Working with Government

Here you will find further information on how we are working with central Government to ensure we can achieve our ambition for Greater Manchester to become a world leading digital city region.

National Data Strategy

On 4th December 2020, we submitted a response to the Government’s National Data Strategy conversation. Better use of data is a key part of our ambition for Greater Manchester to become a world-leading digital city-region.

We believe that a collaborative approach is the best way to ensure that the power of data can be harnessed to improve lives, keep us safe and promote growth and prosperity. We support the aims and missions of the National Data Strategy and want to work with the Government to ensure that it is both designed and delivered in a way that fully considers the implications for local people and businesses.

Our response focuses on:

the need for collaboration and co-operation between local and national government
local involvement in setting data standards and open data
the skills and infrastructure requirements of the strategy
ethical and responsible data use
the importance of addressing inequalities
encouraging participation from the VCSE sector and community groups and
greater support for digital and data-enabled businesses

Greater Manchester's response to the National Data Strategy consulation (Word, 250KB)

Cap bills for older and vulnerable landline users, says Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is calling on the telecommunications industry to cut the bills of older and vulnerable landline telephone customers after a powerful exchange on a lunchtime’s phone-in with members of the public on BBC Radio Manchester.

Mayors express grave concerns about impact of digital switchover on residents

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, sent on 21 March 2024, Andy Burnham jointly with the Mayors of Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, North of Tyne and West of England calls for Government to take responsibility for this at a national level. The requests include the development and implementation of a National Action Plan agreed between industry and Government to ensure that the estimated 1.8 million people with telecare support are safely migrated.

The PSTN is the dedicated legacy telephony network that connects calls via physical, copper phone lines. It is being decommissioned in the UK, by December 2025, at which point landline telephone services will switch to a fully digital network. This means phone calls will be carried over the internet.

Unlike the move to digital TV, which was Government-led, the withdrawal of the PSTN is industry-led, as the network is privately owned. The programme is necessary because the current analogue technology is outdated, inefficient, and unsustainable. For most people the switchover is easy, but not for everybody.