How Sustainability West Midlands are using low carbon economy research

Here’s a short video with Dr Simon Slater, Executive Director at Sustainability West Midlands.

Local authority and business leaders in the West Midlands were asking Simon ‘what are the risks and what are the opportunities in the low carbon economy?’

In this video, Simon discusses how working with the Observatory to research and evidence regional growth into a low carbon economy is helping his organisation and partners in the region answer such questions.

(Watch the video on Viddler.com)

West Midlands Culture Programme for London 2012: the impact so far

The West Midlands Culture Programme for London 2012 (WMCPforL2012) has attracted a total audience of just under a quarter of a million people (220,000), according to a report (pdf, 1.5mb) launched by the West Midlands Cultural Observatory this month. That’s around two and a half Wembley Stadiums full of people for those of you that like to visualise these things!

In the first of a series of reports, West Midlands Culture Programme for London 2012: An evaluation of impact (2008-2010) (pdf, 1.5mb) presents evidence associated with:

• The social and economic impact of the programme to date
• The extent and value of media coverage that for the programme
• The programme’s impact on the capacity of the West Midlands cultural sector
• Changes in peoples’ perception of the region and its cultural offer (having taking part in programme activities and events)

Roundup of communicating information and data through storytelling part 2

Photo by David Cheeseman

This post rounds up the second communicating effectively – telling stories using data workshop, which was held in Birmingham, 22nd April 2010.

Low carbon economy and sustainability – the same thing?

Last week I attended the annual SCPnet conference in the West Midlands. SCPnet stands for Sustainable Consumption and Production network and is a partnership network dedicated to promoting the philosophy of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) at a sub-national level.

I must say that I found the conference very interesting and insightful and the quality of the speakers was outstanding. This conference gave me a great opportunity to reflect on what is sustainable consumption and production, its importance, and how it links to the low carbon work we are doing at the Observatory.

Sustainable consumption and production

‘Securing the Future’, the UK Government sustainable development strategy, states:

‘Increasing prosperity, in the UK and across the world, has allowed many people to enjoy the benefits of goods and services which were once available to just a few. Nevertheless, the environmental impacts from our consumption and production patterns remain severe, and inefficient use of resources is a drag on the UK’s economy and business. We need a major shift to deliver new products and services with lower environmental impacts across their life cycle, while at the same time boosting competitiveness. And we need to build on people’s growing awareness of social and environmental concerns, and the importance of their roles as citizens and consumers.’ (DEFRA (2005) Securing the Future, p.43)

An alternative definition by Constanza (2000) says:

‘Probably the most challenging task facing humanity today is the creation of a shared vision of a sustainable and desirable society, one that can provide permanent prosperity within the biophysical constraints of the real world in a way that is fair and equitable to all of humanity, to other species, and to future generations. This vision does not now exist, although the seeds are there.’

Sustainability and the low carbon economy

So going back to the question in the title, are sustainability and low carbon the same thing? I believe the answer is no.

The West Midlands Regional Observatory recently published the research The Low Carbon Economy in the West Midlands. The research highlights that a low carbon economy is one where businesses deliver products and services while reducing their level of carbon emissions.

In this sense, the low carbon economy is just one element (an import one) of sustainability. In the same way that the environment is much more than only carbon emissions, sustainability is much more than just environmental issues.

Climate change, carbon emissions, environment impacts, social issues, waste, recycling, population growth, lifestyles, supply chain, energy, environment quality and deprivation are just a few examples of topics that have an impact on sustainability.

Also, businesses, government, people and the third sector must all work together. Sustainability is not something it can be delivered by only a few people in isolation.

In 2006 the report I will if you will presented the ‘triangle of change,’ a framework where people, business and government interact in a coordinated effort to move towards a more sustainable society.

If you want to know more about sustainable consumption and production, here are some websites that can help:

• SCPnet
• Sustainability West Midlands
• Environment Agency
• DEFRA
• UNEP Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production
• Transition Network
• Cranfield University
• Food Ethics Council

We are planning to add more posts about the 2010 SCPnet Conference soon. If you’re interested keep an eye on this blog.

Open data in Warwickshire

Guest blog post by Jim Morton, Applications Architect at Warwickshire County Council

Last week we launched the Warwickshire Open Data site at http://opendata.warwickshire.gov.uk, joining other authorities such as London, Lincoln, Lichfield and Kent who have already started opening up their data to the public.

We hope that it will provide a greater level of transparency about the work of the council, as well as stimulating the development of websites and applications that can make use of our data, to provide new benefits to our citizens and visitors to the area.

It is going to take a while to build the site up as the focal point for all of our public facing information but we have taken some positive steps to build the foundations of how we should work with data from now on.

State of the Region – image and identity of the West Midlands

Last week, we started a new State of the Region dialogue on the image and identity of the West Midlands.

The future of the region will be determined by the decisions that individuals make – decisions such as whether to locate in the region, to invest in business or property, to study at one of our universities or to visit the region for business or leisure.

All of these decisions will be influenced by people’s view of the region’s image and identity.

A range of information is already collected, locally, regionally and nationally, about how people view the region and how it compares with other places.

There is also more general research, looking at what drives and changes image and identity. The workshop brought together different sources of evidence to determine the story they tell us about the West Midlands, summarised in the three presentations available below.

Continuing the legacy of the Women’s Enterprise Centre of Expertise

Thanks to Marla Nelson from the Strategic Women’s Enterprise Project for providing this guest post.

A new initiative has been launched in the West Midlands as a legacy project building on the work and findings of the Women’s Enterprise Centre of Expertise (WECOE).

The Strategic Women’s Enterprise Project is managed by Enterprise Solutions, who will continue to influence, lobby and advocate for the women’s enterprise agenda in the West Midlands region, funded by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.

The project aims to assist Advantage West Midlands in implementing WECOE policy recommendations, and work with Business Link West Midlands and other key strategic partners to ensure policy and practice is mainstreamed in supporting greater diversity in enterprise and business support across the region.  The 2-year WECOE project completed in December 2009.

To find out more about the Strategic Women’s Enterprise Project, and Enterprise Solutions (MN), contact Marla Nelson at marla@enterprisesolutionsmn.com or call 07515 597 595.

How is the Rural Regeneration Zone doing?

This post shares key findings from our annual monitoring report on the Rural Regeneration Zone (RRZ) carried out over 2009 and 2010.  The final report will be published shortly.

Impact of project work

Since the RRZ was set up, the area has improved in many ways.  So far 1,400 new jobs have been created and 800 existing jobs have been safeguarded.  More jobs are expected to be created (1,500) and safeguarded (200) by 2015.

RRZ investment in multi-use facilities has also improved access to services.  The main improvements have been around:

• Childcare provision – 845 more places each week
• Volunteering opportunities – 165 more places
• Library services – 37,700 more library projects
• Development of new services – 98 new or enhanced services in towns and villages

Projects such as Connections to Opportunities, Rethink and Care Farming are delivering further improvements in the RRZ.  More details are included in the report.

We’ve adopted a charity

 

Our fundraising barometer for Birmingham Children's hospital

Part of getting the Investors in Excellence standard involved identifying areas that the Observatory could improve in.  One of these improvement areas was our engagement with society.  We decided that one way to engage better with society would be to adopt a local charity.  This in turn will help our local community as we raise money through fundraising activities.

We held an internal vote last year to decide which charity to adopt and Birmingham Children’s Hospital won.  Birmingham Children’s Hospital provides health services to children, young people and families.  It is a leading paediatric teaching centre in the country, with international research and development in a range of areas.  The hospital has over: 200 departments; 20 wards; 285 in-patient beds; and treats 225,000 sick children from all over the UK.  More information is available from Birmingham Children’s Hospital fundraising webpage.

To help organise fundraising activities, we’ve set up a fundraising committee at the Observatory.  We aim to raise at least £1,000 by the end of 2010.  So far, Andrina Dhillon has undertaken a sponsored silence which raised an amazing £224, and we held a dress down day before Easter which raised £36.  We’re planning a number of other activities over the year to raise more money.  If you’d like to take part or have any fundraising ideas, please contact Raj Kaur, Clare Rapkins, Naomi Winchurch or Evette Jayatilake.

Key findings for West Midlands from National Employer Skills Survey 2009

Thanks to  Sam Richardson from the Young People’s Learning Agency (formerly of Learning and Skills Council West Midlands) for contributing this post.

A report on key findings for the West Midlands (pdf, 1mb) from the National Employer Skills Survey 2009 was published in March.

The survey consisted of just over 79,000 telephone interviews (8,186 in the West Midlands) with employers across England (the largest number to date) between March and July 2009.

It represents by far the largest and most comprehensive source of information on current skills issues affecting employers in England.

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills previously published a summary of national findings.

A more comprehensive description of the national results will be available in a full report due June 2010 (after the election). The survey data is available for exploration and data mining at http://nessdata.ukces.org.uk.

Economy and Labour Force newsletter: April 2010 issue

We sent out a new issue of our Economy and Labour Force newsletter today.

The newsletter summarises recent articles, new research and commentary related to the economy, skills, employment and labour market in the West Midlands.

You can view the newsletter in your browser or in pdf.

Related links

• Subscribe to newsletters by registering with us
• RSS and email updates from the Observatory

ONS Local Profiles data CD now available

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have created and made available to data users a free CD with local data profiles.

These Local Profiles have been developed by the ONS Centre for Regional and Local Statistics and represent a significant milestone in providing local authorities with the means to gain value from official statistics. They will help authorities to better understand the economic, social and environmental picture for their area.

The first set of Profiles are included as part of an ONS toolkit, available on CD, that will be of great value to local authorities when preparing their Local Economic Assessments (LEA), in addition to many other users of official statistics.

Key LEA contacts in local authorities will shortly receive the CD by mail.

The toolkit also contains commuting data, the small area Change over Time Analysis Viewer, Inter Departmental Business Register data, and the Atlas of Deprivation.

Find out more information about the free Local Profiles CD from the ONS, or email better.info@ons.gov.uk.

Consultation on English Indices of Deprivation

Communities and Local Government launched a consultation on the Indices of Deprivation this week.

The consultation is seeking input on three key areas:

• Need for an updated set of indices, the form they should take and comments on a longer term aim of whether specific indicators or domains should be comparable across the UK
• Comments on the methodology used for the Indices of Deprivation 2007
• Current availability of data sources if the Indices of Deprivation 2007 methodology is retained for an immediate update

Responses to the Indices of Deprivation 2007 suggested that a full scale review of the indices would be best held after the 2011 Census.

As such the consultation asks whether an update should be produced in 2010 based, as closely as possible, on the 2007 methodology with a subsequent detailed review to follow the next Census. The alternative is to postpone the update until after a full review is carried out.

The indices are used widely within public and third sectors to analyse patterns of deprivation, identify areas that would benefit from special initiatives or programmes and as a tool to determine eligibility for specific funding streams. As such, it’s a hugely important consultation and we would advise any interested parties to feed their views in through the CLG process.

Consultation papers are on the CLG website and responses need to be submitted by 10th May 2010.

OECD project on leveraging training and skills development in SMEs

Thanks to Anne Green, Chair of the Observatory’s Economy & Labour Force Group, for contributing this post.

Researchers at the University of Warwick—Anne Green from the Institute for Employment Research and Laura Martinez-Solano from Warwick Manufacturing Group—are involved in an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Local Employment and Economic Development Programme project on leveraging training and skills development in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This is an international project focusing on analysis of SMEs in a selected territory.

SMEs are an important component in regional and national economies, and the project aims to identify training and skills development policies that promote growth, job creation and innovation.

The project is intended to inform OECD policy advice on how governments can best support SMEs in their skills development activities.