Supplementary memorandum submitted by
ACAS
REGIONAL STRATEGY
AND REFORMED
REGIONAL GOVERNANCE
STRUCTURES
In general we would have liked to see more on
the importance of stakeholder involvement, and a recognition of
the value of public services in supporting the RDA and sub regional
bodies in achieving goals and targets.
Although we recognise the benefit of allowing
greater flexibility in local and regional decisions over focus
and targets, we believe that a clear expectation should be set
for RDAs and Leaders' Boards on workplace issues and productivity.
This would include the expectation that they should work with
relevant partners in order to benefit from:
— advice and expertise that can feed
into regional and sub regional strategy; and
— provision of specialised services,
eg training and support on redundancy handling, leadership and
management skills.
A focus at regional level on workplace issues
is, in our view, essential to ensure more consistent expectations
and partner recognition at local authority level.
The current economic crisis and rising redundancies
has only emphasised the importance of having regional strategies
on employment relations made an integral part of economic strategy
now and in the long term.
3 December 2008
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