DOCSLIB.ORG

Welsh Development Agency: Structure and Functions

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Welsh Development Agency: Structure and Functions Welsh Development Agency: structure and functions This paper provides information on the current structure, functions and organisation of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA). It includes details of the Agency’s budget and of the programmes and schemes it operates. The paper provides background information to assist Members with their understanding of how the Agency currently operates in the run-up to the merger with the Welsh Assembly Government. February 2005 Members’ Research Service / Gwasanaeth Ymchwil yr Aelodau Members’ Research Service: Research Paper Gwasanaeth Ymchwil yr Aelodau: Papur Ymchwil Welsh Development Agency: structure and functions Graham Winter February 2005 Paper number: 04/2878/gw © Crown copyright 2005 Enquiry no: 04/2878/gw Date: 28 February 2005 This document has been prepared by the Members’ Research Service to provide Assembly Members and their staff with information and for no other purpose. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate, however, we cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies found later in the original source material, provided that the original source is not the Members’ Research Service itself. This document does not constitute an expression of opinion by the National Assembly, the Welsh Assembly Government or any other of the Assembly’s constituent parts or connected bodies. Members’ Research Service: Research Paper Gwasanaeth Ymchwil yr Aelodau: Papur Ymchwil Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 2 Legal framework................................................................................................... 1 3 Current structure and programmes .................................................................... 4 3.1 Land Development and Legal Services .............................................................. 6 3.2 Strategy Development.......................................................................................... 7 3.3 Business Support Directorate ............................................................................. 9 3.3.1 Business Eye................................................................................................ 9 3.3.2 Enterprise Support..................................................................................... 10 3.3.3 Technology and Innovation (T&I) group................................................... 11 3.3.4 Media and Technology Group ................................................................... 13 3.3.5 Food Directorate......................................................................................... 14 3.4 Regions ............................................................................................................... 16 3.4.1 North Wales ................................................................................................ 17 3.4.2 Mid Wales.................................................................................................... 17 3.4.3 South West Wales ...................................................................................... 18 3.4.4 South East Wales ....................................................................................... 19 3.5 International Directorate.................................................................................... 21 3.5.1 International Services ................................................................................. 21 3.5.2 Finance and Development .......................................................................... 21 3.5.3 Strategic Accounts Directors ..................................................................... 22 3.5.4 Overseas ...................................................................................................... 22 3.6 Marketing Division ............................................................................................. 24 3.6.1 Sector Marketing ......................................................................................... 24 3.6.2 Technium Marketing Team ......................................................................... 26 3.6.3 Regional marketing ..................................................................................... 26 3.6.4 Marketing Communications ....................................................................... 27 3.6.5 Public Relations .......................................................................................... 27 3.7 Finance Wales .................................................................................................... 28 3.8 Support for Communities and Individuals........................................................ 30 3.9 Human Resources directorate........................................................................... 31 3.10 Finance................................................................................................................ 31 3.11 Running Costs.................................................................................................... 31 4 Relationship with the Welsh Assembly Government ...................................... 32 4.1 Guidance and Priorities Letter for 2005-06....................................................... 32 4.2 Reports to Economic Development and Transport Committee ...................... 32 5 Business Plan 2004-2007................................................................................... 33 6 Budget................................................................................................................. 35 7 Other sources of information ............................................................................ 37 Annex A .........Welsh Development Agency Guidance and Priorities letter 2005-2006 Annex B .................................... Alphabetical list of WDA programmes and initiatives Enquiry no: 04/2878/gw Date: 28 February 2005 This document has been prepared by the Members’ Research Service to provide Assembly Members and their staff with information and for no other purpose. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate, however, we cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies found later in the original source material, provided that the original source is not the Members’ Research Service itself. This document does not constitute an expression of opinion by the National Assembly, the Welsh Assembly Government or any other of the Assembly’s constituent parts or connected bodies. Members’ Research Service: Research Paper Gwasanaeth Ymchwil yr Aelodau: Papur Ymchwil Welsh Development Agency: structure and functions 1 Introduction The Welsh Development Agency (the WDA or the ‘Agency’) was established by the Welsh Development Agency Act 19751. The Agency replaced the Welsh Industrial Estates Corporation, which had become the responsibility of the Welsh Office, along with the Department of Industry's regional office for Wales, in 1974-1975. The Act also established a Welsh Industrial Development Advisory Board. The Development of Rural Wales Act 1976 established the Development Board for Rural Wales, with similar functions. The WDA merged in 1998 with the Development Board for Rural Wales and the Land Authority for Wales. Since devolution in 1999, the WDA is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales. However, the power to allocate government loans to the Agency remains shared between the Assembly and the UK Government. The WDA is the “Economic Development Agency for Wales, working for its people, creating prosperous communities by helping businesses to start, develop and grow.”2. On the 14 July 2004, the First Minister announced that the WDA, as well as the Wales Tourist Board (WTB) and the National Council for Education and Training (ELWa) would cease to be Assembly Sponsored Public Bodies (ASPBs) and that their work would be transferred into the administration of the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) by 1 April 20063. 2 Legal framework The Welsh Development Agency Act 1975 established both the Agency and the Welsh Industrial Development Advisory Board4. The Act has been amended by subsequent legislation including the Government of Wales Act 1998 that established the Assembly and the Transfer of Functions Order 1999 (SI1999/672), which transferred most of the responsibilities for the Agency from the Secretary of State to the Assembly. Sections 2 and 3 of the 1975 Act, as amended, set out the purpose of the Agency as follows: “The purposes for which the Agency may exercise their functions are— (a) to further the economic and social development of Wales or any part of Wales, and in that connection to provide, maintain or safeguard employment; (b) to promote efficiency in business and international competitiveness in Wales; 1 Wales Legislation Online, at: http://www.wales-legislation.org.uk/economic/index.html 2 Welsh Development Agency internet page, at: http://www.wda.co.uk 3 For more information see the MRS Research Paper The Reform of Assembly Sponsored Public Bodies, September 2004 http://www.wales.gov.uk/keypubmrs/content/0420.pdf 4 Board that advises the Minister for Economic Development & Transport on applications for Regional Selective Assistance 1 Members’ Research Service: Research Paper Gwasanaeth Ymchwil yr Aelodau: Papur Ymchwil (c) to further the improvement of the environment in Wales having regard to existing amenity. Without prejudice to the following provisions of this Act, the functions of the Agency shall be— (a) to promote Wales
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Welsh Development Agency: Activities and Impact, 1976 to 2006
    The Welsh Development Agency: activities and impact, 1976 to 2006 Leon Gooberman and Trevor Boyns, Cardiff University INTRODUCTION In the 1970s and 1980s, echoing events elsewhere but to a much larger extent, unemployment in Wales surged to levels not previously seen in the post-war era as the traditional industries of coal and metal manufacture declined rapidly. The post-war decline of the coal industry had previously been offset by central governments’1 deployment of regional policies to boost manufacturing by constructing factories, awarding grants to companies investing in priority areas, and using regulatory instruments to direct industry to these areas.2 However, economic turbulence throughout the UK meant that resources for regional policy were increasingly absent by the mid-1970s. From 1979 the government of Margaret Thatcher further downgraded regional policy given her ideological emphasis on reducing the level of state intervention. The lessening application of regional policy coincided with worsening economic conditions in Wales, where employment in the steel, coal and manufacturing industries fell by 124,000 people between 1979 and 1983.3 Despite central government’s changing priorities, the existence of an administratively devolved Welsh Office4 allowed some regional assistance to continue. The primary vehicle for Welsh Office intervention from 1976 was the Welsh Development Agency (WDA). The agency’s role was set out by the eponymous Act of 1975 as including: promoting Wales as a location for industrial development; providing finance to industry; promoting or assisting ‘the establishment, growth, modernisation or development of an industry’; providing and 1 managing industrial sites and premises; and, reclaiming derelict land.5 A Development Board for Rural Wales was also established to exercise similar functions in mid-Wales.
    [Show full text]
  • People, Places and Policy
    People, Places and Policy Set within the context of UK devolution and constitutional change, People, Places and Policy offers important and interesting insights into ‘place-making’ and ‘locality-making’ in contemporary Wales. Combining policy research with policy-maker and stakeholder interviews at various spatial scales (local, regional, national), it examines the historical processes and working practices that have produced the complex political geography of Wales. This book looks at the economic, social and political geographies of Wales, which in the context of devolution and public service governance are hotly debated. It offers a novel ‘new localities’ theoretical framework for capturing the dynamics of locality-making, to go beyond the obsession with boundaries and coterminous geog- raphies expressed by policy-makers and politicians. Three localities – Heads of the Valleys (north of Cardiff), central and west coast regions (Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and the former district of Montgomeryshire in Powys) and the A55 corridor (from Wrexham to Holyhead) – are discussed in detail to illustrate this and also reveal the geographical tensions of devolution in contemporary Wales. This book is an original statement on the making of contemporary Wales from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) researchers. It deploys a novel ‘new localities’ theoretical framework and innovative mapping techniques to represent spatial patterns in data. This allows the timely uncovering of both unbounded and fuzzy relational policy geographies, and the more bounded administrative concerns, which come together to produce and reproduce over time Wales’ regional geography. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.tandfebooks.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license.
    [Show full text]
  • Government Intervention in the Welsh Economy: 1974 to 1997. by Leon
    Government Intervention in the Welsh Economy: 1974 to 1997. By Leon Gooberman Submitted in accordance with the requirements for a PhD. Cardiff University i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Scott Newton of the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, and Professor Derek Matthews of Cardiff Business School for their advice and support. Also, thanks are due to my interviewees, who generously gave of their time, knowledge and experience. Most importantly, thanks to Mari. This thesis would never have been completed without her constant support and encouragement. ii Summary This thesis provides a description and analysis of government intervention in the Welsh economy between 1974 and 1997. During this period, Wales underwent rapid and far-reaching economic upheaval on such a massive scale that few avoided its impact. The scale of these changes was dramatic, as was the intensity of attempts to deal with their consequences. Wales acted as a laboratory for the development of approaches to government intervention in the economy. This thesis defines government intervention in the Welsh economy, before identifying activity, expenditure and (where possible) outputs across categories including land reclamation, factory construction, attraction of foreign direct investment, urban renewal, business support and the provision of grants and subsidies. It also places such interventions in their political and economic contexts, highlighting the dynamics that evolved between policies developed in Cardiff and London. By doing this, it asks and answers three questions relating to the changing dynamics of government intervention; namely, what was done, why was it done and was it effective? The thesis draws on primary sources including interviews with politicians and those formerly holding senior positions within governmental organisations, records held by the National Archives, personal and organisational archives held by the National Library of Wales, records held by other archives, newspapers and government publications.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with Gareth Hall
    Interview Interview with Gareth Hall remain, as these are very important for the Welsh Assembly Government to pursue its aims and policies in making Wales a better country. The functions of the WDA in economic development and wider regeneration have a direct role to play in increasing and spreading prosperity, for creating stronger and safer communities, for generating better jobs and skills and getting more people into work. We will continue to be instrumental with our partners in these long term aspirations. Could you explain the role of the WDA for our readers’ benefit? The WDA has been in existence for over 27 years. We are in the business of providing support to our customers. These range from new start ups right up to multinational companies, indigenous businesses operating in a diverse range of sectors, companies coming into Wales through inward investment and companies operating in Wales that are run by overseas parents. We recognise in the Agency that businesses employ people, and those people and businesses operate within communities. The WDA cannot deliver business support in isolation, so the merger is very much about true partnerships, recognising peoples’ strengths and making sure we deliver a better service to our customers. The Welsh Economic Review editorial team recently interviewed Gareth Hall who was How have you measured the appointed as Chief Executive of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) in July 2004. success of your activities in the Gareth joined the Agency in 1991, working in land reclamation, urban regeneration past, and how may this change? and property development across Wales.
    [Show full text]
  • This Is an Open Access Document Downloaded from ORCA, Cardiff University's Institutional Repository
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Online Research @ Cardiff This is an Open Access document downloaded from ORCA, Cardiff University's institutional repository: http://orca.cf.ac.uk/108077/ This is the author’s version of a work that was submitted to / accepted for publication. Citation for final published version: Gooberman, Leon 2018. Business failure in an age of globalisation: interpreting the rise and fall of the LG project in Wales, 1995-2006. Business History 10.1080/00076791.2018.1426748 file Publishers page: https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1426748 <https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1426748> Please note: Changes made as a result of publishing processes such as copy-editing, formatting and page numbers may not be reflected in this version. For the definitive version of this publication, please refer to the published source. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite this paper. This version is being made available in accordance with publisher policies. See http://orca.cf.ac.uk/policies.html for usage policies. Copyright and moral rights for publications made available in ORCA are retained by the copyright holders. Business failure in an age of globalisation: interpreting the rise and fall of the LG project in Wales, 1995–2006. Dr Leon Gooberman Cardiff Business School Cardiff University Aberconway Building Colum Drive Cardiff CF10 3EU E mail: [email protected] Leon Gooberman is a Lecturer in Employment Relations at Cardiff University’s Cardiff Business School. 1 Abstract In 1996 the South Korean conglomerate LG announced a £1.67 billion investment in Wales to manufacture consumer electronics and semiconductors.
    [Show full text]
  • Welsh Assembly Government Support for Entrepreneurship Scheme State Aid Reference No
    Welsh Assembly Government Support for Entrepreneurship Scheme State aid reference no: 1. Member State United Kingdom 2. Region Wales 3. Title of Aid Scheme Welsh Assembly Government Support for Entrepreneurship Scheme 4. Legal basis Powers of the Welsh Ministers which allow the Welsh Assembly Government to administer the scheme are contained in: • the Welsh Development Agency Act 1975 (section 1) (as amended); • the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (section 126); and • the Industrial Development Act 1982 (sections 7 and 8) The legislation which gives effect to EC Law in Wales is: • the European Communities Act (1972) (section 2 (1)) • the Government of Wales Act 2006 (section 80) 5. EC legal basis All aid provided under this Scheme will be within the limits set out in Articles 14 or 16 of Commission Regulation (EC) 800/2008 (General Block Exemption Regulation)1 Summary information relating to the Scheme has been registered with the Commission under reference xx/xxxx 6. Definitions In this Scheme, the following expressions have the meanings assigned below: “Small enterprise” means an enterprise that falls within the criteria and parameters of the definition of micro and small-sized enterprises contained in the Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (2003/361/EC), which took effect on 1 January 20052 “Assisted Area” means any of the regions in Wales designated as an 87 (3) (a) or 87 (3) (c) area as identified in the Regional Aid Map 2007-2013 (please refer to Annex 1 for further information). “The Regional Aid Map” means the map approved by the Commission for the UK and published in accordance with paragraph 101 of the Guidelines on National Regional Aid for 2007-2013 (2006/C 54/08).
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Welsh Office Exceptionalism, Economic Development And
    Welsh Office exceptionalism, economic development and devolution, 1979 to 1997. Between 1979 and 1997, five successive Conservative Secretaries of State headed the Welsh Office, the government department responsible for administratively devolved activity. The extent to which these ministers developed their own ‘exceptional’ policies at variance with those of central government was much debated, most commonly in relation to economic development. This paper examines such activity to make three arguments. First, exceptionalism took place, but was constrained by the nature of administrative devolution. Second, it often reflected the individual political philosophies of Secretaries of State and their ambitions on the UK’s political stage, as opposed to any desire for autonomy. Third, it was a crucial if inadvertent factor behind convincing the electorate that political devolution was both feasible and desirable. Overall, exceptionalism was driven by the Secretary of State’s ability to marshal the public sector behind his policy objectives, the momentum of existing institutions and the characteristics of each minister. 1 INTRODUCTION The Welsh Office was created in 1964 as an administratively devolved department with responsibilities over some aspects of government activity in Wales. Headed by a cabinet level Secretary of State for Wales, its initial responsibilities were modest but gradually expanded throughout the later 1960s and the 1970s. Labour secured the largest number of parliamentary seats in Wales throughout this period, forming the government at Westminster apart from between 1970 and 1974. However, the victory of the Conservative Party in the 1979 and subsequent elections meant that their ministers controlled the Welsh Office until 1997, although the party never held a majority of parliamentary seats in Wales.
    [Show full text]
  • 'It's Déjà Vu All Over Again' : Looking Back at the Welsh Development
    ‘It’s déjà vu all over again’ : looking back at the Welsh Development Agency Leon Gooberman, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University Doi: https://doi.org/10.18573/wer.252 Accepted: 19/11/19 Introduction Governments have been intervening to boost early 1980s, the agency built hundreds of an underperforming Welsh economy since advance factories and marketed them to 1934. Regional policies encouraged investors. The portfolio was successful and manufacturing industries to locate factories in almost 50,000 people worked in Agency Wales after the Second World War but these owned factories by the end of the 1980s. policies lost effectiveness in the 1970s Nevertheless, two trends impacted property (Gooberman and Curtis, 2020). The decline of activities by the 1990s. One was that regional policies coincided with the manufacturing focused increasingly on government’s 1976 creation of the Welsh technology, not assembly. The Agency Development Agency (WDA). The Agency responded with plans for high-specification had a central role in economic development developments but few were constructed. The until it merged with the Welsh Government in other trend was the economic shift from 2006. This article provides a brief overview of manufacturing towards services. Fewer recent research (e.g. Gooberman, 2017; investors were willing to locate factories in Gooberman and Boyns, 2020) to explore the Wales, but the Agency infrequently developed WDA’s achievements and their contemporary properties or sites suitable for service sector implications. activities. WDA activity decreased even The WDA was funded by the Welsh Office before John Redwood, the non-interventionist before 1999 and then by the National Secretary of State for Wales from 1993, Assembly for Wales/Welsh Assembly ordered the Agency to sell its portfolio Government.
    [Show full text]
  • Compulsory Purchase in Wales and the Crichel Down Rules
    Circular Ref: 003/2019 Welsh Government Circular Compulsory Purchase in Wales and ‘The Crichel Down Rules (Wales Version, 2020)’ October 2020 Mae’r ddogfen yma hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg. This document is also available in Welsh. © Crown copyright 2020 WG41526 Digital ISBN: 978-1-80082-346-4 Circular 003/2019: Compulsory Purchase in Wales and ‘The Crichel Down Rules (Wales Version 2020)’ Audience Local authorities; planning authorities; businesses; government agencies; other public bodies; professional bodies and interest groups; voluntary groups and the general public. Overview This circular updates the information and guidance to be used by Local authorities, the Welsh Ministers and other acquiring authorities when making compulsory purchase orders to which the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 applies. Action required For local authorities and other acquiring authorities to be aware, from 13 October 2020: Welsh Government Circular 003/2019: Compulsory Purchase in Wales and ‘The Crichel Down Rules (Wales Version 2020)’ provides information and guidance on the use of compulsory purchase powers and the disposal of surplus government land in Wales. National Assembly for Wales Circular (NAFWC) 14/2004: Revised Circular on Compulsory Purchase Orders is cancelled. Further Information Planning Directorate Welsh Government Cathays Park Cardiff, CF10 3NQ Tel: •0300 0604400 Email: [email protected] Additional copies This guidance is available from the Welsh Government website at: http://gov.wales/topics/planning/policy/circulars/ Related documents Planning Policy Wales (PPW) (Edition 10, December 2018) Development Management Manual Section 12 Annex: Award of Costs Technical Advice Note (TAN) 24: Historic Environment (which replaced Welsh Office Circular 61/96) Page 1 of 208 Contents Glossary .......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Ministers Reflect on Devolution Lessons from 20 Years of Scottish and Welsh Government
    Ministers reflect on devolution Lessons from 20 years of Scottish and Welsh government Akash Paun | Tess Kidney Bishop | Lucy Valsamidis | Alasdair de Costa About this report May 2019 marks 20 years since the first elections to the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales and the formation of devolved governments in Edinburgh and Cardiff. This report looks at the experience of ministers in the Scottish and Welsh Governments over the first two decades of devolution. We interviewed 13 former Cabinet ministers about their time in office and what advice they would give to their successors. The interviews quoted in this report represent their own views and memories. This report is published alongside the transcripts of the interviews, as part of the Institute for Government’s existing Ministers Reflect archive. Read the interviews: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers- reflect/scotland www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ministers- reflect/wales Find out more: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/our-work/ devolution March 2019 Contents List of figures and tables 2 Summary 3 1. Governing without a majority of your own 7 2. Governing in a new and changing institution 13 3. Governing in the shadow of Westminster 23 Conclusion 32 Appendix: List of interviewees 34 References 37 List of figures and tables Figure 1 Scottish Cabinet ministers, 1999–2019 4 Figure 2 Welsh Cabinet ministers, 1999–2019 4 Table A1 Information on our 13 interviewees 34 2 MINISTERS REFLECT ON DEVOLUTION Summary Most politicians aspire to enter government and to have the opportunity to change the country. Since 1999, Scottish and Welsh politicians have had the chance to become ministers in the new devolved institutions in Edinburgh and Cardiff, as well as at Westminster.
    [Show full text]
  • Destination Cymru‟ Details Welsh Conservative Proposals for Inward Investment
    DESTINATION CYMRU A Vision for Inward Investment and Investor Aftercare Cover photo courtesy of www.flickr.com/maerskline, April 2012 Produced and promoted by the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales Anthony Pickles Ty Hywel Cardiff Bay CF991NA 1 Nick Ramsay AM Shadow Minister for Business, Enterprise and Technology Nick was first elected to the National Assembly in 2007 and has held a number of Shadow Ministerial roles, including the Local Government and Finance briefs. He currently chairs the Business and Enterprise Committee, and has overseen numerous inquiries into issues such as apprenticeships in Wales, integrated public transport and the regeneration of town centres. Nick is the Chair of Cross-Party Groups on Biodiversity and Waterways. He is also Deputy Chair of the Science and Technology Group. Foreword By Adam Breeze, inward investment specialist > Beyond Fluffy Red Dragons There was a time, not too long ago, when Wales was synonymous with inward investment. The Welsh Development Agency (WDA) was one of the most visible players, both around the UK and in the wider world. Wherever there was a major business conference or an international trade show, you‟d usually find fluffy red dragons, the simple but successful, „freebie‟ of choice for the WDA. Nowadays, the fluffy dragons are virtually extinct and the WDA is three more letters on the government acronym landfill site. As someone that has lived and breathed inward investment for the last 25 years, I‟m obsessed with finding out what attracts new jobs and investment. For many years, I watched every country and most regions and cities in Europe, plough money and resources into inward investment.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effectiveness of Regional Grant Aid: a Welsh Perspective
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Research Papers in Economics The Effectiveness of Regional Grant Aid: A Welsh Perspective Max Munday*, David Pickernell# and Annette Roberts* * Welsh Economy Research Unit, Cardiff Business School, 45 Park Place, Cardiff, UK, E-mail Error! Bookmark not defined., Error! Bookmark not defined. # Welsh Enterprise Institute, The Business School, University of Glamorgan, Ponypridd, UK. E-mail Error! Bookmark not defined.. Paper to be presented at the 39th European Congress of the Regional Science Association, August 23-27 1999, Dublin. Abstract This paper examines the direction of Regional Selective Assistance (in terms of location, sector, and ownership) in Wales and reviews different measures of grant aid effectiveness, from "costs per job" measures to alternatives encompassing a wider range of costs and benefits. The paper then considers possible options to extend the analysis to incorporate the potential developmental benefits of regional aid, by including GDP measures in a broader evaluation framework. 1 The Effectiveness of Regional Grant Aid : A Welsh Perspective 1. Introduction The post war Welsh economy has moved away from a dependence on mining and heavy industry to a more diverse industry mix, where 'lighter' manufacturing and service sectors support an increasing share of employment. During this period, which also saw the establishment of the Welsh Development Agency and a wide range of regional policy initiatives, the overall position of Wales in the UK economic prosperity league has changed little. The economic problems of Wales have been documented elsewhere (for example, Brand et al., 1997, Brooksbank and Pickernell, 1999), as have the well publicised successes of Wales.
    [Show full text]