The government gave further details (in response to consultation results) on how its proposed reform of European Union regional support measures would operate in practice.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 11 December 2003, columns 95-98WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Consultation responses (pdf) | Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2003-Dec
A report provided a retrospective look at the achievements of regional development agencies during the first five years of their operation, and a consideration of the future challenges they faced. It featured contributions from all the current and former RDA chairs, alongside essays by key individuals who had been closely involved with the regional agenda.
Source: Tony Pilch (ed.), Progress in the Regions: Five years of leading the RDAs, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Dec
A report made a number of recommendations to improve the quality and availability of regional data, to satisfy the growing demand for regional economic data over the medium term.
Source: Christopher Allsopp, Review of Statistics for Economic Policymaking: First report, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report | HMT press release
Date: 2003-Dec
A report said that deciding which areas in the member states should qualify for national regional aid had become more complicated since new guidelines were introduced by the European Commission. Negotiations between national authorities and the European Commission were less flexible and less transparent than national policymakers had expected.
Source: Douglas Yuill, Area Designation and Regional Policy: Lessons for policy transfer, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | ESRC press release
Date: 2003-Dec
A new book explored the impact of local and regional economic development agencies, including a comparison of the 'institutional architectures' of economic development in England, Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Australia.
Source: Andrew Beer, Graham Haughton and Alaric Maude (eds.), Developing Locally: International comparison of local and regional economic development, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2003-Nov
The National Audit Office reported that regional development agencies had performed well in their first four years. In order to build on this success the relationship between the agencies and government needed to continue evolving. Targets set for the agencies did not always match regional economic strategies, government public service agreements, or the targets of agency partners. Many of the targets were not properly measured because of a lack of data, making it hard to assess the long term impact of the agencies' work.
Source: Success in the Regions, HC 1268 (Session 2002-03), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | NAO press release
Date: 2003-Nov
The 2003 edition was published of an official report designed to give a 'balanced picture' of all the statistical information relevant to regional competitiveness and the state of the regions. It included data on household disposable income per head, income deprivation, unemployment, and land and infrastructure use.
Source: Nollaig Griffin, Philip White and Darren Stillwell, Regional Competitiveness & State of the Regions, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report (pdf) | DTI press release
Date: 2003-Oct
A think-tank report examined how levels of both productivity and employment in the regions could be improved, and in particular suggested how lagging regions could benefit from policy improvements in areas such as enterprise, innovation, skills, public investment, the housing market and labour market reforms. It said that higher earners in London should pay more council tax to help alleviate congestion and provide the essential services for areas earmarked by the government for substantial growth.
Source: John Adams, Peter Robinson and Anthony Vigor, A New Regional Policy for the UK, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Oct
A report argued that relocation of public sector jobs was too often seen purely in terms of efficiency, whereas it could also contribute to the effectiveness of public spending as a whole.
Source: Neill Marshall et al., Public Sector Relocation from London and the South East, Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies/University of Newcastle upon Tyne (0191 222 8016)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
The government published draft guidance on the assessment of the distributional impacts of interventions with a spatial focus (regeneration, renewal and regional development initiatives).
Source: Assessing the Impacts of Spatial Interventions, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Guidance (pdf) | Guidance
Date: 2003-Sep
A research report examined the quality of official data on government spending (both domestic and European) in the English regions. It highlighted various difficulties with departments' methods of apportioning spending between regions, and estimated that these difficulties affected some 12 per cent of departments returns underlying the statistics published in 2002. The report made eleven recommendations aimed at improving the recording of regional spending data. Arable farmers in the east of England, rather than poorer regions, were found to benefit most from European Union farming subsidies.
Source: Identifying the Flow of Domestic and European Expenditure into the English Regions, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | Summary (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Sep
The government published the responses to a consultation exercise on a devolved regional policy for the European Union. It said that the vast majority of respondents agreed with its proposal that the more prosperous member states should take over the funding and organisation of regional support measures, based on the principle of devolution to regional and national bodies. EU programmes would then be refocused on the needs of the poorest member states.
Source: Consultation on the Future of the European Structural and Cohesion Funds: UK responses, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 17 September 2003, columns 54-56WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Consultation responses (pdf) | Hansard | Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
The interim report of an independent review team said that it should be possible to relocate 20,000 or more public sector jobs out of London and the south east region to other parts of the United Kingdom.
Source: Michael Lyons, Independent Review of Public Sector Relocation: Interim report, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report (pdf) | HMT press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Sep
The government said that it broadly welcomed a report by a committee of MPs on reducing regional disparities.
Source: Government Response to ODPM Select Committee Report on Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity, Cm 5958, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response (pdf) | Report
Date: 2003-Sep
The recommendations were published of the Nolan Review, which was commissioned to look at the production of regional accounts following the withdrawal of regional gross value added data for 1989-99. The Office for National Statistics responded by accepting all of the review recommendations, and published new and revised data covering the period 1989-2001.
Source: Frank Nolan, Report on the Review of Regional Accounts, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034) | ONS Response to the Nolan Review, Office for National Statistics | Ian Cope, David Vincent, John Marais and Paul Lucas, Regional Gross Value Added, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report (pdf) | ONS response (pdf) | ONS press release (1) (pdf) | 1989-2001 data (pdf) | Regional GVA homepage | ONS press release (2) (pdf) | ONS press release (3) (pdf)
Date: 2003-Aug
A report said that the government s determination to build a knowledge economy based on a highly-skilled, flexible workforce was deepening the north-south divide, as graduates flocked to the south east. Despite record low unemployment rates in some parts of the country, London s dominance over the regions was growing. Local divides within each region were even more extreme.
Source: State of the Nation Report, Local Futures Group (020 7520 8120)
Links: LFG homepage
Date: 2003-Jul
A committee of MPs recommended government action to reduce economic disparities between different regions, including: recognising the differences between regions and prioritising the least prosperous regions, rather than developing policies for the benefit of all regions; acknowledging that measures to tackle unemployment needed to vary according to regional conditions; ensuring that the fundamentals for growth (transport, research and development investment, and universities) were put in place in the less prosperous regions; giving adequate powers and resources to elected regional assemblies where they were introduced; and reviewing the allocation of public resources between the nations and regions of the United Kingdom.
Source: Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity, Ninth Report (Session 2002-03), HC 492-I, House of Commons Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jul
An audit report said that regional grants had a 'measurable effect' in reducing unemployment in defined assisted areas of England. But it rated the scheme as 'poor value for money'.
Source: The Department for Trade and Industry: Regional Grants in England, HC 702 (Session 2002-03), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | NAO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jun
An official consultation exercise began on the scope for relocating certain public sector activities from London and the south east to other parts of the United Kingdom (following an announcement in the 2003 Budget).
Source: Press release 19.6.03, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: HMT press release | Consultation letter (pdf) | Terms of reference
Date: 2003-Jun
A working group report underlined the importance of cities to the economic health of their regions.
Source: Core Cities Group, Cities, Regions and Competitiveness, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report (pdf) | ODPM press release
Date: 2003-Jun
Researchers said that local environmental policy makers were increasingly losing out to their colleagues involved in economic development, as the government shifted its focus from green issues to regional growth.
Source: David Gibbs and Andrew Jonas, Governance and Regulation in Local Environmental Policy Making, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: ESRC Press Release
Date: 2003-May
The 2003 Budget contained measures to promote greater regional flexibility. These included reforms to promote enterprise, innovation and skills growth in every region, and to reduce regulatory burdens; a new study to examine departmental proposals for relocating civil service and public service staff from London and the south east to other parts of the country; measures to ensure that public service pay systems were more responsive to regional labour market conditions; the structured involvement, for the first time, of the nine English Regional Development Agencies in preparatory work for the Budget; and steps to strengthen regions' input to policy-making, including new regional statements of the key Budget decisions.
Source: Budget 2003: Building a Britain of economic strength and social justice - Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, and Financial Statement and Budget Report, HC 500, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debates 9.4.03, columns 271-372, TSO | Finance Bill 2003, TSO
Links: Report | Technical annex (pdf) | Budget speech | Hansard | HMT press release | Finance Bill
Date: 2003-Apr
The government began consultation on a new framework for the operation of European Union structural funds after 2006. The government acknowledged the 'significant impact' made by the funds to date. But it said the current system is over-centralised and inflexible. It proposed instead that the more prosperous member states should take over the funding and organisation of regional support measures, based on the principle of devolution to regional and national bodies. EU programmes would then be refocused on the needs of the poorest member states.
Source: A Modern Regional Policy for the United Kingdom, HM Treasury, Department of Trade and Industry and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | HMT press release
Date: 2003-Mar
A research paper concluded that regional development agencies need to prioritise physical regeneration activity if they are to deliver their regional economic strategies; that sub-regional partnerships are not a substitute for more accessible local partnerships; and that agencies should avoid focusing on single-use business developments to the detriment of 'holistic' urban regeneration.
Source: Paul Greenhalgh and Keith Shaw, Regional Development Agencies and the Future of Physical Regeneration in England, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (020 7695 1535) and Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Mar
A new report amalgamated two separate regional publications: the Regional Competitiveness Indicators and the Regional Development Agency (RDA) State of the Region Core Indicators. A total of 11 core indicators were used for monitoring regional development agencies, including unemployment rate, percentage of adults with no qualifications, and percentage of residents within families dependent on income support benefits.
Source: Philip White, Adam Douglas and Darren Stillwell, Regional Competitiveness & State of the Regions, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report | Tables (Excel file)
Date: 2003-Jan
A report evaluated the Skills Development Fund (started in 1999 to help regional development agencies raise the regional skill base). It said that the fund is widely considered to have had an influence above its absolute size, and to have supported a relatively wide range of innovative approaches.
Source: GHK, Evaluation of the Skills Development Fund, Research Report 364, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 30/4, Digest 120, paragraph 7.8
Date: 2003-Jan