Memorandum by the North West Regional
Assembly (NWRA) (RG 87)
SUMMARY
1. This response from the North West Regional
Assembly to the Committee makes three principal arguments.
— First, we hope that the committee
will focus on the respective roles of existing institutions of
regional and sub-regional governance and advocate that the principle
of subsidiarity is applied more rigorously at national, regional
and local level.
— Second, as the Government looks
to the next phase of its thinking on regional and city governance,
we hope that the Committee will add its voice to ours in arguing
that future changes should add to the credibility of all institutions
and processes of regional governance.
— Third, we would expect the Committee
to acknowledge that the current debate about regional governance
has moved on from that about elected regional government and that
new initiatives such as city region governance and Regional Boards
(which bring together Assemblies and Development Agencies) should
be supported and where appropriate piloted and evaluated.
INTRODUCTION
2. The North West Regional Assembly is a
partnership of local government, business organisations, public
sector agencies, education and training bodies, trade unions and
co-operatives together with the voluntary sector, working to promote
the economic, environmental and social well-being of the North
West of England (Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire
and Merseyside).
3. It is the Regional Chamber with responsibility
for scrutinising the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA);
preparing the draft Regional Spatial Strategy; and working with
partners to advise Government on how to prioritise £764 million
of public money is spent each year in the North West region on
economic development, housing and transport. The Assembly also
acts as a strategic focal point on a variety of genuinely regional
matters including European issues.
THE NORTH
WEST REGIONAL
ASSEMBLY: RECENT
DEVELOPMENTS
4. In October last year the Assembly restructured
to create a streamlined Executive Board comprising representatives
of each of the North West's sub-regions, and the economic and
social partners. The NWDA and Government Office for the North
West participate at senior level although without voting rights.
The creation of the Board was a response to
the difficulties the NRWA had experienced in the early period
of its operation and in anticipation of the Government's current
emphasis on streamlined organisations fit for purpose.
5. The NWRA is confident that its partners
view the regional Board as providing an inclusive mechanism for
driving forward the regional agenda.
6. This is the North West Regional context
for the Select Committee's Inquiry, context which leads directly
to the first and perhaps most important point we would wish to
impress upon the Committee. It is that developing credible and
durable institutions is a long-term process, requiring widespread
co-operation between partners. Change initiated by the centre
needs, therefore, to be introduced with great care. Ill thought
through changes are not in the interests of anyone. We would also
urge the Committee to impress upon the Government the need for
clarity so that all parties know their roles and thereby ensure
that the governance of the region as a whole is improved. The
present situation is one of considerable regional complexity and
no small amount of uncertainty.
7. The NWRA's response to the Committee
advances this theme looking in detail at the potential impact
of developments in city regional governance, changes in existing
Government structures in the regions and t the future for regional
governance.
CITY REGIONS
8. In the wake of the referendum on the
introduction of an elected Regional Assembly in the North East,
Ministers have made it clear that the Government is considering
the next steps to improve the governance of the regions—particularly
to help improve regional growth. Though no definitive statement
has yet been made, it is clear both that the Government now believes
regional structures can co-exist with the development of measures
to help the development of city regions and that city regional
governance is under active consideration.
9. The Committee's inquiry therefore provides
a well-timed opportunity to ask important questions of the Government
and thereby ensure that further reform is well-grounded as well
as considered alongside the range of other devolutionary initiatives
taken by the Government since 1997.
10. Academic opinion varies on the matter
of governance versus other solutions to the co-ordination issues
facing cities and city regions. What is clear is that governance
solutions always co-exist alongside other, more informal arrangements
and that with cities the size of the major English conurbations,
there is always likely to be the need for co-ordination at a number
of levels.
11. It is important that change is well
planned and implemented and as infrequent as is consistent with
delivering effective services and good governance.
12. We therefore have no objection in principle
to the development of ideas for the governance and coordination
of city regions. On the contrary. The North West's cities are
considering these ideas actively whilst the Assembly as a whole
recognises that a successful region requires strong and well-governed
cities. The issues for the NWRA are therefore about: how change
is developed and consulted on; the impact of changes in city regional
governance on areas beyond their boundaries including in rural
areas; and, how any new institutions and arrangements proposed
by the Government relate to what it has done previously or what
the regions themselves have in place.
13. This leads to several recommendations.
14. The creation of a regional framework
of decision making has not been easy. After much effort it is
making significant progress, improving decision making of the
region. The Government's next steps should seek to build on this
progress.
15. The Government should make clear at
the outset that any future plans for city regions will not imply
changes in the statutory role of Regional Assembly role in planning
or in scrutiny.
16. When it sets out its proposals on cities
and regions, the Government should make a clear statement on the
division of labour between existing regional and sub-regional
governance as well as any new institutions, and lay out a clear
vision for the future and a commitment to stability of governance
in the future.
17. City regional pilots are a logical extension
of the sub-regional arrangements that have been emerging over
recent years. North West city regions volunteer to pilot arrangements.
However it is hoped that the Government's plans will be brought
forward following full consultation with existing regional and
sub-regional as well as local authority partners.
REGIONAL FUNCTIONS
OF GOVERNMENT
18. The impact on regions and localities
of Government policies and programmes has been recognised since
the mid 1990s, when, under the previous Conservative administration,
Government Regional Offices were established. This in turn paved
the way for Regional Development Agencies and Chambers.
19. Government has long had arrangements
for the regional management and oversight of its programmes. As
the framework of regional governance has matured, more Whitehall
Departments have shown a willingness to use them in the oversight
of Government activity or to assist in the allocative process
itself. For example, the Regional Housing Boards will now shoulder
the responsibility for housing strategy and investment in the
regions. Regional Assemblies also have responsibility with RDAs
for advising the Department for Transport on investment priorities,
something which we hope would evolve into regional transport boards
in due course.
20. The Government has added to the complexity
of the regional picture through the creation of a range of sub-national
bodies, increasingly using the region as an important tier. For
example it looks set to change matters—and possibly to complicate
them—as it moves towards finalising regional structures
in the police and fire services. The NWRA view is that, whatever
one's view of any of these changes, they need to be managed in
a way that takes account of—and builds on the credibility
and effectiveness of—other regional bodies.
21. The Government has shown willingness
to give responsibility to Regional Assemblies to provide both
scrutiny (RDAs) and, increasingly, a role in allocating resources:
for example the regional housing board function as well as advice
on transport priorities. This has been welcome and in the North
West, as the recent regional prioritisation of transport investment
undertaken as part of its response to the Regional Funding Allocations
initiative demonstrates, there are positive signs that the regionally-led
arrangements are now adding real value.
22. But there remains the risk that different
parts of Government are pushing for rapid developments in their
regional mechanisms in potentially uncoordinated ways, and could
miss the opportunity to integrate the changes with the existing
regional infrastructure. More confusing still to the public and
to professionals alike are the overlaps brought about by a lack
of consistency over boundaries. Whilst progress has been made
on these issues over recent years, the issue of coterminous boundaries
remains important.
23. However the administration of health
suggests that reform in and of itself may not be key. Over the
last 30 years successive Governments have created, abolished and
are now re-creating Health Boards at the regional level. The issue
is in part one of how reform is carried out and the central importance
of linking infrastructural change with the activities of partner
agencies and those delivering "on the ground". We therefore
make the following recommendations.
24. The Government is introducing, consulting
or planning a range of regional-level changes in service configuration
in: police, fire and health among others. The Government should
ensure that in any changes, the principle of subsidiarity applies
and that policy responsibility is as local as possible. Moreover
changes need to more clearly take account of—and build on
the credibility and effectiveness of—other regional bodies.
25. Given the complexity of partnership
arrangements and the level of inter-agency cooperation required
to deliver many key services to the public, a policy of evolving
coterminous regional and sub regional boundaries should be considered
by the Government in order to improve efficiency.
26. Where the Government does intend to
change the balance of functions carried out at national, regional,
sub-regional and local level, these changes should as a matter
of course—and preferably as a legal requirement—be
subject to consultation at the appropriate level, ie with Regional
Assemblies and sub-regional bodies and local government.
REGIONAL GOVERNANCE
27. Whatever the merits or otherwise of
regional government, the experience of the North West provides
important lessons on the dangers of proceeding at pace towards
a policy goal that is not clear as was the case with Elected Regional
Assembly (ERA) powers. The lack of clarity on the Government's
part hindered the development of substantive debate on the issues.
As opinion differed both within and between political parties,
the combined result was that the facts about ERAs were difficult
to communicate to the public, something which is unlikely to have
helped foster a positive public attitude to devolution and sub-national
governance in the longer term.
28. The NWRA takes the view that it would
be regrettable indeed if the Government failed to learn the lessons
from this policy. Principal among these are: the need for identity
(at regional and city regional level) to be fostered in advance
of significant changes in regional governance; and the need for
the changes to work with pre-existing partnerships between regional
and sub-regional bodies to enable any new changes to bed-in effectively.
In short, because there already exists a range of bodies at regional
and sub regional level—including a form of indirectly elected
regional government—the Government should ensure that it
takes full cognisance of the impact of its policies and seeks
to avoid prolonged periods of uncertainty.
29. Similarly, the Committee should ask
the Government to establish a clear picture of what public attitudes
to devolution are in the Northern regions. The intention would
not be to re-open the argument about ERAs but as popular opinion
about devolution (if not ERA) are mixed, and possibly contradictory,
independently commissioned and analysed opinion research would
help to understand attitudes and so to inform future policy development.
30. In summary, the NWRA would offer the
Committee to consider the following suggestions.
31. The North East referendum on regional
government has had the unfortunate effect of creating division
and diversion in the regional institutions of Northern England,
creating confusion and thereby undermining the credibility of
the existing institutions. In its next, and all future steps,
the Government needs to consider both the public attitudes to
the geographies of proposed arrangements and the track record
of the existing regional institutions in developing regional,
sub- regional and local identity.
32. To this end, and with directly elected
regional assemblies not a likely prospect, the Government should
commission independent opinion research on attitudes to regional
and sub regional affiliation, and views on the desirability of
devolving power from Whitehall.
33. The Government should pilot Regional
Boards similar to the public service boards emerging at local
level in many areas. These would take forward the joint working
encouraged by the Regional Funding Allocations initiative and
bring together the currently separate activities of the RDAs and
the Regional Chambers with Government Regional Offices inputting
and adding value. Such a structure will foster the alignment of
strategies and greater accountability. The North West would welcome
participation in any such pilot.
34. In the next stage of its thinking on
cities and regions, the Government should make an explicit recognition
of the existence in England of the existing regional governance
structure and the growing track record that the Regional Assemblies
are playing in providing democratically elected leadership.
NORTHERN WAY
35. The Northern Way has been an important
development for the Northern regions of England. It has encouraged
the regions to look at their common interests in a way, which
they have not done hitherto. Compared with the policy of growth
areas in the South of England, the Northern Way has had both considerable
success and some shortcomings. The Northern Way has been widely
welcomed by local and regional government bodies, though the role
and importance of the Northern Way remains a question in the minds
of many; moreover it is probably not a concept of any significant
meaning to the residents of Northern England.
36. In substantive terms, and certainly
in comparison to the Southern growth areas, the Northern Way may
have been less successful. The Northern Way has not had the resources—or
the promise of the resources—of the South East growth areas.
But, even allowing for lack of resources, other features of its
governance and operation may have limited its impact. First, the
"ownership" arrangements of the Northern Way appear
to lack a degree of clarity: is it for example an institution
of Government or the regions? Given the respective roles of the
RDAs and Regional Assemblies—and their involvement in a
Steering Group—the reason for this lack of depth to the
ownership of the Northern Way is not obvious. It may however have
contributed to the sense in the North West region that the Northern
Way has failed to make sufficient progress on practical projects
nor taken off as an idea as much as it should, or could, have
done.
37. The NWRA therefore makes a series of
suggestions for the future of the Northern Way based on the view
that the Northern Way needs to be moved up to the next stage of
its development. We look to the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review
to define the role and increase the level of resource to support
the development of the North and believe that consequent to that
improvements in governance should be considered.
38. The Northern Way has had the positive
effect of encouraging collaboration between the Northern Regions,
though its overall economic impact remains to be tested. However
the balance between the creation of the Northern Way identity
and the development of concrete projects dealing with important
trans-regional issues has probably not been optimal. Future Government
support should be aimed directly at fostering cooperation in priority
areas such as transport and housing and facilitating the private
and public investment that is required to make the north's potential
a reality.
39. The Northern Way should therefore receive
substantial support in CSR 2007. If there is a step change in
the Government's commitment to economic growth in the north and
the Northern Way then its governance should be reviewed to ensure
greater ownership and leadership from Regional Assemblies and
City Regions as well as other partners in addition to the Regional
Development Agencies.
| 
