http://www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/CorpPlan08-11 by Northwest Regional Development Agency

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Corporate Plan 2008-2011

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Contents

1. Executive Summary

2. Review of Current Economic Position

3. Policy Context

4. Review of Progress against Corporate Plan 2005-2008

5. Corporate Objectives, Key Priorities and Themes

6. Working together to Deliver the RES

7. Evaluation and Performance Management

8. Organisational Change

9. Resource Plan and Estates Policy

Annexes and Tables

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1. Executive Summary

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) exists to lead the sustainable economic growth1 of England’s Northwest. The region has agreed a strategic vision, clear priorities and targets through the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). The RES also sets out the actions, which the region has agreed are vital to delivering its vision at regional, sub-regional and local level. It therefore provides the overarching context for all the Agency’s activities. The Agency contributes to these RES actions directly through its own investment programme with partners and by using its strategic influence and responsibilities to lead and align the work of private, public and voluntary community sector partners with specific responsibility for delivering specific actions. The Agency’s role is to provide strategic leadership to ensure that the region as a whole prioritises actions and achieves sustainable economic development through implementation of the RES. The NWDA has made excellent progress over the period 2005/8 against its previous Corporate Plan. This was refreshed in the light of the updated RES in 2006. In particular real progress has been made on a range of those actions which the region agreed would have the most transformational impact. This includes the mediacity:uk development, the creation of Business Link Northwest, the opening of the University of Cumbria and the launch of the Climate Change Action Plan. This Corporate Plan sets out the next stage of NWDA’s development, enhancing its strategic and commissioning role and delegating delivery and project decision making to sub-regional and local organisations.

1‘Sustainable

growth’ here and throughout this document refers to economic growth which can be sustained and is within environmental limits, but also enhances the environment and social welfare, and avoids greater extremes in future economic cycles.

This Plan is NWDA’s response to the changes announced by Government in the Comprehensive Spending Review and Sub National Review on Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR); in which Government set out proposals to: • Ensure that all localities and regions have the opportunities for sustainable economic growth. • Encourage greater joint working across Local Authority boundaries in sub and city regions. • Ensure decisions are taken and delivery managed at the most appropriate level, with RDAs moving more to a programme rather than project approach and delegating more responsibility for project funding decisions to a range of organisations as appropriate. • Integrate the range of regional strategies - economic (RES), spatial including transport (RSS) and housing (RHS) - into a Single Regional Strategy. Regional Development Agencies will have executive responsibility to work with partners and developing these strategies on behalf of each region. There will be an enhanced role for Local Authorities, who will be fully involved in strategy development, sign off, scrutiny and implementation of the single strategy. Upper tier Local Authorities will also have a duty to produce an economic review of their area. The Government proposes that the economic growth objective for each region should be to increase sustainably its trend rate of growth (measured in terms of GVA/head) in comparison with its trend growth over the most recent full economic cycle. This objective will be embedded within the Single Regional Strategy. Government recognises that overall growth rates are significantly influenced by international and national factors/decisions as well as investment decisions taken within the region.

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In RES 2006, the region set itself an aspiration to grow GVA (not GVA/head) above the England average. This is consistent with but more challenging than the Government’s own target, particularly given the change in economic outlook since the RES was published. This Corporate Plan covers the period 2008/09 to 2010/11 and sets out objectives and investments consistent with NWDA contributing its full part to achieve priorities and ambitions agreed in the RES. It therefore sets out how the Agency will: • Continue to deliver the Regional Economic Strategy (RES) • Contribute to delivery of the regional growth objective and Regional Economic Performance Public Service Agreement (REP PSA2) • Deliver new responsibilities and duties arising from the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement and Review of Sub-National Economic Development Government has also changed the current RDA Tasking Framework and will instead monitor RDAs against the delivery of their Corporate Plans. Government will monitor the progress of regional economies against the GVA/head objective and five outcome focused indicators – GVA/hour worked; Employment rates; Basic, Intermediate and Higher Level Skills rates; R&D as a percentage of GDP; and Business start-up rates. RDA Corporate Plans must show how they contribute to this growth objective as well as to the principles of Sustainable Development and Economic Opportunity for All.

This PSA is “To make sustainable improvements in the economic performance of all English regions, and over the long-term reduce the persistent gap in the growth rate between the regions”.

The Northwest economy has performed well over the last few years but all the evidence suggests that maintaining growth in the next few years is going to be tougher for the region. The longer-term impact of the international credit crisis nationally and its impacts regionally; high energy and foodstuffs prices, and their disproportionate effect on the Northwest due to the size and nature of our manufacturing sector are all factors. Tighter controls on central government spending nationally could also have a greater impact on the Northwest due to the importance of public sector employment. The demographics of an ageing population, reduction of the working age population and the role of international migration will also have major effects on the economy. NWDA has agreed to high efficiency savings as part of its CSR settlement and its overall budget will be reduced by around 5% per annum over the next three years. This means that the resources available to invest in supporting projects and programmes will reduce from their current annual level of £393m to £339m by 2010/11. Given the growth objective set out above, the challenging economic conditions and the reduced resources available, this plan has therefore been developed to support tough choices over the next three years. A summary of the expected total income and expenditure over the life of this plan is given below.

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Income and Expenditure Summary Financial Year

2007/08 £m

2008/09 £m

2009/10 £m

2010/11 £m

393.4

391.6

386.5

377.4

EU Programme

8.1

212.2

86.5

72.3

Other

47.9

60.4

29.8

20.4

449.4

664.2

502.7

470.1

211.0

85.3

71.1

393.1

392.1

359.1

339.5

Overheads

51.1

55.8

52.8

Irrecoverable VAT

5.2

5.3

5.5

6.7

Total Expenditure

449.4

664.2

502.7

470.1

Grant in Aid

Total Income Expenditure EU Programme NWDA Programme

The Agency’s Board has therefore agreed 11 corporate objectives based on the RES and designed to improve competitiveness and productivity across the region’s Business, People and Places. They reflect the totality of NWDA’s responsibilities, and focus on delivery of the specific actions in the Regional Economic Strategy on which NWDA leads delivery. These are summarised below: Competitive Business 1 2 3 4

Support the development of internationally competitive sectors Improve the formation, survival and growth rates of enterprises Develop higher added value activity through innovation Realise opportunities from globalisation

Competitive People 5 6 7

Develop leadership and management skills in the current workforce Stimulate demand for higher level skills in the current workforce Grow the size of the workforce

Competitive Places 8 9 10 11

Support the development of major employment sites and premises Improve the physical conditions for private sector investment Adapting to climate change and increasing sustainable resource use Improve the image of the region to businesses and visitors

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Against each objective, this Plan sets out the specific rationale for our investment and the main outcomes we are seeking to achieve, along with high level details of the activity that will be delivered to meet these objectives. The Plan also highlights important subregional variations and a summary of the main outcomes and activities we are pursuing in each sub-region is included in section 5. In setting out how these objectives are to be delivered, this Corporate Plan is clear that NWDA’s role is changing, moving away from direct delivery of actions to strategic engagement and commissioning. This will require an important shift in culture and organisational skills and capacity within NWDA. This Corporate Plan therefore marks the start of a fundamental shift in our relationships with many partners. NWDA will work with partners to ensure that delivery resources and capacity are located within the most appropriate organisation at the point of delivery. This delegation of project decision making will occur within agreed strategic programmes set out in this plan and may involve a range of delivery organisations, including Universities, Special Purpose Vehicles as well as Local Authorities and Sub-Regions where appropriate. Delivery may continue to be regional where the evidence shows this is most effective (e.g. Business Support), with appropriate sub-regional and local level involvement in the design and commissioning of such interventions.

Change Programme Change will be achieved through a major programme over 2008/09 covering Agency systems, structures and skills. Specifically over the life of this plan we will: • Ensure the integration of the 11 corporate objectives to achieve the best outcomes possible for the region by strengthening cross NWDA working in line with our corporate values (see below) • Work closely with sub-regions and Local Authorities including through Local Area Agreements and emerging Multi Area Agreements to strengthen our arrangements for delegation to the most appropriate spatial level and move towards contracting with relevant organisations on a programme management

basis. In the light of Government consultation on SNR and plans for subsequent legislation, we will work with partners to develop specific proposals about how increasing delegation, with a range of organisations may work in practice. During 2008/9 NWDA will also implement a programme management approach internally to support further delegation in future. This may also require capacity building work with appropriate partners to ensure that the right skills and systems are in place to enable delegation without risking reduction in effectiveness of the delivery of economic development objectives. • Plan investments on the basis of the RES and priorities set out in Action Plans agreed by each subregion which set out how the RES is delivered in those places. • Work closely with NWRA to develop and support any successor arrangements, which ensure strong coordinated local authority involvement in discussing and agreeing priorities within the new Single Regional Strategy and in scrutinising its delivery. • Develop the new Single Regional Strategy (subject to CLG’s detailed consultation) working in close partnership with Local Authorities and Sub-regions, and specifically with NWRA and GONW through the Regional Strategy Team. We will develop and enhance the role of the RES Advisory Group to become an important mechanism to support the development of the Single Regional Strategy involving a wide range of regional and local private, public and voluntary/community sector partners. Subject to legislation, RDAs may become the regional planning body during this corporate plan period. • Respond to the second round of Regional Funding Allocations, RSS partial review, Planning Bill, Housing Green Paper and work with the new Homes and Communities Agency, in partnership with NWRA and GONW as appropriate • Manage the new ERDF programme through formalised partnership working and the Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC). • Strengthen collaboration with ONE North East and Yorkshire Forward through ensuring the Northern Way takes an evidence based approach focusing on the agreed pan-regional priorities of transport, innovation and private sector investment

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â&#x20AC;˘ Work in partnership with all RDAs and Government Departments to deliver our RDA lead role responsibility around Skills. â&#x20AC;˘ Support the delivery of Business Support Simplification objectives in the region. RDAs have been given new responsibilities in relation to the Technology Strategy Board, Economic Shocks and Skills Brokerage. This Corporate Plan outlines how NWDA intends to respond to these. In delivering this plan, we will support the principles of sustainable development and equality and diversity and economic opportunity for all which are embedded within the RES. The Agency is also committed to carrying out sustainability appraisals and Equality Impact Assessments for all relevant activities and programmes and will expect delivery partners to take the same approach. The need to grow the workforce and ensure higher levels of economic growth and economic activity requires the response to the demographic change agenda to be consistently embedded across all component parts of this plan. The Regional Equality and Diversity Strategy is recognised as a transformational activity and we are fully committed to the proper implementation of these agendas in an integrated manner through the RES and the Corporate Plan. The Corporate Plan has been subject to an Equality and Diversity and Sustainable Development appraisal and we have incorporated the results of this within the Corporate Plan. We have also published the assessment including our response and this is available to view on our website. The NWDA is committed to the full use of evaluation evidence to inform its decision making and further improve the effectiveness of future programmes. We have strengthened our approach to evaluation during 2007 and will embed this within the organisation during this Corporate Plan period. We have developed a three year evaluation plan and toolkit covering all projects and programmes. By using evaluation to influence future decision making the Agency will further embed learning and ensure efficient and effective projects and programmes are developed in response to agreed regional priorities.

This Corporate Plan sets out our strategic plans and priorities over the next three years. The Agency will support the implementation of this Corporate Plan by publishing an annual Business Plan which will set out our plans for that year in more detail.

Our Values and Behaviours Six core values and behaviours guide the way we work and do business with others. These are; Motivation: Valuing staff by giving encouragement, praise and recognition, celebrating individual and team achievements and successes and ensuring staff enjoy the work they do; Openness: Communicating and sharing information; always operating in an environment that encourages two-way communication and stimulates debate; Belief: Confidence and trust in what we do and why we do it; applying ourselves professionally and with commitment; taking responsibility for our actions by empowering decision making and delegating effectively; Respect: Honesty in the way we work with and relate to colleagues, partners and customers; In line with our equality and diversity policies ensure we show respect for others and have consideration for the views and beliefs of others; Integration: Including and valuing others across the Agency; successfully working within and across teams; ensuring integration with partners; Excellence: Striving for continual improvement by encouraging creativity, efficiency and innovation and actively supporting personal development; encouraging a learning environment whereby activities are reviewed and improvements are identified and shared.

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2. Review of Current Economic Position

Headline GVA growth in the Northwest in 2006 was forecast to be 2.2%, close to that in 2005. Forecast growth is expected to be stronger at 2.3% in 2007. Table 1a below illustrates the forecast growth over the Corporate Plan period; GVA growth is forecast to slow to 2.1% in 2008, before recovering to 2.2% in 2009 and to 2.5% in 2010.

TABLE 1a: REAL GVA GROWTH WITHIN THE NORTHWEST (% pa) 2007

2008

2009

2010

Cheshire Cumbria Greater Manchester Lancashire Merseyside

2.6 1.7 2.7 1.9 2.1

2.4 2 2.1 1.9 2.2

2.6 2.2 2.2 2 2.1

2.9 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.3

Northwest UK

2.3 2.4

2.1 2.1

2.2 2.4

2.5 3.2

Source(s): Panel Forecasts, October 2007 and Cambridge Econometrics.

However GVA/head growth has been a lot slower in the Northwest and the UK at just 1.5% and 1.8% respectively. Forecast of regional GVA/head growth, albeit, from a different source, are also lower than forecast for GVA as shown in table 1b below.

TABLE 1b: GVA/HEAD GROWTH WITHIN THE NORTHWEST (% pa) 2007

2008

2009

2010

Cheshire Cumbria Greater Manchester Lancashire Merseyside

1.7 1.5 2.0 1.4 1.6

1.7 2.3 2.0 1.6 1.7

1.5 0.2 2.0 1.4 1.6

1.6 1.5 2.2 1.5 1.7

Northwest UK

1.7 2.2

1.9 2.0

1.6 2.2

1.8 2.4

Source: Experian Business Strategies Economic Forecasting Model3

3 These forecasts are not based on latest ONS Regional Accounts figures (released Dec 2007) and latest ONS Population Estimates (revised August 2007)

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As mentioned earlier, as well as the growth objective of GVA/head, Government will also monitor progress of regional economies against 5 other indicators. Baseline data for these 5 indicators is given below. Outcome Indicator

Description/Measure of Indicator (UK100)

Productivity

GVA per hour indices

Employment

Employment rates, showing proportion of working age population in work (%)

Skills

Percentage of working age population with

Innovation

Enterprise

NW Baseline

All England Regions Baseline

102

72 %

74%

a) Basic skills; b) Intermediate; and c) Higher level skills attainments

78% 44% 25%

78% 45% 27%

a) Business R&D expenditure as a proportion of GVA (%);

1.8%

1.3%

b) Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D as a proportion of GVA (%)

2.3%

2.0%

Number of VAT start-ups per 10,000 working age population

Note: It has now been agreed, in line with other European countries, that Enterprise should be measured by a new data set on businesses registering for PAYE. We will switch to the new measure as soon as statistics are available later this year.

Sectoral growth in the region has been mixed with strong growth in construction related sectors, government/public sector, transport and communications. Financial and business services are also expected to grow strongly in 2007. Current forecasts are predicting slower future growth, in line with the Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own projections.

% growth pa

Agriculture

Mining and quarrying

Manufacturing

Electricity, Gas and Water

Construction

Distribution, hotels and catering

Transport and communications

Financial and business services

Government and other services

Total

TABLE 2: NORTHWEST SECTOR OUTPUT

2007

1.9

-4.3

0.6

2.5

2.7

4.1

4.2

1.7

2.3

2008

0.1

1.5

0.9

2.6

1.5

1.8

2.6

3.4

2.1

2009

-0.3

-0.9

1.2

2.3

2.8

1.9

2.2

2010

0.7

0.3

1.9

1.2

2.8

1.8

2.5

Source(s): Panel Forecasts, October 2007 and Cambridge Econometrics.

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Employment in the Northwest is forecast to grow by just under 0.5% in 2007 compared to a fall of 1% 2006. Falls in manufacturing and construction employment in 2007 are forecast to be offset by increases in financial & business services, government and other services and in transport and communications. Overall employment growth in the region is likely to slow further in 2008 and 2009 to average around 0.25% pa, before strengthening to 0.5% in 2010 as general recovery takes hold.

The main risks to the economy include: • The longer-term impact of the international credit crisis nationally and regionally; • High energy and foodstuffs prices, which have a disproportionate effect on the Northwest due to the size and nature of our manufacturing sector; • Tighter controls on government spending nationally could have a greater impact on the Northwest due to reliance on public sector employment; • Ageing population and reduction of the working age population could stem the current growth of the economy in the Northwest, although there will be significant opportunities from international migration

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3. Policy Context

The Government’s review of Sub National Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR) reported in July. The review sets out specific policy changes in some areas, whilst in others it signalled further consultation. SNR sets a policy framework for England as a whole, but reflects the existing direction which partners in the Northwest have set and enables us to build on the strong partnership and sub-regional approach which we have put in place. NWDA will take on a number of new responsibilities during the corporate plan period arising from the CSR and SNR. NWDA will: • Have responsibility for drawing up a single regional strategy covering economic, transport, housing, planning, social and environmental objectives bringing together the RES, RSS and RHS and will include a delivery plan and resources as set out below. • Be tasked around outcomes (with no output targets) with the focus on a single overarching growth objective for the region – GVA per head. • Reform its delivery moving more from projects to programmes and delegating decisions to local and sub-regional level, where appropriate, taking account of Multi Area Agreements (MAA) and Local Area Agreements (LAA) where they have been agreed and are consistent with agreed regional economic priorities. • Work within a reformed accountability framework which will see the Regional Assembly cease in its current role and function by 2010 but will involve Local Authority scrutiny and accountability, and the role of the new Regional Minister. This plan, and the Corporate Objectives we have agreed, incorporates NWDA’s response to, and implementation of, the findings of the SNR. It also reflects the wide range of other policy changes in the field of economic development such as the Leitch report, the national Enterprise Strategy, the new Planning Bill, Housing Green Paper and the Eddington report.

The SNR signals a fundamental shift in the way we do our business. We will increasingly shift away from being a delivery organisation to being a strategic organisation. Listening to our major partners, particularly in subregions and local authorities, we will ensure that priorities are set which align to the RES and let partners make detailed project decisions. NWDA will retain important delivery functions around business support, where Government has endorsed regional delivery models to ensure maximum efficiency and economies of scale and support Business Support Simplification. SRP Action Plans (SRAPs), Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and Multi Area Agreements (MAAs) are an important step in this direction and they have been, and will continue to be, influential in scoping our priorities in this Corporate Plan, which does not make project level commitments. NWDA will focus on strategy and the management of delivery through strategic programmes to ensure outputs and outcomes are achieved in line with the future region’s Single Strategy. Achieving this will take time and considerable change, but we are very clear about the journey that we are on. This Corporate Plan marks the start of that fundamental change.

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Overarching Growth Objective The Government proposes that the economic growth objective for each region should be to increase sustainably its trend rate of growth (measured in terms of GVA per head) in comparison with its trend growth over the most recent full economic cycle. As set out earlier, in RES 2006, the region set itself an aspiration to grow GVA (not GVA/per head) above the England average. This is consistent with but more challenging than the Government’s own target, particularly given the change in economic outlook since the RES was published. This Corporate Plan sets out objectives and investment consistent with NWDA contributing its full part to achieving priorities and ambitions agreed in the RES,

Outcome Indicator

although it must be recognised that NWDA action alone will not enable RES aspirations to be achieved. These will only be achieved by all partners aligning their activity with the vision and priorities set out in the existing RES and future Single Regional Strategy. As outlined above, as part of SNR, Government has changed the RDAs’ Tasking Framework. NWDA’s performance will be judged based on the progress we make against the objectives set out in this plan. The region as a whole will be monitored against the GVA/head objective and Government will also measure progress in the Northwest on the basis of 5 indicators:

Description/Measure of Indicator

Productivity

GVA per hour indices

Employment

Employment rates, showing proportion of working age population in work

Skills

Percentage of working age population with basic, intermediate and higher level skills attainments

Innovation

Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D as a proportion of GVA Business; Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D as a proportion of GVA

Enterprise

Number of VAT start-ups per 10,000 working age population

These are consistent with RES targets and indicators and all are priorities for action within the Northwest. It is our intention to monitor progress against these indicators as part of the RES monitoring process, and this will include sub-regional data wherever possible. It must also be recognised that action in some of these areas (e.g. basic skills) while important for the region and a priority in the RES, will be delivered by partners other than NWDA (e.g. LSC). We will continue to work through the Regional Skills and Employment Board to support delivery of basic skill and level 2.

GVA/head is the current nationally accepted measure of economic growth, although Northwest partners are concerned that it does not present a full picture of economic activity and wellbeing within the region. There are also important limitations in its use and calculation. There will also be a range of circumstances in which this GVA/head objective should be reviewed and we suggest that these should be as follows: • A sudden shock to the regional economy e.g. industrial crises or natural disasters, which have the potential to create substantial economic dislocation and impact severely on business;

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• At the time of Government Spending reviews; • When the Regional Economic Strategy (in due course, the single Regional Strategy) is produced or updated; • When the Office for National Statistics revises historic data series.

Developing a Single Regional Strategy GONW, NWDA and NWRA have worked closely with partners to ensure close alignment between the RES, RSS and Regional Housing Strategy, through the Regional Strategy Team. Government has now asked NWDA to lead on the development of a single regional strategy. The Northwest has agreed that it will move as quickly as possible to a Single Regional Strategy and is intending not to update the RES in 2009, but to move straight to a single strategy, in 2010 (subject to the necessary legislation). NWDA will work closely with the NWRA and GONW to develop this Single Regional Strategy and work with NWRA on successor arrangements to the Regional Assembly. Local Authority engagement is particularly important to NWDA and the region given the housing and planning elements of the new single strategy and LAs strengthening role in economic development. Ultimately, economic growth is driven by the private sector and their engagement in the production of a Single Regional Strategy will be vital. Alongside working with LAs, we will also enhance the role of the RES Advisory Group to become an important mechanism to support the development of the Single Regional Strategy involving a wide range of private, public and voluntary/community sector partners, including the Highways Agency, the newly formed Homes and Communities Agency, Environment Agency, Natural England, LSC, NHS, HE/FE and Jobcentre Plus to ensure that their work informs, complements and contributes to the priorities to be agreed in the regional strategy. We will seek to ensure that the 3rd sector plays an increasing role in delivering RES Objectives working in partnership with other regional and national bodies to

ensure this sector has the capacity to rise to this challenge. On housing issues we will also liaise closely with the National Housing Planning Advisory Unit as appropriate. NWDA, NWRA and GONW have agreed the production of a single and common evidence base to develop the single Regional Strategy, and also to inform the Partial Review of the Regional Spatial Strategy due to occur in 2008. Existing research on health, housing, transport, spatial and land use planning will be integrated into this common evidence base over the next twelve months, reducing duplication of resources and the potential for conflicting evidence bases. An SNR transition report issued by Government in December 2007 stated that 2010 would be the earliest date at which the RDA's could take on the new responsibilities for the Single Regional Strategy. Government has promised a detailed consultation paper on the issue in 2008. During the summer of 2008, subject to the national consultation on SNR, we will, with partners, develop specific proposals around the timetable for, and format of, a Single Regional Strategy in the Northwest. The Agency will retain its responsibilities as a Specific Consultation Body and a Statutory Consultee under the terms of the current planning legislation. It will continue to contribute to the development of Sustainable Community Strategies, Local Development Frameworks; other strategies for regeneration; consultation on major applications; the Partial Review of RSS; the Proposed Changes to RSS; the review of the Regional Housing Strategy; the Government's Housing Green Paper and Housing Growth Points; the proposed review of Regional Funding Allocations for transport and housing; the Government's “Towards a Sustainable Transport System” reforms; and the reforms anticipated in the current Planning Bill, including National Policy Statements and the proposed Independent Planning Commission. In line with the SNR proposals and Local Transport Bill, the Agency will seek to develop effective working relationships with the region’s transport authorities and operators. We recognise the benefits of working in close

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partnership on strategic regional issues which relate to the future development of a Single Regional Strategy. This will help to support a more integrated approach to transport planning across the region. Working together should also help to deliver those RES actions which seek to develop the region’s transport infrastructure, linking areas of opportunity and need, and supporting the strategic development of the region’s economy. We will put in place major research projects to strengthen our understanding of the linkages between elements of the single strategy and fill gaps in the existing evidence. A summary of the main areas of research underway is included in Annex 1 and includes important research priorities agreed with regional partners on demographics, worklessness, environmental constraints, the link between housing and economic growth, and the link between skills and productivity. This updated evidence base will: • Stimulate debate and discussion in the development of the next strategy. • Re-visit the economic factors identified in the RES looking in depth at the evidence available, monitoring progress against outcome indicators and using wider evidence nationally and regionally. • Identify the need for investment to meet market failures and revisit the challenging questions the region should be seeking to address. • Identify the comparative advantages and opportunities the Northwest region possesses as a basis for developing the strategy.

Setting NWDA priorities for investment The RES sets out the Region’s twenty-year economic strategy, together with specific actions required by all regional partners over the period 2006-9. It sets the framework for the regional, as well as sub-regional and local action and therefore provides the strategic context for all the Agency’s activities. The NWDA has an overall leadership responsibility to guide the region in development and delivery of the RES and to ensure that progress against the RES is delivered, monitored and evaluated. Progress in implementing the RES is carefully monitored and a full report produced on an annual basis, together with a report on progress with Transformational Actions on a six monthly basis. The first full annual report showed good progress with most actions, although a need to avoid regional complacency if the rate of progress required for closing vital economic gaps and meeting RES targets is to be achieved. The RES recognises the importance of our Core Cities to the economic performance of the region and as part of this we need to pursue actions which will ensure that potential “agglomeration” benefits in these cities are realised and that the “spillover” effects of growth in these cities leads to growth in surrounding areas and economies. This will be particularly important at a time of tighter economic conditions across the country. The RES sets out agreed specific actions under 5 broad areas. RES Transformational Actions for which NWDA has a major responsibility or input are set out below. Our Strategic Objectives have been developed to ensure the delivery of these actions and have been informed by the latest progress monitoring data and our knowledge of current and future economic conditions.

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RES Transformational Actions: NWDA Responsibility Business

1. Transform Business Link 8. Develop key internationally competitive sectors 9. Develop Mediacity:uk 12. Develop higher added value activity through innovation 15 & 16. Exploit the science base and R&D 23. Improve Business Resource Efficiency and Waste support 24. Develop Regional Climate Change Action Plan.

Skills

35. Develop world class management/leadership and corporate social responsibility/environmental management skills.

People and Jobs

Stimulate economic activity in areas remote from growth: 47. Pennine Lancs; 48. Blackpool; 49. Barrow; 50. West Cumbria; 52. Develop employment creation in or near deprived areas, focused on HMR areas, Urban Regeneration Companies, and Halton and Knowsley; Support and sustain conditions for growth in areas with strong economic drivers: 54. Liverpool, Manchester and Preston; 55. Crewe, Chester, Warrington, Lancaster and Carlisle; 56. The Rural economy and the Regional Rural Delivery Framework.

Infrastructure

72. Grow Manchester and Liverpool John Lennon Airports. 80. Deliver designated Strategic Regional Sites.

Quality of Life

101. Improve the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attack brands and signature projects. 111. Deliver the Regional Equality and Diversity Strategy. 113. Economic benefits of the natural environment; 119. Invest in quality public realm, green space and environmental quality focused on the cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Preston; Tourism attack brand and signature project locations and key arrive points; HMR and URC areas; Rural Service Centres.

As a growth-focussed strategy, the RES provides a sound, well evidenced, basis for the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach to its overarching growth objective. The region has examined the factors, which are most likely to influence GVA per head, and has defined a small number of relevant outcome indicators for each priority area or factor in the RES based on its potential contribution to GVA. We will monitor these indicators and component parts of GVA as they change in order to understand the overall impact on the economy and, as part of the development

of a Single Regional Strategy, we will review these indicators and agree any further targets the region wants to set. Each objective in the Corporate Plan includes impact measures (based on these RES outcome indicators), which will be used to enable NWDA to ensure that it is contributing appropriately to RES delivery. Using existing data and evaluation evidence, NWDA is also developing a range of outputs that would be most appropriate to capture and monitor in order to assess whether our investments are contributing to the delivery of these

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outcomes. In line with delegation of decision making to the most appropriate level, NWDA may contract with partners for the delivery of a range of outcomes or outputs (related to a programme or programmes of activity, rather than individual projects). The outputs/ outcomes we set for our programmes will form part of NWDA’s contracting framework with delivery partners, often on a geographic basis and potentially linked to an MAA or LAA. This revised contracting framework will be developed during 2008/09. This will enable NWDA to link its investment to outputs from specific delivery vehicles and local and subregional organisations, through outcomes and ultimately to GVA/head (which has a 2-3 year time lag). This is particularly important where outcome data is not available at the sub-regional or local level. This will enable NWDA to be confident that achievement of outputs by partners will contribute to achievement of the GVA/head target and to evaluate programmes on this basis.

Equality and Diversity Promoting equality and valuing diversity is at the heart of everything that the agency does. Equality is not a minority issue for our region; it is important to everyone and affects the majority of our local residents and businesses. The BME population make up 5.6% of the region’s population, but is heavily concentrated in some of our most deprived areas. People of Asian origin have the lowest employment rate, whilst within this group those of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin account for by far the lowest levels of economic participation of any ethnic group in the Northwest. Women are more likely than men to have no qualifications and this is reflected in much lower average earnings among women than men. The rate of self employment among women in the Northwest is still below the national rate and below the rate for men in the region. Just over one-fifth of the working age population is registered as disabled – almost a million people in the region. Disabled people are over twice as likely as non- disabled people to have no qualifications and to be economically inactive. Whilst some disabled people cannot work due to the physical and mental factors, others face organisational and attitudinal barriers to labour market participation. Employment rates for people aged 45-64 in the Northwest are four percentage points below the England average. Those aged 55 and over are disproportionately employed in lower-skilled occupations, lack qualifications and earn less than other age groups. Therefore there isn’t just a moral case underpinning our approach to equality and diversity but also a business case. If we are to secure the economic growth of the region, develop an entrepreneurial culture and boost productivity then it is essential that we capitalise on the diversity of the Northwest people and communities. Equality and Diversity is therefore central to the region’s economic success and our ability to ensure that everyone is fully able to participate in our regional economy and society. We will build on our successful approach adopted so far and systematically apply the

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use of Equality Impact Assessments to the development and appraisal of all programmes and projects supported by the agency and ensure that we have corporate systems and processes in place to integrate equality and diversity into all our policies and programmes. Through effective leadership and consultation, we will ensure that our staff and partners understand the economic importance of the equality and diversity agenda. We will also pursue some projects that directly support the implementation of the Regional Equality and Diversity Strategy. The Agency has made good progress in this area, however an audit in 2007 identified areas for improvement in our ability to ensure that there was a systematic approach to collating, monitoring and assessing the impact of our policies on the region’s disadvantaged communities. This corporate plan seeks to build on the progress that we are making whilst addressing issues raised within the audit. In particular, we have identified three key activities for 2008 which will, we believe, further our approach to equalities. The activities are to; • develop an agency wide Single Equality Scheme • continue to mainstream equalities and diversity through ensuring that Equality Impact Assessments are routinely carried out • invest in our newly formed Equality and Diversity Team

Sustainable Development The Agency has a legal duty and is committed to delivering sustainable economic development and meeting its legal objectives. This commitment is in line with the Government’s ambition of enabling all people to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations. It is for this reason that environmental issues and rural affairs have been integrated and mainstreamed into the corporate plan. The Agency is

committed to the principles of sustainable development in line with the clear UK Shared Principles of Sustainable Development set out in the RES and included in Annex 3. The challenge is to promote sustainable economic growth, whilst also seeking to minimise environmental impact. The NWDA in partnership with NWRA and GONW has initiated a new 'Northwest Sustainable Development Group', setting out an agreed Terms of Reference and providing secretariat and project development support for the Group. The Agency will continually improve our environmental performance by putting in place a carbon management plan for the organisation, including assessment and monitoring of the carbon emissions of projects funded through the single programme. We will also pursue a range of projects which support the development of a low carbon economy, through improving commercial/industrial resource efficiency and waste minimisation and also via the regional Climate Change Action Plan. As part of our ISO14001 commitment, we will also lead by example and, where appropriate, expect our partners to adopt good practice, including adoption of an accredited environmental management system. We have set a carbon reduction target for the organisation and this is given in Section 6. Where feasible, we will exploit the opportunities available to us in this area, identifying and supporting opportunities for sustainable business growth e.g. through provision of business support on green travel plans or siting business parks in close proximity to public transport hubs etc. However, where the levers of control lie beyond the NWDA, we will use our strategic leadership and influencing role and research to position the region to mitigate and adapt to the environmental challenges we face.

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4. Review of Progress against Corporate Plan 2005 –2008 In the 2005/06 to 2007/08 Corporate Plan, we set out our Corporate Priorities and how these would support the continued delivery of the RES. That Corporate Plan was refreshed once the 2006 RES was produced, which all partners agreed was the most focused and prioritised RES to date. In particular we have focused on those transformational actions which the region agreed would have maximum impact on sustainable economic growth. A more comprehensive overview of progress and achievements is detailed within the Agency’s Annual Reports and Accounts covering the Corporate Plan period. These reports are freely available and are not repeated here.

Set out in table 4 below is a summary of key achievements and examples of progress on delivery of the last Corporate Plan. The Agency has performed well, building on the improvements to our systems and approach we have been implementing since 2003. We are currently projecting to meet our output targets agreed with central Government in the 2005 to 2008 Corporate Plan as set out in table 3 below. In addition, the Agency was one of the first RDAs to undergo the IPA process and was assessed as performing strongly; the highest grade possible.

Table 3: Total Outputs aggregated 2005/06 to 2007/08 Output Indicator

3 Year Achieved Aggregated Total*

3 Year Target Aggregated Min Total

1. Jobs Created and Safeguarded

60,846

37,600

2. Number of people assisted to get a job

15,542

3,675

3. Businesses Created

8,494

5,160

4. Businesses Assisted

71,797

41,920

4a) New Collaborations with the Knowledge Base

4,546

1,710

5. Investment Levered (£m)

1,087

910

5a) % of Private Investment Levered

60%

38%

5f) Brownfield Remediated (Ha)

933

793

6. Skills Development

85,883

33,600

6a) Number of adults achieving at least NVQ 2

2,456

2,175

6b) Number of adults gaining basic skills

6,027

2,215

* 2007/08 achieved total is based on forecast outturn figures.

The previous Corporate Plan also recognised the importance of economic participation for all in achieving sustainable economic growth in the region. There were a number of notable achievements in relation to tackling discrimination in the labour market, promoting enterprise to non-traditional entrepreneurs, supporting people back into work and influencing policy on reducing skills disparities for equality groups. These are summarised in Annex 4.

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Table 4: Summary of achievements and examples of progress

Business Development

mediacity:uk - project at Salford Quays, including the BBC’s decision to move 1,500 jobs to the site; Successful launch of Business Link Northwest to deliver the Business Link service in the Northwest and support the national business simplification agenda for Business Link with minimum interruption to businesses; Opening of the National Biomanufacturing Centre at Speke, flagship Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus and the launch of the Cockcroft Institute. The Agency’s investment in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s new Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases levered in a further £25 Million grant from the “Gates’ Foundation” and has been awarded status of Biomedical Centre in Infectious Disease by the DoH Health; Regional co-ordination of DEFRA’s Business Resource Efficiency and Waste Programme; the Launch of Responsibility Northwest In March 2006 - a £3m programme of awareness raising, benchmarking and mentoring for Northwest Businesses on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Skills & Employment (People and Jobs)

The Agency has been actively supporting the newest of universities, University of Cumbria the Nuclear Academy and a new University Centre for Burnley; Project Unity has seen the creation of a major University to rival the best in the country; Worklessness projects delivered as part of the Northern Way programme have supported 2,159 individuals resulting in taking 212 of them being taken off long term incapacity benefits and back into work and 133 people into training; supported three City Employment Strategies now up and running in Liverpool, Manchester and Blackburn. The leadership programme has engaged with over 1,000 through the Northern Leadership Academy programme run by Lancaster University.

Infrastructure

A number of significant project completions have been achieved; these include the completion of One Central Park in New East Manchester URC area, the opening of the new Liverpool Cruise Liner Facility. The completion and opening of the new Arena as part of the successful Kings Waterfront development in Liverpool. Completion of Edge Lane Improvement Programme, in Liverpool. Both Olive Mount Chord and Manchester Airport Third Platform are under construction and scheduled for completion in December 2008. Olive Mount Chord will significantly improve rail freight access to the Port of Liverpool.

Quality of Life/Image

Aligning the ERDF, ESF and Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) programmes in the region with the RES; implementing the Natural Economy Northwest programme to develop the economic benefit of the region’s natural environment. Through Agency stewardship, the region was the first to launch its Climate Change Action Plan, designed to reduce our carbon emissions and will deliver real progress towards a low carbon economy for the region. Success in attracting new major events to the region, such as Liverpool Capital of Culture, FINA World Swimming Championships, The Turner Prize and improvements in the image of the region as a place to live, work and invest.

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5. Corporate Objectives, Key Priorities and Themes Government is tasking the Agency with identifying our contribution to the Northwest single overarching growth objective. As stated earlier, this Corporate Plan is designed to be consistent with the RES aspiration and the Government GVA/head objective. This will be reviewed as the region produces its Single Regional Strategy. This section sets out corporate objectives designed to provide NWDA’s contribution to the achievement of a regional growth objective of this nature based on the priorities set out in the RES. We have set out the detail behind our objectives, including links to the RES and articulated the rationale for investment, the outcomes we are seeking to achieve, the broad areas of activity we believe it is right to pursue to achieve those outcomes and the amount of investment we intend to make. Each objective also includes likely spatial implications or investments. With partners we have undertaken a major study to identify the market failures associated with each RES action. This will guide our investment priorities, along with research about the regional economy, current performance information, and strong monitoring and impact evaluation. In developing our objectives we have applied the principles of sustainable development, equality and diversity and economic opportunities for all, including ensuring that these objectives address the challenges faced by the region’s rural economy and communities, and tackle the barriers faced by some of our under represented communities like women, disabled people BME and over 50s. In addition the plan has undergone a sustainable development and equality and diversity impact assessment. This approach will be maintained as we develop the programmes and activities that will enable us to meet our outcomes both internally and with partners by undertaking Sustainable Development and Equality Impact Assessment for all our activities. The Plan therefore takes an integrated approach to equality, social and economic inclusion issues in the region through a mainstreamed approach to their delivery. As well as the eleven objectives set out below an important challenge for NWDA will be responding to our changing role as set out in SNR. Ensuring this change is implemented and that we develop the appropriate skills

and organisational capacity that we require will effectively become a separate internal corporate objective. We will draw up a detailed SNR implementation plan which will set out the detailed actions we will be undertaking and the change management processes will we need to put in place to ensure its effective implementation.

Sub-Regional Priorities The Northwest has developed economic development plans – Sub-regional Action Plans (SRAPs) for each subregion, produced by business led Sub-regional Partnerships working closely with partners. These plans set out how the RES will be delivered in each sub-region and identify further sub-regional priorities. As outlined earlier, increasingly the role of NWDA is one of strategy and delivery management, ensuring that priorities are agreed at a local level which are consistent with the RES. Within these agreed priorities, we will let others get on with the detail of project decisions and management, via delegation to the most appropriate spatial level. SRAPs have therefore been very influential in scoping this Corporate Plan and setting our investment priorities and policies. In line with NWDA’s changed role, this Corporate Plan does not make individual project commitments or allocations. In the light of Government consultation on SNR and plans for subsequent legislation, we will work with partners to develop specific proposals about how increasing delegation will work in practice. During 2008/9 NWDA will also implement a programme management approach internally to support further delegation in future. The detail of programme and project investment levels will alter as individual investments are developed and approved, often within sub-regions. This will be based on specific outcomes the region is trying to achieve in each place to support the RES vision and overall regional growth objective. This will be supported by developments such as Multi Area Agreements and Local

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Area Agreements where they have been agreed, for example MAA’s in Greater Manchester, Liverpool city Region, Fylde Cost and Pennine Lancashire. The section below gives an indicative view on how the objectives and programmes set out in this plan will translate into priority actions in each of the Northwest sub-regions. The figure for total investment is indicative only. The exact nature of investment in future years will only be finalised as specific projects and programmes are developed with partners.

Cheshire and Warrington Indicative Total Investment £135 million Strengthen Cheshire and Warrington’s position as a strongly performing sub-region and contributor to regional GVA, focusing on growth opportunities in Chester, Crewe and Warrington through; Maximising the economic potential of Chester, Crewe and Warrington by enhancing Chester’s role as a regional tourism attack brand and commercial centre, including unlocking major development sites, implementing new public realm, railway gateway and master planning elements of the Chester Renaissance programme; working with partners to realise the potential to attract private sector investment into Crewe and Warrington, including Warrington town centre master planning, Crewe town centre public realm and education facilities, and the Basford and Omega strategic regional sites. Addressing key employability and skills priorities by supporting, the sub-regional People and Jobs programme to reduce worklessness/raise skill levels, focusing on pockets of deprivation and the establishment of new skills centres. Improving business competitiveness and enterprise by delivering effective regional business support programmes, taking into consideration high growth value added sectors in Cheshire and Warrington including pharmaceuticals, banking and professional services and innovation; delivering a programme of

action in deprived areas through the Enterprise Generator programme, with specific initiatives around enterprise coaching, enterprise culture and implementation of a Food and Drink Hub. Strengthening Cheshire and Warrington’s quality of place to attract more visitors and private sector investment by supporting Cheshire Year of the Gardens and the RHS Show, Jodrell Bank and Chester Zoo master planning; enhancing environmental quality through the REVIVE programme and work with partners to develop proposals for the Weaver Valley Regional Park; investment in key regional and subregional employment sites including Mid Point 18 employment site. Delivering these priorities will require building effective strategic relationships with the new Unitary Authorities (UAs) for Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester, minimising the impact of the transition to the new UAs on the delivery of key activities and programmes and working with the new Authorities and the Sub-Regional Partnership to build appropriate programme development and delivery capacity.

Cumbria Indicative Total Investment £155 million To help the Cumbrian GVA growth to at least a Regional average by focusing on activity aimed at; Support the expanding role of the University of Cumbria by continuing to support and promote the role of UoC to deliver high level skills across the county. Reducing the gap in performance between the West Coast and the rest of Cumbria through investment in the implementation of elements of the Spatial Masterplan – Energy Coast; tackling and reducing pockets of worklessness; improving skills and supporting the growth of entrepreneurialism; maximising the exploitation of opportunities in Nuclear Decommissioning and energy related businesses.

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Building on the growth of Carlisle as the City of the Sub-region by supporting key development sites in Carlisle City Centre; addressing fundamental business and employment issues of low wage, low skills business sectors; build upon the tourism opportunities associated with the historic city and Hadrians Wall. Supporting the development of the Tourism offer of the Lake District National Park and across the wider county through creating conditions for private sector investment and strengthening the quality of the tourism offer. Support the continued growth of Barrow by exploiting opportunities around the Waterfront; tackling and reducing pockets of worklessness; improving skills and supporting the growth of entrepreneurialism and new business formation. Cumbria currently contributes 6.3% of the regional GVA, and it is clear that any increase in the regional growth trend will require a greater acceleration of growth in Cumbria. In order to help achieve this goal and outcomes set out above, we will work with partners to develop a new strategic Delivery Body for the whole of Cumbria which will address the county wide issues of economic development and regeneration delivery capabilities and work with all partners agree and promote simplified delivery arrangements.

Greater Manchester (GM) Indicative Total Investment ÂŁ380 million To ensure that that the GM growth trends make an increased and sustainable contribution to the economic growth of the region through; Ensuring that Northern Districts have maximum opportunities to benefit from growth at the regional centre by tackling and reducing worklessness through city employment strategy; improving the productivity of all business through skills, support and

driving aspiration and entrepreneurialism; investing in growth poles in the northern sector e.g. Bolton; building on opportunities presented by Housing Market Renewal and growth agenda. Building on the key economic assets of the Subregion by continuing to support the development of Manchester Airport; extracting maximum value for the region and sub-region from Mediacity:uk; supporting the development of key sectors (food & drink, media, biotechnology). Improving connectivity between Manchester, and the rest of the North by identifying opportunities to improve frequency and speed of rail connectivity to Liverpool; working through the Northern Way to drive progress on the Manchester Rail Hub. Driving the sub-region as a global knowledge capital through initiatives such as, a focus on developing City South as a knowledge growth hub, mediacity and the NESTA innovation fund. Creating conditions for continued investment by developing quality sustainable employment sites; working with others to tackle transport, infrastructure and congestion issues and remove barriers to economic growth; encouraging inward investment and tourism. We will do this by establishing a strategic relationship with the new governance structures and MAA in GM moving towards delegated approach in those themes where opportunities arise. Greater Manchester already contributes around 40% of the regional GVA, and it is clear that any increase in the regional growth trend would require accelerated growth in Greater Manchester. We will work with GM, in the context of SNR and national policy to focus on identified priorities In order to help achieve this goal and outcomes.

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Merseyside Indicative Total Investment £235 million

focusing on the most deprived communities, including the NewHeartlands HMRI area.

Support the economic renaissance of Liverpool City Region and ensure the benefits are captured effectively, focusing on improving business competitiveness and productivity, raising skills levels and reducing worklessness and ensuring Merseyside takes full advantage of the opportunity afforded by the new NWOP ERDF Phasing-in allocation. The outcomes we are trying to achieve are;

Create conditions for continued investment through bringing forward proposals for Liverpool University Edge Strategic Site; capitalising on plans by the private sector to regenerate Birkenhead Docks and Liverpool Northshore; bring forward a portfolio of key employment sites in Merseyside.

Strengthening business productivity and enterprise through working with The Mersey Partnership to identify priorities emerging from the Merseyside Enterprise and Growth Strategy; effective delivery of regional business support programmes, taking account of Merseyside-specific gaps, needs and opportunities; support sector development and inward investment activities targeting Merseyside’s key sectors, including creative and digital, biotechnology/life sciences.

The Agency will continue to work with partners to develop the enhanced working arrangements, capacity, leadership and governance required to implement SNR and deliver key programmes effectively across the city region.

Lancashire Indicative Total Investment £185 million Strengthen Lancashire’s position as a strongly performing sub-region and contributor to regional GVA by

Strengthen Liverpool’s position as a European visitor destination through supporting the delivery of Capital of Culture and develop a legacy programme; Continue to support regeneration of Liverpool city centre and North Liverpool through the new Liverpool Regeneration Company; Support investment in key visitor attractions, including the new Museum of Liverpool.

Developing Preston as Growth Driver and maximise economic benefits of Lancaster’s heritage assets, environment and University assets by driving Preston’s Third City ambitions through establishment of Vision SPV and development of its City Centre offer and Growth Point bid; Develop key strategic employment sites; Support delivery of Lancaster and Morecambe Vision Plans.

Exploit the city region’s knowledge assets through supporting the continued development in the science base, including Daresbury Science and Innovation campus and Liverpool Science Park; Capitalise on the Universities as a source of learning and leadership development.

Increasing economic activity in areas of low growth by supporting the delivery of the Blackpool Masterplan; help implement the Pennine Lancashire Economic Action Plan including and support establishment of Pennine Lancashire CDC; Support delivery of the Burnley Enterprise Strategy.

Reduce worklessness and build more sustainable communities by raising employment levels through implementation of the City Employment Strategy and related initiatives, focusing on the most deprived communities; Supporting investment in housing, public realm and specific regeneration activities

Increasing the Scale of Higher Value Business and Improve Productivity through sustaining advanced manufacturing and support growth of ICT, Digital and Creative, Energy, Environmental Technology and Tourism sectors; Supporting the growth of high value business in rural areas; Delivering Lancaster Science Park

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Building a Skilled Workforce through supporting the delivery of the Lancashire Skills Strategy, particularly to tackle low skills and aspirations and improve FE/HE provision in Pennine Lancashire; Addressing demand for higher skills in the Greater Preston growth area and improve graduate retention in Preston, Pennine Lancashire, Lancaster and West Lancashire; Addressing acute worklessness in Pennine Lancashire and Blackpool. Addressing Transport and Communications Barriers by lobbying for improved rail links between Preston/ Pennine Lancashire and Manchester; supporting growth of Blackpool Airport and strategic road improvements in Fylde; encourage construction of Heysham to M6 Link Road and associated Lancaster City Centre traffic management measures.

Linking the RES and Corporate Plan This Corporate Plan sets out how NWDA will deliver its major responsibilities under the RES. Although the plan is presented under 11 objectives (as required by Government) it is fully consistent with the RES and reflects those RES factors where NWDA has significant responsibilities. The investment against each objective has been determined by looking at a number of issues: • NWDA’s responsibilities under the RES and statutory responsibilities. This included a recognition of the role of other partners and other funding in relation to delivery of important parts of the RES (e.g. basic skills, employability support, housing) • An assessment (as far as data allows) of the likely impact of investment in each of these objectives in contributing towards the GVA growth objective • An assessment of current economic conditions and progress with RES delivery • An assessment of current legal commitments under each objective • Ensuring the balance of the Agency’s investment is focused on those actions which have the highest impact in terms of economic growth, where there is clear market failure and for which no other agency has responsibility. However NWDA’s role is increasingly one of strategic influence and not just about direct investment of money. Given the RES, the growth objective and 5 outcome indicators we have determined appropriate outcomes / impact measures for each RES factor and appropriate outputs to ensure that these impacts are achieved and to support evaluation of impact. The table in Annex 2 sets out this logic chain in more detail, linking the 5 outcome indicators, RES factors and outcomes, and outputs we will need to achieve to contribute to these outcomes. It has been used to design appropriate outcome measures within each of the corporate objectives and will be used to influence the way we contract for specific programmes and activity in future.

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Summary of NWDA Objectives The table below summarises NWDA objectives and proposed investment levels over the Corporate Plan period. The following sections then give the detail behind each objective, including outcomes. There may be some overlap of outcomes between objectives as many of them are closely linked. These objectives are underpinned internally by 34 more detailed themes which will be used to support our move to a programme management approach of managing NWDA investment. Objective

Main RES Actions

Indicative Investment ÂŁm (2008/11)

Current Legal Commitments

COMPETITIVE BUSINESS 1. Sectors: Support the development of key internationally competitive sectors, including appropriate exploitation of the science base

8-11, 15, 16, 17-19, 101, 103-105, 119

172.3

122.5

2. Enterprise Support: Improve the formation, survival and growth rates of enterprises, including via availability of business finance

1-6, 53

180.8

137.5

3. Innovation: Develop higher added value activity through innovation and knowledge transfer and ICT

12-14, 20-22

89.3

39.4

4. Internationalisation: Realise opportunities from globalisation, including international trade, inward investment and supply chain opportunities

17-19

20.3

11.3

5. Leadership and Management: Develop leadership and management skills (including coaching and mentoring) in the current workforce

20.0

5.4

6. Higher Level Skills Development: Stimulate demand for intermediate and higher level skills in the current workforce, including appropriate sector skills

27, 31

60.0

26.7

7. Size of the Workforce: Grow the size of the workforce through support for the work of the City Employment Strategies and tackling barriers to work

41-46, 62, 108, 109, 111

15.3

10.0

COMPETITIVE PEOPLE

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Objective

Main RES Actions

Indicative Investment ÂŁm (2008/11)

Current Legal Commitments

COMPETITIVE PLACES 8. Employment Sites and Premises: Support the development of key employment sites and premises in the region

80-83

90.7

42.6

9. Conditions for Private Sector Investment: Improve the physical conditions for increased private sector investment in the key places in the region, including key infrastructure and public realm

47-52, 54-56, 113, 84, 116, 119

331.5

226.3

10. Climate Change and Sustainable Consumption/Production: Ensure the implementation of the regional Climate Change Action Plan (including energy security) and the development of resource efficiency and sustainable procurement in companies

23-25, 91

33.5

13.8

11. Marketing the Region: Improve the image of the region to businesses and visitors by countering outdated negative perceptions

95, 98, 99

27.5

27.4

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Detailed Corporate Objectives, Rationale, Outcomes & Activities 1. SECTORS Investment: £172.3 million Objective: Generate increased GVA through the growth and development of our priority sectors, tourism and the visitor economy. RES Link: This objective delivers on our RES priority actions to support the development of higher addedvalue activity in regional sectors and supports 8-11, 15, 16, 17 -19,101, 103-105,119. Rationale: Market failures in priority sectors combine to limit the potential contribution these sectors make to the regional economy. These include imperfect information, institutional and coordination failures, limiting the rate of growth in the sectors for example, limiting the development of clusters of economic activities or sites resulting in a loss of potential agglomeration benefits. The Northwest is a geographically diverse region with a potentially diverse visitor economy offer to match. Coordination failures, compounded by this diversity, mean that the regional economy does not reap the optimum economic benefits of this diverse visitor economy offer. There is therefore a strong rationale for supporting programmes or projects, which are aimed at improving information and market coordination and strengthen the visitor economy offer. Higher tourist numbers will also lead to job opportunities for some who might otherwise be excluded from the labour market, providing an additional distributional rationale. This objective will support and is supported by the objectives around enterprise, innovation and internationalisation, skills, sites and conditions for private investment, sustainable consumption and production, and marketing the region as these are all vitally important to our priority sectors. Outcomes: Some investment into the priority sectors will only generate significant regional impact, particularly in terms of GVA, in the long term, with some associated outputs in the medium term. Therefore measurement of impact over a 3 year Corporate Plan period will be limited e.g. National Aerospace Technology Programme

where investment will yield positive regional benefit when current technology developments move to industrial production in 2012-2015. However our investment is designed to: • Increase the contribution of the priority sectors to the economy in terms of output, productivity, employment, number of companies and recognition of the region for specialisms in these sectors; • Deliver specific sector programmes which may include infrastructure, skills, innovation and investment support e.g. mediacity:uk which will create 15,000 new jobs, 1,150 new businesses and £279m GVA and leverage a total investment package of £1billion into the Salford City Region; • Enable firms to increase productivity and move up the value chain in their industries through programmes such as the Manufacturing Advisory Service which will create £115m net additional GVA to the region; • In line with our skills, leadership and management objective, raise and increase the level of skills, and rate of employment within these sectors, particularly in the areas of leadership and management, NVQ4 level and above, generating apprenticeships and upskilling the workforce, and cultural change e.g. Vauxhall £8.3m to secure £120m of immediate investment to the region and long term security of contracts; • Grow tourism GVA at rate that is higher than the overall growth of the economy of each sub-region. The target is also to maintain growth of revenue generated by visitors at 5% over the corporate plan period; • Provide the strategic leadership necessary to drive improvements in the quality of experiences provided to the region’s visitors. Success will be measured by monitoring improvements in perceptions of the region and its destinations by target consumer groups in the UK and overseas. Many of the sector specific interventions will also contribute to targets set under other corporate objectives including innovation, internationalisation, leadership and management and higher level skills development. The Agency will also ensure the region’s priority sectors are supported to effectively deal with unanticipated regional economic shocks and to provide an appropriate rapid response.

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Activity Priority sectors: Internationally competitive sectors with greatest potential for GVA growth: Advanced Engineering and Materials, Biotechnology, Digital and Creative industries, Financial and Professional Services, Energy and Environmental technologies and Food and Drink. Activities will include: • Reinforcement and encouragement of cluster activity, via the Regional Cluster Programme through collaborative networking, technology partnerships, promotion and marketing, specialist support and improved access to information, also identifying the specific needs of industry to inform NWDA funded Sector programmes of intervention; • Delivering priority sector projects to address industry specific needs in the areas of infrastructure, skills, innovation, regulation, finance, commercialisation, international trade, promotion and image including mediacity:uk; National Biomanufacturing Centre, National Aerospace Technology Programme, Biomedical Research Centre, whilst ensuring compliance with principles of the Business Support Simplification Framework, and; • Work with existing investors in the region to grow, enhance, and increase both GVA and number of jobs through the Strategic Company Engagement Programme; • Integration with programmes of cross-cutting themes in the areas of Enterprise, Skills, Science and Innovation, Climate Change, Sustainability Financial Products and Internationalisation. The region’s HEI’s also have an important role in supporting the growth and development of these sectors in terms of knowledge transfer and graduate retention.

Sectors of widespread employment: logistics, retail, construction, maritime, public sector, and care/healthcare. Much of the investment in support of these sectors is embedded within other Corporate Plan objectives, such as skills. Activity will include: • The development of skills and procurement initiatives to assist regional businesses in access to, and competitive bidding of, public sector procurement initiatives, including the NHS and opportunities arising from the 2012 Olympics; • Embedding corporate social responsibility into businesses encouraging principles of sustainable development through infrastructure, procurement and resource efficiency; • Highlighting the potential benefits to business of climate change, and taking steps to both mitigate against risk and maximise on opportunities for greater economic impact including energy efficiency and innovation projects; • Providing SME’s with easy access to methods of improving productivity and competitiveness through BusinessLink Northwest; • Support for specific initiatives in the rural community through the Rural Development Programme for England. Tourism and the Visitor Economy: Investments will be made in line with the priorities and objectives set out in the Regional Tourism Strategy (2007), with a particular focus on the attack brands of Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and the Lake District, on the revival of Blackpool and on regional signature projects, such as Chester Super Zoo and the Renaissance of the Lake District. Activity will include: • Continued investment in the region’s ‘attack brands’ and to support delivery of ‘signature projects’ that will transform the region’s appeal to visitors; • Ongoing support to the NWDA’s delivery partners, the five sub-regional Tourism Boards to strengthen their strategic role in guiding sub-regional development, particularly in the context of the sub-national review and local government re-organisation, and; • Investments that support the full implementation of the Regional Tourism Strategy.

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Sustainable Development/Equality and Diversity Implications: We will ensure that support given to these sectors helps to develop a low carbon economy and deliver more sustainable consumption and production of goods and services, in line with Objective 10. This will include consideration of any transport implications from sector development. We will ensure that our support to these sectors enables them to capitalise on the skills and talents of the whole potential workforce, embracing equality and diversity issues to maximise economic performance. Spatial Implications: Growth sectors and the visitor economy have strong spatial implications because of supply chains, knowledge transfer and agglomeration benefits which depend on close physical proximity. For example, the Biomedical cluster centres on the triangle of Liverpool, Manchester, and Daresbury with virtually all employment in this location; the Nuclear Industries cluster centres around West Cumbria and Warrington; the Advanced Flexible Materials cluster in the contiguous areas of South Lancashire and Northern Greater Manchester; the financial and business sector is focused in Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and Preston while the creative and digital sector is focused in Greater Manchester and Merseyside but spread over the region. Although the food and drink sector is widespread within the rural areas of the region, it has specific concentrations in Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Our visitor economy activities will directly reflect the subregional priorities of the 5 sub-regional Tourist Boards. Key attraction development and activities are focused on enabling our regional attack brands and signature projects to improve their performance and market penetration, and will therefore be focused on Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, the Lake District and Blackpool.

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2. ENTERPRISE SUPPORT Indicative Investment: £180.8 million Objective: Improve the formation, survival and growth rates of enterprise including via increasing enterprise culture, delivery of the BusinessLink service, and improving the availability and access to business finance. RES Actions: This objective delivers on our RES priority actions to improve the rate of business start up, growth and competitiveness in the Region. It supports RES actions 1-6 and 53. Rationale: The rationale for our programmes in support of this objective has three elements: Information failures, institutional coordination failures and barriers to entry into the market which includes addressing the finance market gap that exists for SME’s particularly start ups as detailed below: • Imperfect information leads to lack of awareness, by existing and potential businesses, of the available business support and advice which in turn impacts on the survival or growth rates of established businesses while also hindering the rate of start-ups for new businesses. • Coordination failures result from the existence of a plethora of often conflicting, confusing or competing (duplicating) business support provision which either crowds out or confuses both potential and existing businesses. • Availability and access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises is a barrier to the formation and growth of businesses. Public support will provide intervention to address specific areas of market failure addressing the 3 key components in the financial equation – demand, supply and intermediation services. Our programmes will aim to catalyse and incentivise the availability of the right type of financing funds, especially to those types of businesses who do not traditionally access external finance, without crowding out private sector provision. • The Northwest is a diverse region, some groups or communities are still underrepresented within our

TEA is a measure of Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity.

enterprises especially start up and SMEs and have also been found to face the highest level of failure of outcomes as they do not actively participate and share in the benefits of economic growth. Combined with a historical legacy of lack of enterprise awareness, aspiration, skills and capabilities this locks communities into a cycle, which does not foster enterprise leading to poverty of opportunity for individuals resulting in disadvantaged communities as identified in the RES. The Northwest has a lack of entrepreneurial culture and the RES noted that the region would need an additional 38,000 companies to meet the England average. This objective will support objective 1 in terms of the finance for business programme boosting growth in regional sectors, Objective 3 in terms of supporting innovation via R&D grants, and Objective 7 in terms of the role of enterprise in bringing people back into the workforce through start up activity. Outcomes: Our investment will be geared towards increasing the level of enterprise and the number of businesses in the Northwest by: • Promoting positive enterprising behaviours and culture in the region, increasing the TEA Index4 as measured by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor from 5.0% in 2006 to 5.7% by 2010 leading over time to higher levels of productivity, business density and economic activity; • Assisting businesses to access information and support designed for enabling enterprise skills development in young people and adults, availability of up-to-date and relevant business support information to enable business start up and growth; • Supporting the creation and growth of new businesses, aiming for 5100 net new business starts focus on high growth and priority groups/areas as identified in the RES, and a further 2600 assists leading to 11000 net jobs created; • Improving the business survival rate for assisted startups from 72% cto 80% at 36 months through targeted start up support and the Business Link information, diagnostic and brokerage service;

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• Delivering an Information, Diagnostic and Brokerage service via Business Link which increases usage from 96,000 to 104,600 firms per annum, with intensive assists increasing from 5,500 to 9,600. GVA impact of support will also increase from £305m per annum to £528m per annum;

• Implementation of the Finance for Business Strategy and programmes that surround it.

• Improving availability and access to finance for SMEs.

Sustainable Development/Equality and Diversity Implications: Our programmes will bring us into contact with a wide range of businesses and individuals and we will ensure that issues of resource efficiency, waste reduction, energy conservation and advice on climate change adaptation is part of the core Business Link offer to these businesses.

In addition the Agency through this objective will ensure the region effectively deals with unanticipated regional economic shocks and delivers an effective skills brokerage service. The impact of these programmes will be reflected in an increase in the business density per head of population; an increased number of self-employed and VATregistered business start-ups; increased productivity levels and strong firm survival rates; and an improving the proportion of new jobs generated in our Regional Economic Strategy priority sectors. Our enterprise activities will reflect our commitments to the implementation of the National Enterprise Strategy, and we will work to deliver those initiatives that are specific to the North West, including piloting Women's Business Centre, taking forward the National Enterprise Academy and University Enterprise Network and working with Manchester City and the Premier League to establish enterprise programmes for young people. Resulting Activity Our activity will be focused on: • Programmes and projects to develop an enterprise culture through support to schools, FE/HE, disadvantaged communities and businesses through skills and leadership and management programmes; • Provision of timely and relevant advice and support to individuals and businesses, including social enterprises, to facilitate successful business start up and growth through projects like the Regional Start Up & Survivability and High Growth Business Support; • Effective management and continued development of the Business Link service and the 2012 CompeteFor service, which is an electronic brokerage system designed to support SMEs exploit Olympic Games related procurement opportunities;

Our activity will be designed to work with and complement Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) activity as appropriate.

Other elements of this objective include targeted projects designed to boost the participation rates of currently underrepresented groups/areas in line with the RES e.g. our Regional Start-Up and Survivability project. Spatial Implications: Business Link is a universal regionwide programme. The impact and coverage of Business Link will be different between sub-regions depending on business need and socio-economic structure. The programme has been designed to take these into account and our impact evaluation will reflect these intraregional differences in outcomes resulting from this intervention. Other elements of this objective (e.g. Business Start) have a specific geographic focus and will deliver benefits in line with RES priority areas. There will be appropriate sub-regional and local level involvement in the design of any regional interventions.

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3. COMPETITIVE BUSINESS & INNOVATION Indicative Investment: £89.3 million Objective: Develop higher added value activity through innovation and knowledge transfer, including appropriate exploitation of the science base. RES Link: This objective delivers on our RES priority actions to improve business competitiveness through innovation. It supports RES actions 12 to 14 and 20-22. Rationale: Our innovation investments are designed to address four aspects of market failure; imperfect information, spillovers, barriers to entry and historic lockin/path dependency. These market failures have meant that as a region we suffer from relatively low innovation and ICT adoption rates which affect our competitiveness. • Imperfect information leads to low levels businesses awareness of the potential benefits of innovation and ICT adoption. There is a history in the NW of Innovation being concentrated in a small number of large companies e.g. AstraZeneca and Unilever while the majority of SMEs display lower innovative activity than the national rate. This trend has gradually changed in the last 5 years but there is still much to do. Historically, the region has adopted ICTs fairly well but has yet to take the progress the journey from ICT adopters to advanced ICT adopters. • Businesses can be reluctant to invest if they believe they run the risk of ‘spill over’ effects, losing the benefit of their investment to competitors too soon. Our public sector investment rationale is to achieve successful clusters of innovative, technological businesses and gain the positive spillover benefits of doing this. For example, in Biotechnolgy and Healthcare the number of businesses has grown from a handful to more than 200 in the last 10 years. This has provided the critical mass and skill base to encourage and sustain investment. We will look for opportunities to do the same thing in other growth sectors. Critical to this is the strength of Regional Universities, both in working with business and the public sector to establish new commercial opportunities, but also in creating the right pool of skilled graduates.

• Innovation and ICT are resource intensive, use up resources in the present while the benefits accrue in the longer term and are not assured. The levels of funding required by both are sometimes cited as a barrier to entry and prevent individual businesses adopting new technology and developing innovative products or services. Our intervention should be aimed at mitigating these barriers to entry and assist businesses innovate quicker. For example, investment in Next Generation Access (NGA) networks to create a high-speed (100 Mbps and beyond) communication infrastructure for the region will be essential to the development of knowledge- and data-intensive industries, not least those in the Digital and Creative sector. • Historically the Northwest has not had as widespread an SME base as other regions, and existing firms can be locked into a historic path of low capital investment. Though private sector R&D is relatively high it is concentrated in a few major players, and creating a step change in the innovation and technology capacity of our SME business base is an important rationale for our investments. Public sector spending on research and science is an important feed into our ambitions for a private sector led knowledge economy. Currently we suffer from a historic path dependency of a relatively low level of public sector research and science investment, and we wish to reposition our research centres, higher education institutions and science parks to be centres of excellence to progressively attract and capture an increasing share of public sector research activity as the UK further globally positions itself as research centre of excellence. This objective supports objective 1 in terms of innovation supporting the growth of major sectors, objective 2 in terms of the role of R&D grants in developing enterprise, which are covered under that objective and objective 4 in supporting Internationalisation. Outcomes: By 2011, we will aim to: • Increase number of innovation active firms in the region from 59% to 75%. • Increase the level of public sector R&D investment in the region from 3% of the UK total to 6%.

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• Increase level of HEI R&D in the region from 14% to 20% of the UK total.

• Strengthening the NHS research base in Manchester and Liverpool;

• Increase private sector R&D spend in the region from £1.9bn to £2.3bn per annum.

• Working with the telecommunications industry, telecoms regulators and service providers to ensure the region develops the appropriate next generation access communications infrastructure required to stimulate business innovation and growth across the region.

• Increase number of business/university interactions by 2000 per annum, enabling businesses to obtain consultancy services, support, or training. • Increase the number of businesses (particularly in the SME sector) achieving productivity gains through effective exploitation of advanced ICT • Ensure availability of globally competitive high-speed communication infrastructure and services. Resulting Activity Activity will encourage innovation through: • Working with over 400 companies in the region to embed innovation in their company structure, and working with over 1000 companies in the region to develop action plans to improve innovation rates, through a major project called Knowledge to innovate and funding Innovation Advisors. These projects will also ensure that our commitment to Equality and Diversity is met through enabling access to these programmes to all sections of society; • Ongoing support to establish Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus as a thriving, vibrant location for public sector science and for private sector research and expanding our existing partnership on site with STFC, Halton Borough Council and the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster; • Investing in collaborative research programmes between HEI and industry which will offer the region a competitive advantage, specifically investing in science strategy implementation projects in Materials, Chemistry, Nuclear, Biohealth, and Aerospace; • Ensuring knowledge transfer investment compliments HEIF funding which extends the ability of Northwest universities to work with businesses; • Working with the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to take forward transformational innovation projects; • Establishing major science parks in Liverpool and Lancaster through sustainable development;

There will be a close link with the region’s HEIs in the delivery of parts of this objective and ensuring knowledge transfer. As we develop our programmes and activities, we will ensure they are aligned with the recently announced proposals within the Science and Innovation White Paper. Sustainable Development/Equality and Diversity Implications: Innovation and ICT both have the potential to boost our regions business productivity while also significantly contributing to the regions efforts to achieve better resource efficiency, waste reduction, energy conservation and contributing to climate change adaptation. The Agency will be seeking to capitalise on these interdependencies. Spatial Implications: Merseyside and Cheshire will benefit from the creation of Liverpool Science Park and Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus. The impact will be to create two new major sites for inward investment and regional technology company growth. The majority of the investment in Manchester will go to Project Unity creating a world-class University of Manchester and supporting the Manchester Knowledge Capital Arc of Opportunity. Lancashire and South Cumbria will benefit from development of Lancaster Science Park. ICT support will be focused on places currently experiencing low rates of broadband coverage, ICT adoption and exploitation as evidenced in the High Impact ICT Strategy.

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