fairly in the opportunities that come from successful economic policies and successful economic activity. I would draw Members’ attention to a report published only yesterday by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into inclusive growth in cities. Just as David Melding was citing a number of international examples, the JRF looked to cities like Barcelona, Helsinki, Malmö and New York for some of their successful strategies in ensuring that all residents are able to participate in growth.

There have been two broad strategies. One is better distribution of the existing opportunities, which is through better, enhanced connectivity, be that transport or be it digital connectivity. The second strategy—perhaps a more ambitious strategy—is to try and change the economic model itself to try and change the nature of the jobs market, the labour market locally, and really focus on increasing the number of semi-skilled job opportunities. Those cities that have succeeded have used a blend of reasonably well-established policies, for example, promoting the use of social enterprise in the local economy, using social clauses in the public procurement process, and place-based intervention, which David Melding touched on, which looks at all the expenditure, for example, happening in a particular neighbourhood or a particular part of the city region, and looking intelligently at how that can be spent to perhaps achieve greater impact.

The last point, very importantly, is the question of engaging citizens. That can be from a commissioning point of view. Lambeth, for example, has taken the very bold step of creating a co-operative to deliver youth services, for example. So, there are some very bold examples out there. Building on that, I just want to look at one particular aspect, which is the role of public bodies in our cities and city regions, and the capacity they have to drive some of the things we’ve been touching on today. Often in Wales, people comment on the scale of the public sector being larger, proportionally, than in other parts of the UK, and usually that’s commented on in a negative way, but actually it’s one of our assets. Public services deliver public services, but they are also significant economic actors in their local economies. And if you look at them as anchor institutions, I think we should be looking for a framework where they procure not on the basis of the cost of the contract, or even really on a transactional basis, but more ambitiously, looking at how their economic activity, perhaps in conjunction with other public bodies, can actually nurture local supply chains and develop local suppliers. That will require collaboration between the health boards and the universities and local authorities, but I think we should be looking for that sort of ambition. We’ve seen examples of that in the States, for example, in Cleveland, where that has worked successfully.

I would also like to see us looking at the data that are available to us in terms of public expenditure. We should be in a position to look on a postcode basis at all the public expenditure happening in that area, and seeing what we can do to make sure that is getting as much impact as it possibly can. Lastly, briefly, again on the question of data, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we had an opportunity to make available all the data that we have about how our cities and our city regions work, to hand that over to the public and ask people to bring their ideas as to how they can improve—or how they can ask public services and the Government to improve—the areas in which they live? So, I think there is an agenda here that is an imaginative agenda, and I hope that Welsh Government will take up some of these challenges.