Memorandum by Yes4theNorthEast (DRA 12)
1. Yes4theNorthEast is the independent,
non-party political campaign for an elected North East Assembly.
Our sole aim is to campaign for a Yes vote in the forthcoming
referendum on regional government in the North East.
2. We welcome the government's proposal
to create a North East Assembly subject to the approval of the
people of the North East in the forthcoming referendum.
We believe an elected regional assembly has
the potential to:
— Strengthen the voice of the North
East.
— Allow more decisions about the North
East to be taken in the North East.
— Overcome the fragmentation of the
quango state and make it directly accountable to the people of
the North East.
— Allow the North East to fashion its
own distinctive solutions in areas such as economic regeneration
and job creation, training, housing and culture.
Despite the significant changes that have taken
place over recent years to introduce new economic activities to
the North East the region continues to face substantial challenges.
Chief among these challenges is the need to create a self-sustaining
economy, which provides sufficient good quality jobs for the people
of the North East. Underpinning this central challenge are additional
but related ones including the need to raise levels of educational
attainment and aspirations, improve health and well-being and
protect the environment. In each of these areas the region has
large and distinctive challenges, but also significant opportunities.
The region has demonstrated its ability to develop innovative
solutions to the challenges it faces. Greater regional decision-making
is essential if the North East is to build upon its unique attributes
and identity and find solutions to the challenges it faces.
There is a substantial tier of regional government
in the North East. The government has listed over 60 quangos as
being present in the region. It has been estimated that about
25 of these quangos have an explicit regional mission and between
them spend hundreds of millions of pounds. Traditionally, the
quango state in the North East has been fragmented and there is
good evidence that its effectiveness would be improved if its
budgets and operations were better integrated.
The case for more decisions about the North
East being taken in the North East, therefore, is a very strong
one and we welcome the forthcoming referendum and the opportunities
it presents.
3. We welcome the publication of the draft
Regional Assemblies Bill and the clarity it adds to the debate
and the degree to which it proposes the devolution of additional
powers to regional assemblies. We understand that devolution is
a process and not an event and acknowledge that in each of the
devolved administrations there is a continuing debate about the
possibility of further devolution. We note that in its White Paper
Your Region, Your Choice, the government suggested that
it would continue to identify ways in which the powers of a regional
assembly could be strengthened over time. To this end we see the
draft Bill as a good starting point, upon which we would seek
to build further in the future.
Among the aspects of the draft Bill we especially
welcome is the proposed power of general competence, which gives
an Assembly potentially a wide remit to promote the social, economic
and environmental well-being of the region.
We reject the notion that a North East Assembly
will be a toothless talking shop. Its broad powers are similar
to those of the Greater London Authority and in some areas—notably
housing—substantially stronger. The GLA has high rates of
approval from Londoners and business groupings and can point to
some innovative and popular public policy initiatives.
4. It is appropriate that the core tasks
of a North East Assembly should be in the field of economic development.
Despite the large changes that have taken place in the region's
economy over recent years, the North East continues to face substantial
economic challenges. Despite falling levels of unemployment, economic
participation rates remain among the lowest in Great Britain.
Substantial amounts of central government money
are dispensed to promote economic development in the region. It
makes overwhelming sense that the main decisions about these expenditures
should take place in the region. Therefore we welcome the decision
to make the Regional Development Agency accountable to the proposed
regional assembly. (We note also the significant new responsibilities
devolved to RDAs as a result of the 2004 Spending Review). There
is wide agreement that in the future the region's economy will
be founded on its indigenous potential and locally rooted industries.
It is right and sensible that such economic development policies
should be designed and executed in the region.
5. We welcome the proposed planning powers
of the regional assembly, including responsibility for the Regional
Spatial Strategy. The absence of a clear and effective spatial
planning framework has hindered the regeneration of the North
East over recent decades. Especially important among the government's
proposals is the power to refuse particular applications that
are not in line with the Regional Spatial Strategy, which gives
real teeth to the Assembly's planning role, as has been demonstrated
in London. In time, the relationship between the planning powers
of a North East assembly and those of the Secretary of State could
be revisited with a view to strengthening them further.
We welcome the proposal to devolve responsibility
for housing investment budgets to an Assembly. The region confronts
significant challenges of urban regeneration and the improvement
of areas of ageing housing stock, as well as providing attractive
modern stock. Tackling these problems is central to the broader
task of economic regeneration. Powers over housing investment,
together with powers over planning, offer a regional assembly
some substantial tasks.
6. Redevelopment in parts of the North East,
most notably the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides, has demonstrated
the importance of culture to economic regeneration. We welcome
the proposal that the cultural consortium becomes a functional
body of a future regional assembly.
The North East a strong cultural identity and
this has the potential to be one of its greatest attributes in
the international arena. Similarly, the region has a strong sporting
identity, exemplified by events such as the Great North Run. Developing
our cultural identity should be one of the key tasks of a North
East assembly. This is central to the raising the aspirations
in the North East, especially among our young people.
However, substantial funding of the arts and
sport will continue to flow from DCMS and the lottery to the region
through Arts Council England and Sport England. The government
has agreed to hold a review of funding arrangements for arts and
sport. This creates a good opportunity to consider the relationship
between an Assembly and the Arts Council and Sports England and
to ensure the Assembly's maximum effectiveness in these policy
areas. There is a strong case for a devolved North East having
a seat on UK sport.
We note that government has indicated that
opportunities will arise to review this situation in the future
and we would urge that these are taken.
7. Transport is a vital part of economic
development, connecting businesses to markets and people to the
labour market; transport also has an important role to play in
social and environmental well being. Integrated transport solutions
cannot be planned for each region from Whitehall. The North East
faces a particular problem in that the criteria for transport
investments usually rest on congestion considerations, whereas
the main justification for transport investments in the North
East is in support of economic development objectives. We see
signs that the Government is recognising this and beginning to
move in the right direction. A number of documents published around
the time of the Draft Bill on Regional Assemblies point to further
strengthening the powers over transport. The recent Future of
Transport White Paper stated:
We will improve the current arrangements for
making decisions on transport. Central to this will be giving
regional and local bodies more influence to ensure that transport
services can be tailored to local needs and preferences. Currently
their influence is largely limited to investments by local authorities.
This will be progressively extended, initially to regional priorities
for some strategic road schemes, and potentially to decisions
on regional railways. (Para 9.4)
The 2004 comprehensive spending review offered
a timetable which could see the transport powers of an elected
assembly further strengthened:
The Government will also consider whether regional
devolution could be accelerated in regions with Elected Regional
Assemblies (Para 9.7).
The opportunity to further increase the transport
powers of an elected assembly is welcome. For instance, we suggest
that there is an opportunity to match the powers of North East
over the regulation of the road network to those of the Greater
London Authority. More broadly, we urge the government to give
further detail about the nature of the additional devolved transport
responsibilities it envisages. In para 4.41 of the Spending Review
the government commits itself to "piloting" Regional
Transport Boards. There is a strong case for introducing such
a board in the North East in the vent Yes vote in the referendum,
while making accountable to a North East Assembly.
8. We acknowledge that decision-making in
relation to skills and training is moving in direction of regionalisation.
The Regional Skills Partnerships closely link strategies of RDA
and LSCs. This is a very important and welcome development. Business
organisations in the North East have welcomed these proposals
and the opportunity they give to properly integrate economic development
initiatives and training priorities. The Draft Bill gives a Regional
Assembly additional influence over training policy by strengthening
its links with local Learning and Skills Councils. The Spending
Review 2004 noted the:
strengthening the role of Regional Development
Agencies (RDAs) in developing joint plans for adult skills budgets
with the Regional Directors of the Learning and Skills Council
(LSC) through the Regional Skills Partnerships, in accordance
with the statement of principles for future working between RDAs
and the LSC drawn up in discussion between the DfES, DTI, RDAs
and LSC (para 23.5).
It proposed that:
The Government will consider favourably proposals
for further integration of planning and funding of adult skills
and workforce development at the regional level including, in
those regions where the RDA and LSC desire it, a "dual key"
approach to the management of adult skills budgets operated by
the RDA Chief Executive and the Regional LSC Director (para 23.5).
This creates an opportunity for an incoming
regional assembly to operate a pilot programme in North East,
which would further break down the barriers between Whitehall
"silos". This would gain the support of some business
organisations in the region. The Regional Skills Partnerships
draw on the resources of the Department of Work and Pensions as
well as those of the LSC. The case for an integrated (albeit in
the first instance ring-fenced) regional skills budget which could
be devolved to a regional assembly is strong. It would build on
existing developments in ways which allowed further devolution.
9. In the Spending Review 2004 the government
further states that:
It is increasingly clear that regional choices
on transport, housing, planning and economic development cannot
be taken in isolation. The Government is examining new ways to
integrate RDAs' Regional Economic Strategies with regional transport
and spatial development strategies, within a framework of indicative
long term funding guidelines for each region . . . It will consult
on these proposals later in the year with a view to publishing
indicative regional budgets alongside Budget 2005 (Para 23.6).
We welcome these indications, which are potentially
radical and look forward to further detail.
10. We welcome the proposed voting system
based on proportional representation, which should allow a wider
range of voices to be heard a North East Assembly. We believe
this is essential for the success of an Assembly. We also welcome
the proposals for a strong role for stakeholder groups in the
work of the Assembly, which have been welcomed by business and
other stakeholder groups in the region.
11. We believe that a regional assembly
will provide the North East with a great opportunity to make more
decisions for itself in ways that will help to improve life in
practical ways for people in the region. We welcome the forthcoming
referendum, the publication of the Draft Bill and would be happy
to assist the Committee further in its deliberations.
| 
