Full membership of RSA Inclusive Growth Commission announced

Experts from business, academia and the third sector have been named today as members of the RSA Inclusive Growth Commission, which met for the first time this afternoon (Friday 13th May).

Members of the commission, which is chaired by Stephanie Flanders, include the former chief executive of Rolls Royce, Sir John Rose; the founder of peer-to-peer lender Zopa, Giles Andrews; and former Nick Clegg adviser, Richard Reeves.

The commission is the successor to the RSA City Growth Commission, chaired by Lord O’Neill of Gatley, which was the driving force behind city and sub regional devolution deals including the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine and Great Western Cities. The RSA Inclusive Growth Commission will develop a practical plan to make cities and towns across the UK more economically inclusive, where more people are able to contribute to, and benefit from, the growth of their locality.

The major inquiry will examine how the state needs to change - centrally and locally - to enable different parts of the country fully to realise the potential of devolution. A key focus will be geographical inclusion: making sure that the benefits of the place-based approach to growth are widely shared.

Stephanie Flanders, RSA Inclusive Growth Commission Chair, said

“I am thrilled that we are able to announce such a high calibre set of commissioners, whose specialisms span the breadth of British public life. We have assembled a commission with a collective expertise on the economy, social policy and the politics of place. This will be critical if we are to develop a practical agenda to tackle the entrenched inequalities within and between neighbourhoods that hold back growth.”

The full membership of the RSA Inclusive Growth Commission is:

• Stephanie Flanders (Chair), JP Morgan Chief Market Strategist (Britain and Europe) and former BBC Economics Editor      
• Giles Andrews, Founder, Zopa        
• Naomi Eisenstadt, Former Anti-Poverty Adviser to the Scottish Government
• Indy Johar, Co-founder, 00
• John van Reenen, Professor of Economics, LSE

• Richard Reeves, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
• Sir John Rose, former Chief Executive, Rolls Royce
• Julia Unwin, Chief Executive, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• Rob Whiteman, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
• Sue Woodward, Founder, The Sharp Project and The Space Project
• Ben Lucas, Managing Director, MetroDynamics (ex officio)
• Charlotte Alldritt, Director Public Services and Communities, RSA (ex officio)

Notes to Editors

1. The RSA Inclusive Growth Commission will look to influence policy makers and practitioners in the context of the evolving city-region devolution agenda, with an aim to publish our final recommendations before the new metro mayoral elections in 2017.
2. The Commission is kindly funded by Core Cities UK, Key Cities, Local Government Association, London Councils, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and PwC.
3. The Commission will complement the ongoing international debate on inclusive growth. The IMF has called for a more ‘inclusive capitalism’ and the OECD is leading a campaign to promote inclusive growth.
4. For more information contact RSA Head of Media and Communications Paul Duffy on 020 7451 6893 / 07799 737 970 or paul.duffy@rsa.org.uk
5. The Commission can be contacted via Charlotte Alldritt, charlotte.alldritt@rsa.org.uk or 0207 451 6848.