House of Commons - Welsh Affairs - Minutes of Evidence

Select Committee on Welsh Affairs Minutes of Evidence

APPENDIX 2

Memorandum from the Council of Welsh Training and Enterprise Councils

PART I—INWARD INVESTMENT AND INDIGENOUS GROWTH

INTRODUCTION

The Council of Welsh Training and Enterprise Councils(CWT) thanks the Welsh Affairs Select Committee for the invitation to contribute to its deliberations on the balance between stimulating inward investment and the encouragement of indigenous growth. This Memorandum is prepared for the Committee's consideration on behalf of all the Welsh Training and Enterprise Councils(TECs), as a basis for further investigation, including via oral evidence.

From the outset, the Council believes it relevant to draw to the attention of the Committee the nature of Welsh TEC activities, as these bear on the two areas under consideration. It is thus hoped that this Memorandum, together with other sources, will provide the Committee with sufficient information to arrive at findings on the relative balance of investment in indigenous growth and inward investment.

A key point is that, whilst the Welsh TECs do support energetically inward investment, by far the greater part of their efforts is devoted to indigenous growth. However despite this apparently limited overlap, it is pertinent to note that, once their interest has been secured, the national skills and qualifications base is an important, long-term relationship with inward investors, be this within their own preserve or in the wider, indigenous environment. Moreover, the distinction is further blurred by the attention required in getting supply chains operating between investors and indigenous companies.

Against this background, it is relevant to outline for the Committee the nature of the TEC efforts. These cover a spectrum of beneficiaries, encompassing individuals, communities and companies, and are, in essence, focused on optimising the economic potential of the Welsh human resource. Set against the benchmarks of quality, competitiveness and technological advance dictated by a global economy, the tasks make for a challenging agenda. The scale of this challenge is compounded by the more recent economic history of Wales and by a complexity of social, educational and attitudinal factors.

The philosophy behind TEC operations is inherently long-term and rooted in local needs. Whilst it lacks the prominence and immediate impact of the initial phases of the many highly successful inward investment projects, the Council believes it provides the path towards a robust, sustainable and inclusive prosperity, strong relationships and a consistently determined application being fundamental requirements. Essentially complementary to this is the flexibility to match the pace of change, as reflected in the demands both of and upon employers. Not only by TECs but also their many partners, this does mean anticipation of an increasingly sophisticated economy and, therefore, labour market. As industry and commerce develops world-wide, tomorrow's companies be they indigenous or inward investor will be seeking an increasingly talented and sophisticated workforce whose preparation is highly attuned to the contemporary world of work. The Council believes this demands solutions across education and training in which the Welsh TECs, amongst many others, will have a key role.

In order to assist the Committee in arriving at its findings, this Memorandum offers a brief overview of the Welsh economy, including inward investment. The Welsh human resource is then afforded particular address. This is followed by the setting-out of Welsh TEC objectives and a description of their activities. A frank assessment of the effectiveness of the latter is then offered. Such statements as are made are supported by analysis which the Committee might wish to explore further during oral evidence.

THE WELSH ECONOMY

Profile of Foreign Direct Inward Investment[FDI] into Wales

INTRODUCTION

The potential for increased prosperity in Wales is very much determined by the attributes of the labour market, in particular, the skills of the workforce. Wales has been very successful in attracting FDI during the 1980s and 1990s attributable in part to the existing and potential skill base. However, this has put increasing pressures on the Welsh labour market as overseas companies located. The very success of this economic driver of growth has led to shortages of skill and responses from indigenous companies that their own skill base is being targeted to meet the demands of FDI.

In addition, the very nature of the skill expectations from predominantly manufacturing FDI has to be considered alongside the demands in the Welsh economy for a range of other skills in other, essentially indigenous, sectors and firms.

There follows a brief overview of the Welsh economy and labour market and a profile of Foreign Direct Investment[FDI].

THE WELSH ECONOMY AND LABOUR MARKET

The Welsh economy has performed well in recent years but is currently forecast to reflect a slowdown in activity as a result of short-term pressures including the strength of Sterling hitting exporters, interest rates and inflationary pressures. However, despite this, the medium to longer-term prospects for growth remain encouraging.

It is indeed Manufacturing upon which much of the inward investment in Wales is centred that currently faces these increased cost pressures. But the efficiency of the Production sector in Wales and the tendency for some Manufacturing industries to increase imports of components, thereby benefiting from the reduced import costs, are each indicative of the sector's continued ability to exhibit strong growth. This is particularly true for electronics. In this sense the sector remains competitive but is subject to pressures arising from advances inevitably made by its rivals.

TABLE 1

Current and Forecast Performance of the Welsh Economy and Labour Market

Forecast Performance 1997 to 2001 Percentage change

Gross Domestic Product +2.4

Employment +2.5

Full-time employment +1.5

Self-employment -4.6

Part-time employment +10.5

Manufacturing employment +0.4

Source: Cambridge Econometrics

The structure of the labour market itself in some respects differs markedly to that for Great Britain again in part reflecting the demands of inward investors especially in terms of higher knowledge based skills.

Manufacturing employs some 22 per cent of the 1.17 million employees in employment. But employment in other important sectors lags behind Great Britain most notably in the Financial, Intermediation and Business Services sectors. The latter two sectors tend to provide well remunerated employment together with a healthy and growing export market.

The occupational structure of the labour market has seen some changes in the last few years mirroring in most cases shifts in industrial structure. For example, there has been an up-skilling into the Corporate Managers' and Administrators' groupings, whilst Other Professional occupations grew by 12.5 per cent and Other Associate Professionals (Technicians/supervisory level) grew by 9.3 per cent. The least skilled groups experienced declines: for example, an 8 per cent contraction in elementary occupations/skills.

Labour Demand Prospects (see Table below)

Although the demand for labour will reflect the short-term slowdown in the Welsh economy especially in Manufacturing, the medium to longer term prospects reflect the consensus of opinion that most broad occupational groups and employment in Wales will continue to expand albeit at differing rates.

In the period 1997 to 2001, significant expansions are expected in Personal and Protective service occupations, Sales staff and the Professional grouping together with Associated Professional and Technical staff. So the tendency is for growth or a move toward the Services sector [which is predominantly indigenous company based] and professional occupations.

Given the growth of professional occupations when considered against the continued expected decline in the number of elementary skill opportunities there will remain the problem for those with no or negligible educational attainment who are not able to meet the demands of the higher or even medium skill range or are not suitable or discouraged by the low income levels in the service sector.

Structure of Business Activity

95 per cent of businesses in Wales employ less than 50 people and are essentially indigenous companies.

Part-time employment is forecast to increase as a proportion of employment from 25 per cent to 27 per cent by the end of the decade; 13 per cent of the economically active in Wales are self-employed.

The following is a brief profile of FDI in Wales

Whilst accounting for only 5 per cent of the UK population, Wales has consistently attracted a high proportion of UK FDI at around 23 per cent. Whilst one-third of Manufacturing employment is located in these overseas owned plants it only accounts for 8 per cent of total employment.

TABLE 2

Number of Overseas Owned Manufacturing Plants in Wales 1993-96

1993 1994 1995 1996

Number of Overseas Owned Plants 348 353 364 355

As percentage of all Plants 6.8 per cent 7.0 per cent — 6.3 per cent

Employed in Overseas Owned Plants 68,000 67,800 73,500 75,200

Source: Welsh Office.

TABLE 3

Foreign Direct Investment into Wales during 1996-97

Total including LG Total excluding LG

Projects 119 117

Jobs:

New 13,611 7,504

Safeguarded 2,698 2,698

Investment spend 2,147 447

Source: WDA

FDI has also been disproportionately located with, for example, West Wales accounting for only 1.4 per cent of the total spend, 4.1 per cent of new jobs, 13 per cent of safeguarded jobs and 10 per cent of the total projects in 1996-97 despite accounting for 25 per cent of the population and one-third of the Welsh GDP.

The vast majority of the inward investment projects in Wales are concentrated in the Manufacturing and Production sectors, a fact that serves to magnify the implications of the disparity of not just West Wales but North and Mid Wales compared with North East and South East Wales.

TABLE 4

Employment in overseas manufacturing plants 1996

Employment As a percentage of total manufacturing employment Per cent As a percentage of total employment

Number of plants

355 75,200 36.6 7.9

Source: Welsh Office.

Implications for the Human Resource

Accelerated growth in the electronics and semi-conductor manufacturing sector in South East Wales may impact on skills demand and employment prospects within other areas of Wales.

In addition to the prospects of direct employment opportunities, the "cherry picking" of skills from existing electronics investors is likely to bring about increasing demand for skills and labour to replace those that are moving on to the new production facilities. Nowhere is this of greater concern than in the indigenous company base where salaries and wage levels are comparatively lower.

The anticipation of future trends in skills demand to satisfy the requirements of prospective inward investors is complicated. The continued pattern for the majority of future investment projects lies in value added manufacturing activities such as electronics and automotive components, but with significant potential amongst some business and financial-services sectors such as telemarketing, call centre and telephone financial service operations.

Investors' skill requirements, although adapting to changing technology and an increase in higher skilled occupations in value added production activities, still require pools of labour at various skill levels in order to fulfil their total demand for labour.

In an environment of increasing competition for investment the ability to secure a comparative advantage is all important. Improvements to the supplier network point the way towards improving indigenous business prospects and providing a desirable resource in attracting investment.

The continuation of the Source Wales initiative aims to build upon existing small and medium-sized enterprises by helping them develop as source suppliers for the large manufacturers. The smaller indigenous firms form the backbone of the Welsh economy and have the potential to contribute to sophisticated supplier networks but the skill base of these needs to be developed, protected and nurtured for these companies to grow and offer increased employment opportunities.

The recent economic climate in the Asian economies together with the increased competition for inward investment from Eastern Europe suggests that there may be the need to address regeneration via home grown companies with special emphasis on entrepreneurship.

For the Welsh economy to continue to grow Wales will have to compete even more strongly for inward investment within the UK and globally and, if successful, will expect to see even more pressures on not only the already highly pressurised labour market but more specifically on the indigenous companies whose skills and human resources are being targeted in some cases by the attraction of inward investors. If FDI continues to be attracted or is less successfully competed for in the face of increasing competition, then it is of paramount importance that the indigenous company skill base be enhanced and developed further.

TABLE A

Summary of occupational and industrial growth in Wales

Sub-region/Wales

Occupational:

Managers Across Wales

Personal and Protective Across Wales

Professionals Mid and West, SE Wales

Associated Professionals Mid and SE Wales

Plants and Machine Operatives N Wales

Craft and Related SE Wales

Industrial:

Distribution, Hotels and Catering Across Wales

Manufacturing N. Mid and SE Wales

Construction N. West and SE Wales

Banking, Finance and Insurance N. West and SE Wales

Other Services N. Mid and SE Wales

Source: Welsh TECs.

THE WELSH HUMAN RESOURCE

Examination of the education, skills and qualifications base in Wales gives rise to some concerns, especially in an economic context. In effect, Wales under-performs England which, in turn, under-performs the more economically advanced regions. There is also the economic disengagement that is sapping to Welsh GDP, and socially damaging. Some issues appear to be related.

In formal Education, there is a wide disparity in achievement and prospect. The proportion of school-leavers without any qualification is 11 per cent. Given, the profile of the Welsh economy, the take-up of Technology in schooling is disproportionate.

Over the more recent years, achievement at the earlier levels of vocational qualification has been encouraging but has tended to drop away as it approaches higher levels of attainment. The theme is continued in the relatively low penetration of graduate and Higher Education qualifications amongst management.

Amongst the adult, working-age population, there has been an accumulation to the extent that 370,000 have no qualification whatsoever and only one-third holds a reasonable level of vocational skill. There are also the well-documented problems of illiteracy and lack of numeracy, associated especially with the economically disengaged, less able and more disadvantaged members of society.

Difficult to quantify, but nonetheless substantive, there are subliminal effects caused by a lower median in education and skills base. Smaller companies tend to make do with lower technologies and their larger counterparts not to invest. The net effect is a near instinctive, modest aspiration on the part of management that acts to dampen economic progress.

The overall situation must be set against an economy that is undoubtedly advancing technologically and, therefore, intensifying its demands on companies, their managements and employees. Direct implications are for a much greater readiness on arrival at the threshold between Education and employment, well-designed provision to negotiate the transition into employability and enlightened company managements committed to the continual development of their key resource, their people. For the latter, it means both greater expertise in individual competencies and a broader range in these skills, including generic. A further ramification is for a tension between economic progress and inclusivity and, therefore, the need for special provision in order to lift the less-gifted into employment, a task made more challenging still by the decline in elementary occupations.

The sum of all this is that there are sections of the Welsh human resource base that are both under-achieving and under-utilised. Yet, the recently encouraging progress in parts of the economy with emerging or developing employers, new, different occupations that hold attractive prospects and even the inevitably routine replacement of employees have been matched largely by people successfully developing their skills. The task now is to mobilise fully this resource in order to exploit opportunities, so that it can be in itself a magnet for attracting capital but, also, capable of economic self-determination.

PART II—THE WELSH TRAINING AND ENTERPRISE COUNCILS

MISSION AND OBJECTIVES

The mission of the Welsh TECs is to promote the economic and, therefore, social well-being of Wales.

In doing so, they have 6 objectives. These are to:

— Imbue a culture of continuous improvement that persuades employers of the value of investing in their employees and individuals of the advantages of pursuing their own skills development.

— Support new and growing businesses into becoming more competitive and remaining so.

— Re-skill unemployed people so that they are able to get back into employment.

— Help Education deliver solutions that will support the economy and enhance the employment prospects of the individual.

— Up-grade continuously the skills of the existing workforce.

— By providing a focal point for the assembly, analysis and dissemination of local economic intelligence, guide training provisions and qualification routes; also, to communicate opportunity for companies and individuals alike.

Achieved through a culture of partnership, these objectives are about:

— The equipping of people and companies alike so that they can determine their own economic destinies.

— Instilling a people-related culture amongst employers that respects their employees, thereby advancing the successful prospects of their companies.

— Occupying the ground between Education and the workplace by facilitating the transition into employability.

— A seamless process that embraces the development of workforce entrants, established employees and management.

— By all concerned, a conscious, strategic decision to make a long-term investment in the economic potential of people.

— For the less well-equipped and able, fair play through the provision of equal opportunity aimed at conquering exclusion.

— Diversity in solution, unique to individual, company and local circumstance.

— More accurately, "Training for Enterprise" and the ultimate dependency on this for sustainability, robustness and participation.

ACTIVITIES

OVERALL

Although there are many additional and complementary aspects, activities fall broadly into three categories: for young people, those for adults and business support; education and equal opportunities are consistent themes. Application is frequently in combination, for example, training for young people entering a company allied with business support.

At both national and local levels, implementation is via partnership and a wide range of consultation that is both formal and informal. Amongst many others, partners include: employers and their representative organisations, the Unitary Authorities, Further and Higher Education, the Trades Unions, Development and Enterprise Agencies, the Careers Companies, the Employment Service in Wales and Curriculum Authority, the Voluntary Sector and many professional, accreditation bodies. TECs support actively their respective Regional Economic Forum as a focus for determining economic aspirations and means.

YOUNG PEOPLE

Activity here is centred on the 16 to 19-year-old age-group. Including training in the work-place and full-time study or a combination of the two, the aim is to gain National Vocational Qualifications for which there is a wide variety of accredited options.

National Traineeships, Modern and Accelerated Modern Apprenticeships fall into this area. Pioneered in Wales, the latter is a particular success-story. With 7,500 Apprenticeships, Wales provides 10 per cent of the total for England and Wales from only 5 per cent of the overall population. A new target of 10,000 participants is being set.

EDUCATION

The aim here is to connect Education and the workplace. This is achieved through an intensive, two-way programme of exchanges between schools/colleges and industry/business that involves teachers, lecturers, pupils and representatives from companies. The effort is considerable with the active participation annually of, quite literally, thousands of employers, teachers and pupils. Again on a matching scale, Careers Guidance provision is essentially, complementary work.

ADULTS AND THEIR GUIDANCE

Primarily within the work place, and aimed at relevant vocational qualifications, provision here is for adults who have been unemployed for six months. There is an essential and complementary Adult Guidance Service to assist in locating employment opportunities and in identifying qualification paths.

BUSINESS SUPPORT

At any one time, each TEC has working relationships with hundreds of employers of all sizes, effected in practice through a variety of business support measures. Actively promoted, these include:

— The initiative developed by the North Wales TECs and now deployed nationally, aimed at encouraging the small business in taking that first, crucial step into becoming an employer. Progress thus far has been encouraging.

— A wide variety of assistance that is available to support companies in improving themselves. This includes diagnostic and follow-up, specialist consultancies.

— Investors in People which is a key area of business support. The scheme provides a proven route to creating progressive management and a participatory workforce, the fundamental philosophy being that of mutual respect.

— Business Connect which has the task of helping businesses optimise on the support available from the public sector. TECs act here as a catalyst on behalf of the Unitary Authorities and other interested parties.

— A recently introduced scheme to help companies surmount the "Millennium Bug" issue.

Despite all this activity and a proactive approach, there would be benefits accrued from a greater level of participation amongst Welsh companies There is undoubtedly an inventory of reluctance on the part of companies to sign up strategically to moving forward and in, many respects, for understandable reason. For Investors in People, a determined effort is now under way to make the concept more user-friendly. This sensitivity in approach could well be usefully applicable elsewhere.

LOCAL INITIATIVES

Each TEC is accorded a Local Initiative Fund allocation that is spent on locally relevant projects, although an increasingly significant element of such spending is now centrally determined. Typical, local products of this capability is the comprehensive web of linkages from right across Education to industrial companies. As well as projects specific to SMEs, these links including the very successful "Saturday Clubs" with industry, homework clubs and school holiday study camps sponsored, just by way of example, by such companies as Just Rentals and The Ford Motor Company, amongst others.

CHILDCARE

Also funded by Government, TECs operate the childcare initiative that enables usually young and frequently single parents to take advantage of qualification opportunities in order to develop their employability.

OTHER WORKS

Usually via the application of their Reserves, TECs also:

— In co-operation with TUC Wales operate the "Bargaining for Skills" initiative, the objective here being a mutually progressive relationship that advances the prosperity of both workforce and company by stimulating a constructive engagement on skills and qualification issues.

— Institute bursary schemes for graduates and post-graduates in key industrial sectors.

— Run a variety of innovative schemes to engage economically disadvantaged groups, including ethnic minorities.

— Encourage, sponsor and support employer and business associations to coalesce, all this aimed at strengthening the capability of individual firms and sectors of the economy. In North Wales, over 2,000 companies are connected in this way.

— Support companies in the advancement of the employed workforce, for example by placing graduates with SMEs.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION

In a variety of forms, isolation is a characteristic of a number of disadvantaged communities. This isolation does imply a route back into employment that is likely to be noted for tentative steps rather than plunging straight into the mainstream. It brings into context the significance of indigenous enterprise to community regeneration. TECs are anxious for individuals to participate in an expanding economy and promote a variety of projects aimed at allaying exclusion by connecting regeneration and indigenous business. Close co-operation with the Voluntary Sector features prominently here.

TECs also place a premium extending opportunity to those people who are less well-equipped to participate economically. Programmes do allow for the pre-skilling and remedial work that leads to equality of training opportunity and thence to economic participation.

FUNDING

WELSH OFFICE

Activity 1989-99
Funding Remarks

£ million

Young People 61.4 —

Education 3.0 —

Adults 15.5 —

Adult Guidance 1.6 —

Business Support 7.5 ¹—

"Millennium Bug" Project 1.1 —

Local Initiatives 13.1 —

Childcare 0.9 —

Sector Initiatives 0.35 Via FEFCW²

Management 7.1 A contribution

Total 111.45 —

Notes:
¹ Includes Business Connect.
² Product of The Manufacturing Action Plan; please see below under "Other Activities".

The overall profile shows the weight of expenditure in the threshold between formal Education and employability. There are significant elements devoted to raising vocational skill levels and to the challenging process of lifting the less well equipped into employability. All funding is subject to a rigorous auditing regime.

RESERVES

Where the efficient management of Welsh Office funding secures savings, these are placed in Reserves. The product of a management system stipulated by Government at the origins of TECs, these funds are, more accurately, "Monies for Re-investment". They are used to support the application of local initiatives, also inward investment, as working capital and to subsidise management costs. Currently under independent audit, commissioned by the Welsh Office, informal indications are that they are fully and properly utilised, de facto, negligible. Possibly released via a change in stipulations, a future intention is to use a significant element of these resources to support the Individual Learning Accounts scheme that originated in a TEC proposal.

LEVERAGE

All Welsh TECs operate actively in the EU funding environment, invariably in partnership with other organisations to whom they make available their expertise. In practice, most structural fund submissions are under-pinned by this assistance. As well as local, projects are frequently implemented on an All-Wales or sub-regional basis. For the most recently available accounting year and including private sector funding for EU projects, the funds thus accrued amounted to over £7 million. Typical projects are: the training of women returners for entry into electronics companies, achievement of industry standards in the plastics sector and the up-skilling of management to secure new business in automotives.

PERFORMANCE

Over the past five years, the Welsh TECs have improved their performance beyond that of their equivalents in England. On most recent comparison—for last year—five of the six Welsh TECs feature in the top 26 (of 81) for England and Wales.

Since their inception in 1991, the Welsh TECs have helped 50,000 people gain jobs and in the gaining of 50,000 vocational qualifications. They have supported over 6,000 business start-ups.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

MANUFACTURING ACTION PLAN

Manufacturing remains a success story of the modern Welsh economy, in sharp contrast to the sector's fortunes elsewhere. Although analysis of the economy does point towards a shift in emphasis, its significance will remain. Since early in 1997, the Welsh TECs have been operating with a partnership of All-Wales institutions, "The Action Plan for Manufacturing Training in Wales". Conceived in different circumstances, the work of the partnership has proved robust to political change and, indeed, to be both predictive and supportive of the new Government's economic agenda. It has already proved useful in informing The Parliamentary Under Secretary's Education and Training Action Group(ETAG) and the intention is to support similarly The National Assembly.

The Plan covers a spectrum of activity concerned with focusing to economic relevance activity in schools, colleges, university and the workplace, also, the support of the institutions involved. The partnership consists of: CBI Wales, the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils, Wales TUC, WLGA, WDA/DBRW, ACCAC, the Careers Services Association and the Welsh TECs with the Council providing co-ordination. About to be implemented, results thus far feature: a scheme to optimise the commercial potential of higher level graduates in the electronics and semi-conductor industries and targeted training support for the aerospace, automotive and the electronics sectors.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS—FUTURE SKILLS NEEDS RESEARCH

The future skills needs of the labour market—especially local perspectives—are a key economic indicator. Each TEC is formally contracted to conduct this research as a precursor to assembling its business plan but also to fulfil the important task of informing local partners in order that their intentions may also be guided. Many other surveys are conducted and taken into account as well but there is no commonality of methodology on which to make an All-Wales assessment. Given the advent of The National Assembly, this is a pressing requirement.

The overall deficiency is to be remedied immediately. Originally pioneered by Gwent TEC, an All-Wales survey is imminent. Based on input from employers and households, the outcome will be informed decision-making that, for Government, institutions and employers, will influence provisions and, for the individual, selection of opportunity. The even greater prize is the consensus on common purpose.

PART III—ASSESSMENT OVERALL

The Welsh Affairs Select Committee is invited to note the Council's assessment

— Of the continuing need to assist formal Education in order to enhance its economic relevance; of the requirement to pursue this "connectivity" across formal Education and onwards throughout adult working life.

— That the transition from Education to employability is a crucial threshold requiring the most attentive management; that, whether in the work place, in Further or Higher Education or thereafter in adult employment, vocational provision must be sensitive to economic needs both in terms of subject matter and quality.

— Of the inherent diversity in requirements and the inevitability of closely co-operative, multi-agency solutions.

— Even with the overall progress in the economy and, especially given the inevitable march of technology, of the need to apply consistently particular measures in order to secure the economic participation of those members of society currently less equipped to do so.

— Of the continuing importance of Manufacturing to the Welsh economy and of ensuring Education and training provisions satisfy this; but for provisions overall to be amenable to the developing Service sector and associated professional occupations.

— Of the significance of EU funds in the development work undertaken with SME companies, especially with management and employees.

— Of the pressing need to develop management capabilities in Wales.

— That, whilst there is allowance to meet the skills needs of inward investors, unemployed people and new entrants to the work force, this is not necessarily the case for those in employment, yet there is a need; that the means of satisfying this need are worthy of investigation.

— That there is a requirement to engage more companies in an improvement ethos; that there may be a need to make existing provisions more flexible and, therefore, more attractive in order to do so; that it may be necessary to investigate the resources allocated to these provisions.

— Of the significance to policy-making of an analysis that has common methodology that is rooted in the reality of local circumstance; of the considerable potential of an instrument so applied.