On 9th October, City-REDI / WMREDI, University of Birmingham hosted a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference on how to accelerate placed-based growth and innovation. Rebecca Riley and Steve Barwick reflect on the key points discussed at the fringe event. The event was chaired by Matt Western MP, Shadow Minister for Higher Education and … Continue reading “How will Labour Deliver Innovation led Growth? Lesson Learnt from the Innovation Accelerator Pilots”
Tag: Rebecca Riley
London Wins Again – The Debacle of the UK’s High-speed Rail ‘strategy’
Donald Houston and Rebecca Riley discuss the scrapping of HS2 and the significant economic impact on the North of the UK. This blog was originally written for the Birmingham Business School Blog. A branding failure HS2 has always suffered from a branding failure. HS2 sounds rather anodyne and the ‘2’ reminds those north of London … Continue reading “London Wins Again – The Debacle of the UK’s High-speed Rail ‘strategy’ ”
Birmingham in Crisis: Understanding the Challenge of Local Authority Budget Cuts and the Effect on Good Financial Management
Rebecca Riley and Abigail Taylor discusses the recent financial crisis to hit Birmingham City Council, and how the root of the issues facing this council and others around the UK, are a decade in the making. This week it was announced that Birmingham City Council faces a spending freeze and greater scrutiny of its budget. An … Continue reading “Birmingham in Crisis: Understanding the Challenge of Local Authority Budget Cuts and the Effect on Good Financial Management”
Working with Long Covid, The Case for Better Evidence and Knowledge in the Workplace
A new report from the TUC and the charity Long Covid Support reveals as many as two-thirds of UK workers with long Covid have faced unfair treatment. Based on the work of City-REDI and her own personal experience, Rebecca Riley reflects on their findings and reccomendations. This blog was originally posted on the College for Social … Continue reading “Working with Long Covid, The Case for Better Evidence and Knowledge in the Workplace”
Podcast: Productivity in the West Midlands
In the latest City-REDI podcast, Associate Professor Rebecca Riley and Charlotte Horobin, Region Director for the Midlands & East of England for Made UK, discuss a recent report looking at productivity in the West Midlands, produced by WMREDI. The Podcast covered the following topics: Report Findings Vs Charlotte’s Manufacturing Knowledge Rebecca and Charlotte talk about … Continue reading “Podcast: Productivity in the West Midlands”
What is Next for Levelling Up?
Rebecca Riley recently appeared on a panel session hosted by The Policy Institute at Kings College London. In this blog, she discusses how Levelling Up should be about giving people the capacity, confidence, and courage to drive change. This article was first posted on the UK in a Changing Europe blog. It isn’t a new … Continue reading “What is Next for Levelling Up?”
“I Blame the Green Book”- Why has Guidance Become the Scape Goat of Public Funding Decisions like Levelling Up?
Rebecca Riley outlines some of the misconceptions around the use of the Green Book. As part of the Y-PERN conference held recently, I had a slot on a session about the Green Book, partly because I chair the Green Book User Network Steering Group, but also because City-REDI does a lot of work helping partners … Continue reading ““I Blame the Green Book”- Why has Guidance Become the Scape Goat of Public Funding Decisions like Levelling Up?”
West Midlands Economic Impact Monitor – 17 February 2023
Recent international news has been dominated by a huge Turkey-Syria earthquake and by mounting tension between the USA and China regarding the shooting down of a balloon and unidentified flying objects in US airspace. In the UK the Bank of England raised interest rates once again in early February. Inflation is decreasing slightly but remains … Continue reading “West Midlands Economic Impact Monitor – 17 February 2023”
What is Gross Value Added (GVA) and What Does it Tell Us About the Economy of the West Midlands and the UK?
Associate Professor Rebecca Riley and Professor Delma Dwight discuss GVA or Gross Value Added. What are its strengths and weaknesses as an economic measure, what does it tell us about the current state of the economy of the West Midlands and the UK and how can we improve our GVA? This podcast was inspired by … Continue reading “What is Gross Value Added (GVA) and What Does it Tell Us About the Economy of the West Midlands and the UK?”
Shedding Light on Productivity in the West Midlands
Rebecca Riley discusses a new report examining productivity in the West Midlands. The report is written by Melisa Wickham and is in collaboration with the West Midlands Combined Authority. This report focuses on labour productivity – which measures how much output is produced per unit of labour input. There are varying measures of labour input, … Continue reading “Shedding Light on Productivity in the West Midlands”