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Councillor Batrouni replied that work so far has covered project development and links to skills, anti-poverty and project management. The minute records no decision.
Some sentences of this summary are missing in English, because an older automatic check removed them from the English only. The Welsh version has them.
Councillor Mogford asked: Leader, Back in October 2025 (source: South Wales Argus) you widely announced that Newport was picked for a *Major European city leadership project Residents were told that “The programme will provide Newport City Council with expertise to tackle problems, modernise services and strengthen operations. Established and led by Bloomberg Philanthropies together with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative will be delivered by LSE Cities in collaboration with the Hertie School in Berlin. “ In addition it was claimed that the programme will provide Newport City Council with pioneering expertise to tackle problems, modernise services, strengthen operations and improve people’s lives, advancing progress on issues that are important to residents. You also stated that "Acceptance to this programme is testament to Newport’s upward trajectory as a city, adding that "Newport is at the top table with major cities across Europe, including Oslo, Dublin and Turin … this is a place where we belong." Question: Who attended from NCC What did they learn, and where is the evidence that there has been or will be a real benefit from this participation “Backed by a $50 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the program trains political leaders and senior municipal officials from 30 areas across 17 countries (joining cities like Dublin, Helsinki, and Oslo). The fully-funded nine-month curriculum—delivered by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Hertie School in Berlin—aims to provide pioneering expertise to tackle complex urban challenges, modernize services, and strengthen operations without any cost to local taxpayers”” Councillor Batrouni responded: The work with Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Programme consists of a number of phases and represents an on-going opportunity to explore ideas and learning with other European cities facing similar issues and opportunities to Newport. To date, myself and the Chief Executive, along with members of both our political and officer senior teams have been involved in a number of different elements of the programme. This will continue in the coming months. Work to date has focussed on project conception, development and inception, particularly around support for young people entering the labour market. This is currently being incorporated into our work and skills activity, youth progression framework and the overarching Anti-Poverty strategy, and supports the approach we have adopted through the No One Left Behind fund. More broadly, the programme has highlighted an alternative approach to project delivery, which we are currently assessing against the work of our Transformation Programme with the aim of enhancing our current project management methodology.
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