Fourth Joint Economic Commission for the North West
Monday 16 March 2009
The fourth meeting of the Joint Economic Commission for the North West agreed a number of actions at its fourth meeting:
• considered the issue of bank lending, noting that there was some good practice alongside the continuing lending issues. It will look further at how to promote the good practice.
• will look at building on the prompt payment commitment to consider wider public sector procurement and the need to engage a wider set of organisations in prompt payment practice.
• considered the impact of the downturn on communities and will take action to ensure that there is good access in the region to debt advice. It will take a further report in 3 months time on wider social issues including trends in crime and cohesion.
• considered the future skills needs of the region as part of preparing for the upturn and asked the Learning and Skills Council and the North West Universities Association to prepare papers on issues facing young people for next meeting.
• asked the NWDA to lead on proposing how to support opportunities from the renewables sector, a long term strategic priority for the JEC.
• asked the HCA to report further on barriers to and support for the housing market at the next meeting.
The fifth meeting of the JEC will take place on 5 May 2009.
