1 Introduction
Background to the Committee
1. The Government proposed the establishment
of Regional Committees in its Green Paper, The Governance of
Britain, in July 2007.[1]
Following its publication, the House of Commons Modernisation
Committee conducted an inquiry into Regional Accountability,
which concluded that "there is clear evidence of an accountability
gap at regional level", and that although RDAs and other
bodies were accountable to Ministers, "many of their activities
in the region are not subject to regular, robust scrutiny."
It therefore proposed "that the most effective way to strengthen
regional accountability to Parliament is to establish a system
of regional grand and select committees […] There should
be one grand and one select committee for each of the administrative
regions in England."[2]
2. Eight Regional Committees were established
by the House of Commons on 12 November 2008,[3]
to "examine regional strategies and the work of regional
bodies" [4]
in their region. Only Labour members were appointed to the Committees,
as other political parties declined to take up their places. The
East Midlands Committee has attempted to follow the practice of
other select committees, and to carry out its work as impartially
as possible. We hope that
political disagreements regarding the establishment of Regional
Committees will be resolved and look forward to welcoming opposition
Members to the East Midlands Regional Committee. We welcome the
establishment of the East Midlands Grand Committee.
3. During this inquiry, we were eager to ensure
that the Committee was representative of the region as a whole
and held meetings in the region as much as possible, in Nottinghamshire,
Leicestershire and Derbyshire; both rural and urban locations
were used. We will hold future meetings in other parts of the
region. Our meeting with Ministers and our final meeting with
emda were the only exceptions and were held in Westminster.
Inquiry
4. On 2 April 2009, we announced an inquiry into
the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and the Regional
Economic Strategy (RES). Our intention was to:
- examine the role, responsibilities
and accountability of emda;
- examine the process by which the Regional Economic
Strategy was drawn up and the level of involvement of regional
stakeholders;
- evaluate the effectiveness of the RES for the
East Midlands in delivering against its targets;
- assess the effect of the financial and economic
situation on businesses in the region including the effect on
different sectors and the impact on local employment, and how
well emda is meeting needs in the challenging economic
climate;
- examine the changes to regional policy proposed
in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction
Bill and the potential work of emda;
- examine the role of other Government agencies
such as the Government Office for the East Midlands, and of partnerships
between Government agencies, local government and the private
sector, in delivering the aims of the RES;
- examine the way emda's resources are divided
between rural and semi-rural parts of the East Midlands, and whether
the division is appropriate; and
- evaluate how well emda is performing on
sustainability.
5. We received 33 submissions from organisations
and individuals around the region. We took oral evidence from
the East Midlands Development Agency, Federation of Small Businesses
East Midlands, Unite the Union, East Midlands Chamber of Commerce,
East Midlands Regional Assembly, Local Government East Midlands,
University of Nottingham, University of Derby, Loughborough University,
East Midlands Environment Link, Natural England, Environment Agency,
Phil Hope MP, Minister for the East Midlands, Tom Levitt MP and
Government Office East Midlands. We are grateful to everyone who
provided oral and written evidence to our inquiry.
Future Inquiries
6. Due to the importance of emda's role
in the region, we felt this was an appropriate subject for the
Committee's first inquiry. We will continue to monitor the work
of the East Midlands Development Agency and to hold further inquiries
to look in more detail at specific aspects of its role, as well
as into issues affecting the region.
1 The Governance of Britain, Ministry of Justice,
Cm 7170 Back
2
Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons, Third
Report of Session 2007-08, Regional Accountability, HC
282 Back
3
The establishment of a Regional Committee for London was agreed
by the House on 25 June 2009 Back
4
Standing Order 152F Back
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