Vibrant Economy Index ranks all local authorities for health and well-being
Grant Thornton is talking at our Healthy Cities forum in October about its work in the area of 'health and well-being' and the Vibrant Economy Index that it has created.
The index, devised by the Grant Thornton Place Analytics Team, measures the success of all 324 UK local authorities across six “baskets” of socio-economic indicators, and these are much broader than the usual financial and economic measures of city prosperity. “Health and well-being” is one of these six baskets.
Sacha Romanovitch, Grant Thornton's UK CEO, is determined that the professional services firm should be “purpose driven”, with a strategic vision to help create vibrant economies. As part of this programme Grant Thornton has been running a series of “live labs” in cities and large towns including Manchester, Bristol and Reading, which involve all those who have and want to have a voice in the development of these places.
Rob Turner, Associate Director, Grant Thornton, says 'by vibrancy we mean an inclusion of these six key measures: prosperity, dynamism, inclusion and equality, health and well-being, sustainability, and community trust and belonging. By using and interpreting national data we have been able to produce rankings across the six “baskets” for each of the 324 local authorities in the UK.'
He adds: 'One of the most interesting findings is that some of the bigger cities like Manchester and Birmingham, which have experienced strong economic growth, have still got some big problems around health and well-being. Positive economic measures do not always correlate with healthy communities. The idea that all boats will rise on a tide of financial prosperity is just not true.'