House of Commons Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Committee The Work of Yorkshire Forward First Report of Session 2009–10 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 4 March 2010 HC 75 [incorporating HC 1034–i–ii, Session 2008–09] Published on 16 March 2010 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Committee The Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine regional strategies and the work of regional bodies. Current membership Mr Eric Illsley MP (Labour, Barnsley Central) (Chairman) Mr Clive Betts MP (Labour, Sheffield, Attercliffe) Mr Ian Cawsey MP (Labour, Brigg & Goole) Shona McIsaac MP (Labour, Cleethorpes) Austin Mitchell MP (Labour, Great Grimsby) Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/yorkshire.cfm. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Dr Sarah Thatcher (Clerk), Ian Thomson (Inquiry Manager), Rebecca Bentall-Lynch (NAO Adviser), Emma Sawyer (Senior Committee Assistant), Ian Blair (Committee Assistant) and Anna Browning (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 0654; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] The Work of Yorkshire Forward 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Introduction 5 Background to the Committee 5 Our Inquiry 5 2 Role of Yorkshire Forward 7 The region 7 Role of Yorkshire Forward 7 Additional responsibilities 10 3 Regional Economic Strategy 13 Partnership Working 14 4 Sub-National Review 16 Single Regional Strategy 17 New ways of working 18 5 Targets and Performance 20 6 Yorkshire Forward’s Budget 23 Regional Development Agency Budgets 23 Budget Decreases 24 Devolution of Budgets 26 7 Current Economic Climate 28 Role of the Regional Minister 31 Emerging from the downturn 33 Skills and Innovation 35 Skills Strategies 36 Train to Gain 36 Restructuring of skills delivery 39 Innovation 39 8 Yorkshire Forward’s Board and Accountability 42 Regional Development Agencies’ Boards 42 Accountability 45 9 The Future 47 Conclusions and recommendations 49 2 The work of Yorkshire Forward Formal Minutes 53 Witnesses 54 List of written evidence 55 The Work of Yorkshire Forward 3 Summary Our inquiry has focused on the work of Yorkshire Forward, its use of resources (forecast to be around £360 million in 2009–10) and how the regional strategies it has developed benefit the region’s population of over 5 million, especially in the current economic climate. Yorkshire Forward was created in 1999 to “drive and co-ordinate economic development and regeneration and to improve the region’s relative competitiveness and reduce imbalances within and between regions.” During our inquiry we heard concerns that the role of Yorkshire Forward may not be widely understood by the general public. While recognising the efforts Yorkshire Forward has made to increase awareness and understanding of its role, we have found that there remains a poor level of understanding of its work, particularly in terms of benefits and achievements, among the general public. It is important that Yorkshire Forward continues to work to develop this understanding and for the public to have an input into its work. Yorkshire Forward has led the development of three Regional Economic Strategies (RESs). The most recent, published in July 2006, sets out a vision for the region to be a “great place to live, work and do business that fully benefits from a prosperous and sustainable economy.” Although it is developed by Yorkshire Forward, it is important that the RES is owned by the region and we commend Yorkshire Forward on the consultative and collaborative approach it took when developing the current RES. It is important that full account is taken of the region’s diversity in terms of population, economy, geography and towns and cities in the development of regional strategies. Yorkshire Forward will need to ensure that this is reflected in the new Integrated Regional Strategy, but this should not mean that sub-regional concerns are put ahead of a balanced approach to the interests of the region as a whole. The move to an Integrated Regional Strategy, as envisioned by the Sub-National Review, will mean new ways of working for Yorkshire Forward, local authorities and other regional stakeholders. We congratulate Local Government Yorkshire and Humber and Yorkshire Forward for the way they have anticipated this by establishing a Joint Regional Board and four Thematic Boards. However, it is important that Yorkshire Forward’s new responsibilities in respect of transport, housing and planning do not detract Yorkshire Forward from its original core economic focus. Its role in coordinating the development of an Integrated Regional Strategy should enhance rather than detract from this core role. We are concerned about the impact of budget cuts and a reduction in funding on the work of Yorkshire Forward in the region. Yorkshire Forward has incurred a 23.9% reduction in total financial resources for 2010–11 and we recommend that its budget is not decreased further. We welcome the conclusions of the National Audit Office and Pricewaterhouse Coopers reports which positively endorse the work of Yorkshire Forward and its benefits for the regional economy. We are not convinced that the case has, so far, been made for the further devolution of funding from Regional Development Agencies to individual local authorities. We support 4 The Work of Yorkshire Forward the call for Yorkshire Forward and local authorities to work together more collaboratively and flexibly. However, we think it appropriate that there should be an assessment of the Leeds City Region pilot to establish the effectiveness of devolving further funding and powers to sub-regional level, but this should not be to the detriment of smaller local authorities in the region. We commend the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, Yorkshire Forward and regional stakeholders for their proactive and collaborative response to the economic downturn. The creation of the Economic Delivery Group was a useful tool in the region’s response and was helpful in avoiding duplication of effort between stakeholders. We also praise Yorkshire Forward for revising its Corporate Plan to prioritise battling the economic downturn. However, it is important that short-term actions do not impede the long-term prospects of the region. We recommend that Yorkshire Forward continually reassesses its spending priorities, given the current economic climate, and make changes accordingly in consultation with the Government Office and other regional partners. The Government, for its part, must ensure that Regional Development Agencies have sufficient resources to carry out their remit. We are particularly concerned that counter-recessionary spending should be funded by Government and should not be at the expense of existing projects, otherwise this may damage the prospects of the region’s recovery from recession. Looking to the future, it is important that the Government continually considers the next steps for RDAs in terms of ways of working (such as city regions and collaboration between RDAs) and whether one regional model is appropriate for all regions. However, we agree with regional stakeholders that Yorkshire Forward has been beneficial to the region and that it is important to retain its regional outlook, especially on economic and business issues. The Work of Yorkshire Forward 5 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 undertook an inquiry into regional accountability. The Committee concluded that there was “clear evidence of an accountability gap at regional level”, and that although Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and other bodies were accountable to Ministers, “many of their activities in the regions were not subject to regular, robust scrutiny”. To resolve this accountability gap, the Committee proposed the establishment of 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. The House of Commons agreed to the establishment of eight regional select committees in November 2008.3 Our remit is to “examine regional strategies and the work of regional bodies” in Yorkshire and the Humber.4 Our membership was appointed on 3 March 2009. Only Labour members were appointed to the Committee, as other political parties have declined to participate in regional select committees. However, we have attempted to carry out our work in a non-partisan manner. Our Inquiry 3. We decided that our first inquiry should focus on the “work of Yorkshire Forward”, the Regional Development Agency for Yorkshire and the