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Executive briefings

Regular updates from the Director on the latest activities of the SSP.

Executive Briefing 38 - 14 January 2009

Sub National Review: Government published its response to the Sub National Review of Economic Development consultation on 25th November. Two of the headline outcomes are
• Local Economic Assessment (LEA) as a statutory duty for upper tier authorities / Requirement for County Councils to consult with districts and a duty for districts to co-operate with County Councils on LEA
• Advantage West Midlands not required to delegate to local authorities – joint investment planning by Regional Development Agencies and Local Authority Leader Boards will secure appropriate delivery mechanisms
Guidance is to be issued in due course on both of these.
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Executive Briefing 37 - 26 November 2008

SNR – Government response to consultation
Government finally published its response to the SNR consultation on 25th November.  A summary of the key points are
• The recent economic shocks make SNR more not less pertinent
• Govt intends to legislate to give upper tier authorities a new Duty for economic assessments underpinned by statutory guidance
o With a duty to work closely with district councils
o And with a duty on district councils to co-operate with the upper tier
• Govt will legislate to allow for the creation of statutory sub regional authorities for economic development, known as Economic Improvement Boards
o Based on collaboration between elected members of existing local authorities
o Will not include any council tax precept or impose any additional net costs
o Will provide transparent accountability for residents
o Individual sub regions to scope proposed functions (which are not best delivered by bodies operating at a different spatial level
o EIBs should be voluntary in nature with local authorities able to opt in if they so wish, though future changes will require Ministerial approval
• To address concerns about democratic deficit and a weakening of RDA focus on economic growth there will be a joint responsibility on the RDAs and Local Authority Leaders Boards for the Regional Strategy
• No legislation to force RDAs to delegate – assumption made that joint working between RDAs and Leader Boards particularly around investment planning for the Strategy’s delivery (guidance on this will be published). There is an expectation on RDA that where programmes do not need to be delivered at the regional level then they will commission programmes and projects from others (local authorities, sub regional partnerships, Universities etc)

The full Government response can be accessed via the Communities and Local Government Website.

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Executive Briefing 36 - 29 October 2008

Business Support: Southern Staffordshire is the first area in the region to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Business Link West Midlands. The MoU is attached with this briefing and focuses on engagement at the District level. The next stage will be to put some meat on the bones at each district level and this will begin with a discussion with Mike Bushell and Gill Parker (from BLWM) at the Partnerships Delivery Board on 19th November. If you are not yet signed up to receive Business Link newsletters please visit the Business Link website using the link below.

A series of Credit Crunch workshops for local businesses are being run by Business Link across the region with the Staffordshire venue being the Tillington Hall Hotel at Eccleshall Road near Stafford. The 2 hour seminars are being held weekly commencing on 5th November through to 10th December with either morning or afternoon option available. For further details please visit the Business Link website using the link below.

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Executive Briefing 35 - 16 October 2008

Sub National Review of Economic Development: The SNR suggests that RDAs will delegate more of their funding to local authorities and that each sub region carries out a detailed economic assessment to drive future activity. The Partnership is fully engaged in both the regional and County groups that have been set up to address the implications of SNR

We are currently working with Peter Davenport (Shires Adviser) who leads the ‘delegation’ work for the region to develop plans for how delegation would work in practice. We had hoped for some further guidance from Government by now but their response to the consultation paper published earlier in the year has been delayed.

In July the County Council produced a first draft Issues Paper that was discussed at an initial working group meeting and subsequently amended for a formal consultation event held last month. Feedback from the consultation event on the second draft issues paper was received and discussed at the latest working group meeting and a final Issues Paper should be produced by December. We have already had a significance influence on amending the original draft and will ensure that the economic challenges and relevance of the communities and towns in southern Staffordshire is fully addressed. An additional analysis of the rural economy is being undertaken and we have identified the need for further work around the functioning of local economic areas that cross administrative boundaries and of the drivers affecting the E3I belt. The aim is to have a set of clear actions that we need to take rather than further academic study. A copy of the Partnerships latest position on the Economic Assessment is on the website www.southernstaffs.org.uk and we aim to have the remaining outstanding points addressed in the final Issues Paper.

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Executive Briefing 34 - 4 August 2008

SNR - Regional Delegation Working Group: An analysis of the economic development and regeneration capacity within west midlands local authorities has been completed by York Consulting. Its findings were discussed at a recent meeting of the regional Delegation working group on which the Partnership are represented. The 5 recommendations from the report are to
• map investment and expenditure to the RES themes
• have a detailed audit of training and development needs
• develop a training programme for practitioners
• develop a recruitment/labour market strategy for the sector
• consider how partnerships of authorities may be able to more effectively deliver the new duties

Whilst the Report is a useful document, particularly given the limited time over which the research was carried out it, we did raise some concerns over parts of it. In particular it suggested little need to invest in the technical skills of districts if their role in the Economic Duty was to be a supportive one. We have refuted this arguing the key role Districts would have in understanding the local economic geography, economic inter relationships, and delivery partnerships. In addition we have flagged up the role Districts have in delivery, and the fact that the SNR has a strong focus on improving local knowledge, delivery and responsiveness

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Executive Briefing 33 - 2 July 2008

Business Support Simplification Programme (BSSP): Nina Dawes (Secretary to the Partnership and Chief Executive of Lichfield DC) will be joining AWM staff at a meeting in London with BERR next week to discuss the latest progress being made on the BSSP. Nina is one of two regional local authority reps working with AWM on the transition arrangements and part of the regional best practice being discussed will be the Business Engagement Study for our Countywide LAA and the district based work being rolled out by the Tamworth Economic Partnership.
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