The first outburst of common sense from the new coalition government included ditching Home Information Packs (is there anybody who really thought they were a good idea?) and ID cards, will the next outburst see the slashing of the budgets’ of the south’s Regional Development Agencies (RDA) ?
A little internet research tells me there are 9 RDAs in England tasked with developing their regions at the expense of the err…….other regions. Well that’s good then.
As we are based in Bristol I’ve looked a little closer at our local agency. The South West RDA’s Wikipedia listing says that they have a budget of £160 million per year and their website claims “….every £1 spent by RDAs achieves a return of £4.50 for regional economies…” and a neatly timed reminder to the new Chancellor as he looks around where to save money is a survey published this month that concludes, “…growing support for work of South West RDA”. If all of this is true why would they be being targeted for budget cuts?
What do they currently do that we’d all miss if they have less to spend? Well in 2008/09 they claim to have created 333 jobs (at a cost of nearly half a million each!!!!) and they’ve been working at “creating success places”. I dare say they have also had a lot of meetings and discussed many weighty issues.
Putting my cynicism to one side if you can enlighten me about the real value of the nation’s RDAs then let me know.
by Martin Blain
Sales Director
Hi Martin. This is a very good question and one that certainly needs public debate. And for those that are not clear about the RDA they are supposed to be the bridge (of a perceived gap) between central government and local authorities.
For me I see several aspects of the RDA, for example the strategic element for the region and the master planning of infrastructure. But I believe these in themselves can present issues that question their validity and impact.
In 2007, the EEF (manufacturers association) published a report on RDA’s (Improving Performance – A review of RDA’s) , considering the view from a business perspective and their analysis back then ‘did not find evidence of the RDA’s having a significant impact on the UK’s economic performance’ (growth or productivity).
I raised a question in one of our discussions (found here http://tiny.cc/k7ril ) about the value of RDA’s mentioning the National Audit Office report on the performance of the eight Regional Development Agencies based outside London – ‘Regenerating the English Regions: Regional Development Agencies’ support to physical regeneration projects.”
The report is generally supportive overall, recognising that RDA investment has strengthened the regional economies and created jobs, however it also says that
“RDAs have not been able to demonstrate they have maximized economic growth, because weaknesses in project appraisal and evaluation mean the Agencies might not have identified and backed the most effective projects for generating regional wealth.”
As a proactive watcher of the funding and regional landscape, and even worked on RDA authorised projects, I can agree with the above opinion. Of course I do not wish to divulge particular projects but we are talking projects worth ten of thousands to millions.
Moreover, and this is something I see in local authorities, is the naive project purchaser or funder making naive purchase decisions resulting in no or little value. No matter how qualified these people may be in government policy, academia or regional ambition they should not authorise such things if they do not know what they are buying. This has to stop and that is why I believe a purchasing board (not standard procurement) of people with skills in certain fields should be employed to seek out the best value and proposals – after all everyone knows that if you do a government contract you can make lots of money by over charging or under delivering.
From the European perspective I think the RDA does create value but this is more political and the RDA employing those with skills that understand the EU funding landscape. This is very important as without the RDA’s connection to the EU we would not get the additional funding in the region.
Finally, I would also check out the following links for interesting news about SWRDA’s two million pound swindle and the 61k lobster and champagne party in Cannes. It’s a bit controversial but entertaining and enlightening reading…
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/688076
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/27113
[...] George Osborne read our blog post yesterday morning. England’s RDAs have been asked to find £270m of savings – approximately 20% of their [...]