Examination of Witnesses (Questions 115-119)
MR PHIL
WOOLAS, LIZ
MEEK AND
DAVID HIGHAM
8 JULY 2009
Chairman: Welcome, Minister. Thank you
for coming along to give evidence so soon after your appointment.
I promise that we will be reasonably kind. I begin by asking you
to introduce yourself and the other witnesses, just for the record.
Mr Woolas: Thank you, Mr Crausby,
for the invitation. This new role is a tremendous opportunity
for me. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am thrilled to
bits to be able to do this. I am joined by Liz Meek, Director
of the Government Office for the North West, who is known to you,
and by David Higham, Deputy Regional Director of Economic, Environmental
and Regional Issues.
Q115 Chairman: Thanks for that.
When you were first announced as Regional Minister for the North
West, you were quoted as saying, "The North West region is
the engine room of the British economy and it is leading us out
of recession." What are the signs that this is being, and
will be, achieved?
Mr Woolas: The economic analysis
behind that statement is the size of our economy in the North-West.
As people will know, if we were a nation in our own right, we
would be the 12th largest nation in the European Union. Our general
value added is £120 billion, which is greater than any other
region apart from London and the south-east and is also larger
than Scotland. The critical point is that we have a higher proportion
of exports—if you look at the relationship between general
value added and GDP, the difference is, how much do we export
and, to some extent, how much do we get in through tourism. That
gap is significant and because of that factor and the export-led
way out to recovery, we are in a good position, which is why we
went into recession later than other regions. The second reason
is less technical: to put it this way, if you are a company and
you survived the past two recessions, you are a good company.
Because a higher proportion of our GVA is manufacturing-based
than in other regions—crudely put, London and the south-east
are arguably over-dependent on financial services, which have
taken the brunt of the recession—we are well placed. On
the other infrastructure points, I believe that we have the jigsaw
puzzle in place. Our transport infrastructure is pretty much complete—the
motorway network, the North-West main line, of course, has been
upgraded and, having been upgraded, airport growth is one of the
signals—to answer your direct question. If you look at the
growth pattern of John Lennon and Manchester, you will see growth
carrying on there. There are also critical areas such as the nuclear
industry, the growth in media in the region and, of course, in
universities. We have, again, in absolute numbers in the North-West,
not the most higher education students, but the highest number
of higher education students as a proportion of population. Therefore,
the proportion of highly skilled younger people within the employment
market is higher. I am not denying the problems, but those things
are in place and mean that in the final economic analysis the
reasons for our economic strength in the first place are putting
us in that position.
Q116 Chairman: So what do you
see as your priorities for dealing with the downturn in the North-West
in the first year?
Mr Woolas: Jobs, jobs and jobs—the
protection and promotion of jobs, which, of course, includes skills.
The future job initiative is critical and that is what we need
to focus upon.
Q117 Chairman: Do you have enough
power as Regional Minister to deliver that effectively in the
North-West? Are you satisfied with the limits of your powers as
a Regional Minister?
Mr Woolas: I can't come before
this Committee with enough experience of this role to answer that
question as much as I'd like to be able to. It is too early to
tell, I think. The way we are in a strong position is in the development
of the partnerships we have within the region. I know that it
does not always feel like it from the constituency angle, but
we probably have—maybe the south-west and the north-east
would counter this—among the strongest partnership arrangements
with the public and private sectors, but especially with the public
sector. That means that what one needs to focus on to "join
up Whitehall", to use the jargon, is easier to identify.
I am also a Treasury Minister wearing my London hat, so I think
that helps.
Q118 Chairman: Yes. I know that
you are relatively new to the job but can you—perhaps the
other witnesses can assist—provide any evidence that this
role has been effective in delivering beneficially for the North-West?
Mr Woolas: I can ask Liz Meek
to help me out on that one in a moment. I think that the JEC is
a good thing. It's delivered some things. We have a critical meeting
on 20 July—not just the JEC meeting, but a meeting of the
major seven banks at regional level, which is clearly critical
in terms of the decisions on credit availability and loan availability.
Perhaps I can ask Liz to help out on that.
Liz Meek: The early successes
of the JEC have largely been about unblocking projects that were
blocked. Some of that was obviously done in fairly private negotiations
involving Ministers and Departments, but we are pleased with the
result as far as the North-West goes. Some substantial PFIs have
been approved—the Greater Manchester waste PFI, for example.
Some of the colleges perhaps did not get enough, but given the
situation, we feel that the North-West did quite well. There is
an area of activity that was probably the priority in the first
couple of meetings of the JEC that analysed the schemes that were
blocked. All the housing schemes worked jointly with the Homes
and Communities Agency and the Development Agency, to work out
where the priorities were so that the money could be targeted
where it was most effective. It might not be headline grabbing,
but I think that the North-West got from that construction opportunities
it would not otherwise have had. A second area is about bringing
this unique group together so that we work together. The public
sector organisations around the table control over £20 billion.
Having Jobcentre Plus, the health authority, the Learning and
Skills Council and ourselves, together with the private sector,
has meant that the various schemes that were being launched could
all be tested, and we could ensure that everybody was pulling
in the same direction. Those are two examples of what the JEC
has done.
Q119 Chairman: As you have already
said, Minister, you have been created a Minister and have a high-profile
job in immigration. You have constituents to look after, as we
all do. Can we be excused for thinking that the North-West ministerial
job is really down in the pecking order? Will you have enough
time to deliver on the North-West job, particularly during the
difficulties that we are facing during this downturn?
Mr Woolas: Obviously, that is
an issue that I have had to give a lot of attention to, so as
to organise the arrangements with the office, and the structures.
That has been my first priority—it is very pragmatic stuff
about allocation of time, communication links and so on. The answer
to the question is that my enthusiasm for this job is 100%. I
am passionate about our region, and I think it is an absolute
disgrace that Members from Opposition parties are not taking part
in the Committee. That is bad for our region, and I wish that
they would take part. I will be applying some pressure in that
regard as they are letting down the people of the North-West by
what is, I think, their rather childish attitude. My enthusiasm
for the job is unsurpassed. I have had about eight months' experience
in the Home Office job, and we have established strategies, timetables
and objectives there that mean more time is freed up. Of course,
the priority during non-sitting times, in terms of chunks of time,
is in the North-West. That means that I can answer your question
honestly and say that the time is there, but it does require prioritisation.
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