Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Written Evidence


Memorandum by the Northern Region Liberal Democrats (DRA 34)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  Liberal Democrats have advocated Regional Government for many years and have given careful and detailed consideration as to how it would work. As the North East is the first English Region to be given the opportunity to have a democratically-elected Regional Assembly, the Northern Region Liberal Democrats have a particular interest in the issue.

  Over the past year our Policy Committee (Chair Cllr John Shipley) has made a detailed consideration of how a future Regional Assembly would work.

A.  OVERVIEW

Local democracy

  1.  Liberal Democrats believe in the importance and value of an elected Regional Assembly. It will enable the people of the North-East to make decisions locally on matters that affect them.

  2.  We see the defining task of the Regional Assembly as providing the political leadership necessary to meet the challenges facing the NE arising from our increasingly global economy.

  3.  Our democratically-elected Regional Assembly will take control of regional Quangos and other non-elected, publicly-funded regional bodies, and make them directly accountable to the people of the region through the Assembly. It is our aim that all such unelected organisations will eventually be made responsible to the elected Assembly; initially we expect that the Assembly will take charge of those Quangos relevant to the powers and functions of the Assembly. The Assembly must have the powers to streamline, merge or abolish regional Quangos under its control.

Jobs

  4.  The NE has a proud history. Our natural resources and manufacturing strength helped to create the Industrial Revolution. Yet in the post war period, and particularly in the past twenty years, the impact of the decline in coal, iron and steel and shipbuilding has required the region to re-shape itself. This we have done in partnership both with Government and with the private sector with impressive results in some areas. The service sector has generated many thousands of jobs and our employment rate is at an all-time high.

  5.  Yet manufacturing has suffered disproportionately in this region because of underinvestment and a misguided exchange rate policy and there are now serious dangers that the expansion of the service sector may stall and even go into reverse. The NE cannot stand still in the face of this. We need a Regional Assembly capable of delivering a strong and dynamic regional infrastructure that will in turn underpin the creation of the new jobs that will secure our future.

  6.  We believe that the Regional Assembly must become the focus for driving forward the changes necessary. It must make the NE internationally recognised as England's best region to invest in, one which offers a labour force and a quality of life second to none. This means that we must reverse the negative stereotypes of the NE. It also means that the Government must empower the Regional Assembly to lead on all matters relating to the NE's economic development. Integration of the work of the Government Office for the NE with the work of One North East, the LSCs and the local authorities under the leadership of the Regional Assembly will be central to the economic success of the NE over the next two decades.

  7.  It will be essential for the Regional Assembly to demonstrate a clear unity of purpose. It will fail if it permits conflict between sectors, agencies or geographical interest. It will also fail if it does not earn the support of the private sector and its representative organisations since most of the jobs created will need to be generated by the private sector.

The new politics

  8.  Liberal Democrats believe that an elected Assembly must be radically different from current political structures. We are determined that an elected Assembly will be truly democratic, responding to the needs and wishes of all the people of the NE. Liberal Democrats will ensure that the Assembly will be open, transparent and inclusive of the many different communities in the region.

  9.  The Regional Assembly must not become a bureaucratic, inwardly-focused body. If it does, it will spread further disillusionment with political institutions in the NE. It must be run in an open and participative way. It must not replicate the functions of others better equipped to act. Just as we need a regional economy that adds value, so our Regional Assembly must add value to our political structures.

Open, Inclusive, Accessible

  10.  We state our clear intention to ensure that our candidates for the Regional Assembly will include equal numbers of women and men, and will be representative of all age groups, and come from all parts of the region, and from minority communities and the disabled, to ensure that the Assembly fully and fairly represents all the people of the region. All Liberal Democrat candidates will be vetted to ensure their ability and commitment to making the Assembly work effectively for the people of the North East

  11.  We will ensure that Assembly meetings are open and accessible to press and public. We will ensure the right of any organisation or individual in the region to petition the Assembly and to put their case directly to Assembly members. We will seek the best qualified staff to work for the Assembly and ensure that the organisations under Assembly control do their work without political interference subject to overall Assembly policies.

An effective voice

  12.  Liberal Democrats will ensure that an elected Assembly will be an effective voice for the North East. So, we will work with others to achieve high and stable levels of employment, recognising the importance of existing businesses, encouraging the conditions which will allow more graduates to settle in the NE and more small businesses to be created and to expand. Whilst we welcome inward investment that has long-term sustainability or which creates new skills in our workforce, there are three fundamental policy initiatives that will drive our economic success. These are:

    —  Creating the conditions in which new ideas and new products can be brought successfully to the market.

    —  Improving the transport infrastructure in the NE to overcome our distance from mainland Europe and the rest of the UK.

    —  Developing through education and training the full potential of our workforce to enable us to compete with the best in the world.

New ideas

  13.  Bringing new ideas and products to market is fundamental to the development of new indigenous companies and industries in the NE. An entrepreneurial culture must be encouraged and exploited with a venture capital company offering shares to all citizens of the region. We need more investment by our own people in our emergent SMEs with a business culture that is prepared to take more risks underpinned by our own money.

Transport

  14.  Secondly, securing funding for major improvements to our transport infrastructure for road, rail, air and sea is crucial. Without this, we may not be able to compete on cost with other regions which need to commit less resource to the movement of goods.

Education and training

  15.  Thirdly, a world-class education system is fundamental to success in today's global economy but that educational system has to recognise that economic advance and advantage is propelled by technology. Role models are essential to encourage more NE students to study science, computing and engineering. If the NE is to be at the forefront of developing leading-edge and sustainable technology, we need to adopt educational policies that support that aim. Educational achievement must be stimulated from KS3 with much more practical and theoretical training in IT, design, construction, science, engineering and communications.

Sustainability

  16.  Liberal Democrats want a NE in which environmental sustainability is central to our planning, which protects the needs of our rural areas and which proactively supports our communities in need of regeneration. We want to see investment in our inner urban areas rather than development of green belt or high quality agricultural land since this will bring back life to our inner cities and turn them into places where people of all ages feel able to live and work.

Links with Europe

  17.  We need to build on our strong links with Europe and we recognise that the NE is crucially dependent on its exports to Europe. We must build on the research capacity of our universities which are increasingly central to the economic vitality of the region. And we need to build on our under-developed tourist potential particularly in the cultural field.

B.  KEY POLICY OBJECTIVES

  18.  Liberal Democrats believe that the Regional Assembly will be judged on its ability to deliver the following key policy objectives:

19.   An entrepreneurial economy

    —  Focusing on helping and building high quality, high value/high wage, sustainable businesses especially those already in the region.

    —  Devising local programmes targeted to the NE's needs rather than national programmes designed for the Midlands and the South administered by Whitehall.

    —  Bringing together the best people from regional agencies, the civil service, business and the universities to work together on common programmes.

20.   Achieving higher educational standards

    —  Solving the vocational education/skills shortage.

    —  Increasing HE participation rates and support for continuing education.

    —  Expanding provision in ICT and technology from KS3.

21.   Addressing rural issues

    —  Creating jobs in rural areas linked to low-cost homes and transport.

    —  Building up the economic potential of tourism creating a revitalised countryside for the prosperity of local people and the enjoyment of tourists.

    —  Empowering farmers to take greater charge of their own destinies.

22.   Building balanced communities

    —  Making sure that homes are built where they are needed, catering for affordable homes for those who need them, and re-using brownfield sites in an environmentally sustainable way.

    —  Regenerating communities where needed, involving the whole community, and making them places where people are proud to live and aiming for all homes being of a decent standard.

    —  Tackling the causes of homelessness, with a regional homelessness strategy which will provide homes and support for people with special needs and vulnerable tenants.

23.   Democratising the institutions of regional government

    —  Ensuring all regional policies reflect a regional consensus and that regional representative bodies and a civic forum are fully involved in policy making and scrutiny.

    —  Enabling the Assembly to meet in different locations across the region.

    —  Undertaking meaningful consultation, always providing options and formally reporting on consultation results.

24.  Enhancing culture, sport and the arts

    —  Improving the tourism infrastructure and creating a region-wide approach to marketing.

    —  Encouraging an active citizenship driven by popular engagement in culture and sport.

    —  Restoring local libraries as centres of learning and creativity.

25.   Improving the transport infrastructure

    —  Maintaining high levels of subsidy for public transport to effect a shift from private to public transport.

    —  Introducing anti-congestion measures in urban areas to keep public transport running.

    —  Investing in transport links to key markets via improved rail links, roads, ports and airports.

26.   Leading through ICT

    —  Putting the NE at the leading edge of ICT development, aiming at the creation of many ICT-related business start-ups and supporting the commercialisation of existing regional R&D strengths in applications such as graphics, animation and virtual reality.

    —  Addressing the digital divide between "information rich" and "information poor" by supporting community IT access projects.

27.   Linking better with Europe

    —  Working with the other outer regions of the EU to free ourselves from the centralising impact of the London, Paris, Frankfurt triangle.

    —  Supporting the introduction of the Euro as a key objective at the appropriate time to sustain jobs in the NE.

28.   Promoting social inclusion

    —  Exerting influence on other agencies and authorities not directly under the control of the Regional Assembly to deliver regional needs based on regional information.

    —  Developing a strong, legitimate voice to negotiate with the Home Office and with the Strategic Health Authority and make them less responsive to Whitehall's wishes and more responsive to the needs of the region.

    —  Preventing the marginalisation of any social groups.

29.   Regenerating communities

    —  Building bottom-up regeneration and neighbourhood management/capacity building.

    —  Changing national policy to support physical regeneration through public sector jobs dispersed from the south into existing communities across the region.

30.   Additional powers

  Although we believe the Regional Assembly has insufficient powers and responsibilities, it will be important for it to demonstrate a capacity to do more on behalf of central Government and the region. Liberal Democrats will work actively to increase the powers delegated to the Assembly.

Quangos

  31.  Liberal Democrats will bring democratic accountability and co-ordinated decision-making to the present vast array of Quangos and other unelected regional bodies which comprise an existing expensive and inefficient tier of regional government.

  32.  A Quango (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation) is an unelected body which carries out a government or public function. In general, Quango directors and/or management board members are appointed by government ministers. Quangos are wholly funded from taxation and often disburse public funds and grants.

  33.  No-one knows how many Quangos there are. Government ministers quote 60-75 North East Quangos—we believe there are actually well over 100 in the region.

  34.  Each Quango is concerned only with its own particular aspect of regional policy. The best-known example is One North East, the regional development agency. While collectively the Quangos command a huge proportion of public spending in the region, of the order of £10 billion a year, each follows its own policy independently of the others. This system of regional government is not only undemocratic; it is hugely inefficient and wasteful.

  35.  Unknown to the public and largely ignored by the press, members of Quango boards are responsible only to government ministers. While there are around 1,250 democratically-elected local councillors in the region, there are over 1,600 unelected Quango board members, many of who are paid substantial salaries.

  36.  We want to bring all regional Quangos under the direct control of the democratically elected Regional Assembly; in the first instance, those Quangos relevant to the initial powers of the Assembly. We would ensure that such Quangos in future work together to implement the Assembly's democratically agreed regional policy, cutting out wasteful duplication.

  37.  We will examine each Quango under the Assembly's control and would streamline, amalgamate or abolish them as appropriate. This will also reduce wasteful expenditure. We will democratise the appointment of remaining Quango boards.





 
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