Regional development agencies and the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill - Business and Enterprise Committee Contents


Memorandum submitted by Ken Wigfield

THE NEED FOR A LEVEL BETWEEN CENTRAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

  I see considerable value in having some form of sub-national authority responsible for strategic development. This need, however, comes with a number of caveats:

    1. The number of "regions" should be less than is currently the case—in other words the "regions" should be bigger. Something like half the current number with twice the governable area would seem appropriate.

    2. There should be a Cabinet Minister whose sole responsibility it is to coordinate the activities of these large, regional authorities and to help plan and resolve issues about inter-regional projects.

    3. In order to reduce the plethora of lower authorities that currently exists in some parts of the regions, counties should become unitary authorities so that the tier below regional level is manageable. This tier must be instrumental in the local implementation of any development programme.

    4. This sub national authority should be the only official body controlling all aspects of economic and spatial development within their region. All other government agencies that operate in the field (eg Business Link) should be directed by it; all support (both national and European) should be channelled through it. (In other words there is no need for Government Offices (eg GOWM), City Regions, etc).

    5. The officers who run such regions should have sufficient business acumen to be able to understand the generation and implementation of a true strategy. They must be "big picture" operators. Obviously, they will have to work within the broad policies of the government in power at the time. However, the short-term, changeable whims of various Parties should not be allowed to redirect the overall purpose of, what should be, a first-class, long-term development strategy.

    6. These strategic planning process proposed by the region should be subject to the controlling scrutiny of an external panel or governing body. That panel should comprise a majority of personnel concerned with wealth generation and a minority of those with a wealth distribution interest. All members of the panel should understand the meaning and process of strategy.

    7. More extreme blue sky thinking leads me to the conclusion that these regional authorities should be independent and apolitical. Much along the lines of the way the Bank of England currently has an independent control of inflation, so these regional agencies could do much the same for economic development. Obviously their terms of reference would be far more complicated but such a structure would enable the UK to embark upon a much-needed programme of long-term planning.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RDA'S AND THEIR ROLE IN ADDING VALUE

  My experience has been solely with one such Agency—Advantage West Midlands. It is that experience that is noted here.

  In their recent publication "the West Midland's economy—a joint response to changing economic circumstances" [by the way, the apostrophe in the word Midland's was not included !!!] AWM states "From 2007 to 2012, Advantage West Midlands is directly investing some £2.2 billion in economic development and regeneration activity.". This must roughly match what it has spent over the past seven years since its inception for which it is proud to report:

    "In the past seven years Advantage West Midlands has achieved the following:

    2,563 people assisted into new jobs in the West Midlands

    3,235 businesses created in, or attracted to, the West Midlands

    34,480 West Midlands businesses given access to the resources they need to improve performance

    956 West Midlands businesses have become engaged in new collaborations with the region's Research & Development community

    83,158 people in the West Midlands have improved skills

    11,489 community enterprise initiatives have been supported

£634 million in additional public and private sector funding levered into the West Midlands

    768 hectares (1,900 acres) of brownfield land reclaimed or redeveloped."

  How much of this scoreline would have been achieved without AWM's involvement? I suspect their influence has been marginal.

  How much of that past £2 billion has been spent on supposed "strategic thinking activities " and the publication, approximately every two years, of a new, glossy strategy document?

  How much of that past £2 billion has been spent on new buildings and the refurbishment of old ones for their own purposes?

  How much of that past £2 billion has been spent moving staff around every 12 to 24 months and on the recruitment of new personnel in a high staff turnover environment?

  If £2 billion has been spent over the past seven years I see little evidence of any major or significant returns on that money. AWM may have added some value but it most certainly has not been valued for money.

RDA EXPERTISE

  In a word—poor. I understand that when the RDA's were conceived they were intended to be business-led organisations. In the early days of AWM it was, indeed, largely populated by people that had worked in businesses. Unfortunately the majority to whom I spoke had been made redundant or in some way ousted from those businesses—obviously those businesses would shed their best people !

  Over more recent years it would seem that the majority of AWM employees have more of an "administrative" background having worked in government functions, quangos, academia, etc it is essential that the staff, particularly at senior level, have hands-on experience of the private sector, both large and small, along with start-up, expansion and closure involvement.

  Worst of all, and most critically, it seems that few in AWM have the long-term, "big picture" capabilities to build a clear, long-term strategy for the West Midlands.

OVERSEAS ACTIVITIES

  I believe all regions are and have to be competitive in attracting investment from overseas. If, however, this activity is uncoordinated it has a detrimental effect on UK PLC. Overseas marketing should be the coordinating role of a Cabinet Minister. Under that person's direction overseas forays should be valuable but they should be undertaken under the auspices of UKTI.

EXPANDING THE RDA'S REMIT

  Under the proposals of the SNR the RDA is should become responsible for economic and spatial strategy is. Such a move is essential as both strategies are interdependent. To do so with the current makeup of AWM would be disastrous. As mentioned above they do not have the expertise to embrace even the current strategic planning process.

  Furthermore, the idea that these strategies have to be agreed (through the Local Authority Leaders Forums) and implemented by local authorities is risible when considering the capabilities of some of them within Worcestershire.

  To relegate the possible involvement of the community and especially businesses to the level of local authorities is one further nail in the poultry coffin of the SNR.

RDA'S ACCOUNTABILITY AND MEASUREMENT

  Under current arrangements it would appear, superficially, that AWM is virtually unaccountable for what it does. However, on digging deeper one realises that the plethora of accountability elements is so wide that it as good as hides its overall effectiveness.

  The RDA should be run as a business. Just like any other well-run business it should generate its long-term strategy which should be broken down into staged goals. It is the achievement of those stage goals that should be its primary measure of success.

19 September 2008





 
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