http://www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/wwaOct07

The Northwest Regional Development Agency PO Box 37 Renaissance House Centre Park Warrington WA1 1XB Tel: +44 (0)1925 400 100 Fax: +44 (0)1925 400 400

www.nwda.co.uk www.englandsnorthwest.com www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com

This document is available in large print, braille, audio tape and the following languages; Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Somali, Urdu and Hindi.

Please contact the Marketing Department on 01925 400100 Printed on Cyclus Offset, manufactured using only 100% recycled post consumer waste

October 2007 NWDA H10-06

Who we are and what we do

October 2007

Who we are and what we do

1

Who we are The Government established nine Regional Development Agencies in 1999 to enable businesses and communities in the regions to formulate solutions appropriate for the different economic challenges they face.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) leads the economic development of England’s Northwest and creates an environment in which businesses in the region can flourish through offering business support, encouraging new start ups, matching skills provision to employer needs and bringing business investment into the region.

The Agency is governed by a private sector-led Board, chaired by Bryan Gray, which is responsible for setting strategic direction for the Agency across all areas of activity.

The Board ensures the Agency has a strong focus on the themes, actions and priorities within the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). Operationally, the Agency itself is divided into directorates and managed by an Executive Management team, led by Chief Executive Steven Broomhead.

This leaflet explains these directorates more fully, and outlines some of the Agency’s key achievements since its establishment.

The economy of England’s Northwest experienced a period of restructuring and underperformance in the 1980s and 90s. A stronger period followed, and, since 2000, the Northwest’s economic performance has been good, with 145,000 new jobs created in the last four years and faster growth than the average for England. However, with a £17.8 billion economic gap between the Northwest and the rest of England, there is still much to be done to realise the region’s potential.

The Agency’s vision is to forge a clear identify for the region as vibrant, ambitious and globally competitive, building on its history of innovation, a skilled and productive workforce and an outstanding quality of life.

The RDA will invest £1.5 billion (2007/08 – 2009/10) and directly influence a further £1.2 billion of other public investment into the region. Since its inception, the NWDA has consistently met or exceeded all targets set by government and has: • • • •

Created or safeguarded over 180,000 jobs Created 15,300 new businesses Reclaimed 4,000 hectares of brownfield land Levered £3 billion of private sector investment

The Agency is accountable to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and its performance is measured by the National Audit Office’s Independent Performance Assessment. The NWDA was among the first of the RDAs to be assessed, being awarded a “Performing Strongly” rating, the highest ranking available.

BRYAN GRAY MBE DL Chairman

STEVEN BROOMHEAD Chief Executive

2

The Regional Economic Strategy The current Regional Economic Strategy (RES), launched in March 2006, sets out a clear vision for the region’s economy and identifies specific priority actions to meet the economic challenges and opportunities of the next ten years and close the economic gap with the rest of England. It is the foundation for all activity undertaken by the NWDA. Whilst led by the Agency, the RES is the region’s strategy, having been drawn up by an Advisory Group of 25 private and public sector partners and following extensive and inclusive consultation with over 4,000 organisations.

It identifies three major drivers to improving the Northwest’s economic performance:

1

Improving productivity and market growth Increasing the number of higher added value jobs in the region and retaining existing high value jobs through investment in innovation, research and leadership.

2

Growing the size and capability of the workforce Getting more people into work, especially in the region’s most deprived areas, amongst disadvantaged communities and areas remote from growth.

3

Creating the right conditions for sustainable growth and private sector investment Through investing in the region’s environment, culture, infrastructure and communities.

The RES sets out 122 actions for achieving the vision, across five themes: Business, Skills and Education, People and Jobs, Infrastructure and Quality of Life. For the first time, 45 of these have been designated as transformational actions that the region must prioritise to really drive growth.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service

Liverpool Science Park

3

Who we are and what we do

Our achievements Since its establishment, the NWDA has delivered a number of major, transformational projects that have had a significant and sustained impact on the regional economy. Below are 10 initiatives led by the Agency which have generated real and tangible economic benefits.

Growing the region’s biomedical sector

Quays, which will create a hub of creative and digital talent and will also house five BBC departments.

As part of its biotechnology cluster development programme, Bionow, the Agency led the development of the £34 million National Biomanufacturing Centre at Speke, Merseyside. The centre, which is the first of its kind in the UK, provides expertise and facilities to support new and existing biotechnology companies and provides unique services for the development of biotechnology medicines.

mediacity:uk will see the Northwest rivalling Seoul and Dubai for creative output across the world and will have significant knock on effects on the Northern and national economy. It will deliver £1 billion to the regional economy once complete, providing employment opportunities for over 15,000 people.

In medical research, the NWDA provided investment of £9 million to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine for the creation of a new Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases. This was crucial in levering in a grant of £29 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund an international research programme that placed the School as one of the world’s leading institutions dedicated to the treatment of infectious and tropical diseases.

Building a world class science and innovation base

Development of manufacturing The Northwest’s manufacturing sector is the biggest of any English region and remains a major driver for improving GVA, contributing £18.6 billion to the regional economy.

Through the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and a Manufacturing Action Plan the Agency is improving the sector’s economic performance. Between 2002-05, the MAS helped client companies achieve a 9% average increase in turnover.

Attracting inward investment Following the loss of the major £600 million ‘Diamond Synchrotron’ project from Daresbury to Oxford in 1999, the Northwest faced a serious threat to public and private sector investment in its science and innovation capability.

The Agency provided a proactive response to this through a number of initiatives, including the creation of the first Science Council in the country. Publication of a Regional Science Strategy in 2002 was followed by a succession of projects including the launch of the Northwest Science Fund. Agency development of large scale projects such as Daresbury International Science and Innovation Campus led to the Daresbury site being identified as one of two major “bipolar” research centres in the UK by the government.

Creating an international creative and digital industries hub The NWDA is leading the development of the region’s world class creative and digital sector. The Agency played a key role in the BBC’s decision to relocate several key departments to the Northwest and committed an investment of £30 million for the development of mediacity:uk at Salford

Since 2002, the Agency has been directly involved in attracting over 200 foreign and direct inward investments into the region, which have created or safeguarded over 37,000 jobs. The Northwest was the top performing UK region in attracting jobs through inward investment between 2002 and 2007.

The NWDA provides vital business start up funding through seed and venture capital funds which have improved growth in the Small to Medium Sized Enterprise sector.

Since they were established in 2002 and 2003, these funds have invested £28.5 million in 96 companies and levered in £149 million of private sector investment.

Strengthening higher and further education The NWDA has supported a number of significant projects to encourage universities and colleges to play a larger role in the regional economy. The Agency supported the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST in 2004 through a £30 million investment, which helped to create an institution that can compete with the international elite of universities and aims to be among the top 25 universities in the world by 2015.

4

In Cumbria the Agency has played an integral role in the establishment of the new University of Cumbria, which will widen higher education opportunities in the sub-region and build a portfolio of courses to both retain young people and attract students from other parts of the UK and overseas.

Driving urban regeneration The NWDA has led the establishment of five Urban Regeneration Companies (URC) in the Northwest: New East Manchester (NEM), Central Salford, Re:Blackpool, Liverpool Vision and West Lakes Renaissance, to achieve focused, integrated regeneration strategies for these areas. With the Agency providing strategic direction and investing in high impact projects, the region’s URCs have continued to deliver significant results on a scale that would otherwise not have been possible.

For example, Liverpool Vision has led the delivery of major infrastructure projects, such as the Arena and Convention Centre at Kings Dock, the cruise liner facility and the Museum of Liverpool, which are driving the regeneration of the city centre. In East Manchester, NEM is delivering significant results, including the development of 800,000 square feet of new business and retail floorspace completed and occupied, generating in excess of 3,000 new or safeguarded jobs.

Rural renaissance The Foot and Mouth epidemic in 2001 had severe effects on the region’s rural economy. Cumbria alone experienced over half of the total notified cases in the UK, with forecasts estimating a drop in GDP of £270 million and 12,300 jobs at risk as a direct result of the crisis. The NWDA provided strategic leadership by developing ‘Rural Renaissance’, a £100 million coordinated strategy for the region, focusing on rural diversification. In total it helped to create or safeguard 4,400 jobs, establish 750 businesses, assist a further 7,000 businesses and lever over £10 million of private sector investment.

Leading the climate change agenda As part of its commitment to ensuring that England’s Northwest is at the forefront of the climate change agenda, the NWDA, working with partners, has led the development of the region’s first Climate Change Action Plan, which sets out the Northwest’s mission to become the leading region on climate change by 2020.

The Agency has also led major sustainability projects to improve the region’s natural environment and improve quality of life. Working with the Forestry Commission the Agency is investing £59 million into Newlands, a land regeneration programme which has become one of the largest in the country. Newlands is working to regenerate more than 900 hectares of brownfield land across the region into community woodland.

Major Events Strategy Following the success of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and in conjunction with regional partners, the NWDA led the delivery of a Strategy for Major Events in England’s Northwest – the first English region to do so - to capitalise on the benefits that can be achieved through hosting events of this nature. Major events secured by the region include the Paralympic World Cup and the FINA World Swimming Championships 2008. The Agency also supported Liverpool’s successful bid to become the European Capital of Culture 2008.

Over the last two years, events supported by the Agency have resulted in 1.2 million visitors, 180,000 bed nights and a £40 million contribution to the regional economy, as well as 32 hours of national television coverage.

Who we are and what we do

5

Our people The Agency has a clear organisational structure in place to ensure the effective delivery of the RES. Details of the directorates within the Agency are outlined below, together with a summary of the main responsibilities for each team. More detailed information on the Agency’s objectives, activities and resources can be found in the NWDA Business Plan at www.nwda.co.uk.

Enterprise and Skills

•

The Enterprise & Skills directorate works to exploit the growth potential of key sectors, improve the competitiveness and productivity of businesses, develop the region’s knowledge base and ensure that training, education and skills development is meeting the needs of employers and individuals.

Supporting major scientific research projects and developing university and business collaborations to build an internationally competitive knowledge base and encourage innovation;

•

Working with major Northwest companies to ensure their continued growth and securing inward investments into the region.

The Directorate is specifically responsible for:

Development

•

Developing a clear enterprise and innovation policy;

•

Ensuring that skills provision is matched to employer need and that skills gaps are identified and addressed;

Working with partners, the Development directorate provides a high quality approach in developing land, building and environmental projects that have the most significant economic impact for the region.

•

Growing key regional growth sectors specifically biomedical, energy and environmental technologies, advanced engineering and materials, food and drink, digital and creative industries and financial and professional services;

•

Delivering the new regional Business Link Northwest service to provide a consistent, efficient and high quality service focusing on the needs of businesses and working with partners on the Government’s Business Support and Simplification Process;

•

Assisting the region’s companies and entrepreneurs to access grants and growth capital and delivering a range of financial products to both businesses and individuals;

•

Driving forward sustainable development and climate change issues, including the production and implementation of the Regional Climate Change Action Plan;

Developing biotechnology excellence

The directorate is responsible for: •

Working closely with partners, including Local Authorities and Urban Regeneration Companies, to develop and assess projects;

•

Advising partners on the development of project proposals and ensuring that projects are designed to deliver the RES;

•

Working with partners to broaden the rural economic base and the development of specific rural policy for the Agency;

•

Leading on planning, transport and housing issues, including statutory consultation on planning applications.

Jodrell Bank, Cheshire

6

Policy

Resources

Influencing national policy and leading regional policy is critical to the Agency’s effectiveness. The Policy directorate works closely with key regional partners and nationally with Government to ensure that the region has the most supportive policy environment in which to work.

In addition, the NWDA also has a Resources directorate, which is responsible for a number of functions including: •

Working closely with partners to ensure the delivery of Agency funded projects on time, within budget and with a strong emphasis on delivery of outputs and evaluations;

•

Managing the Agency’s procurement of goods and services;

•

Delivering property based projects and managing the Agency’s property assets;

Monitoring and reviewing the implementation and delivery of the RES;

•

Managing the allocation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the region;

Co-ordinating and leading all NWDA policy development;

•

Working with partners to ensure the region exploits EU funding opportunities;

Providing comprehensive legal, ICT, knowledge management and financial services for the Agency;

•

Managing the Agency’s risk policy.

The directorate is specifically responsible for: •

•

•

•

Managing the Agency’s strategic relationships with Sub-Regional Partnerships, National Government Departments and Agencies, Local Authorities and the Northern Way;

•

Leading the development of the region’s Equality and Diversity Policy and the Agency’s Equality and Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility work to ensure it meets its goals of being an exemplar business and employer;

•

Providing research and economic intelligence as a resource for the Agency and the region.

Daresbury Innovation Centre

The Train to Gain Project, meeting the skills needs of employers

7

Our people Marketing

Tourism

The role of the Marketing directorate is to promote the role, purpose and effectiveness of the Agency and its programmes and activities. Working closely with partners, the directorate also works to improve the image of England’s Northwest as a place to visit, to invest in and to host major national and international events.

The Agency is responsible for providing strategic leadership for tourism in the region. The Tourism team works to position the Northwest as the best tourism destination in Britain, to attract more visitors to the region from both the UK and abroad, and to make the Northwest an increasingly important business tourism destination.

The directorate is specifically responsible for:

The team is specifically responsible for:

•

Promoting the role, purpose, activities and achievements of the Agency regionally and nationally;

•

Setting the strategic direction for tourism in the region through the development of the Northwest Tourism Strategy;

•

Reporting on the progress of the RES and related strategies;

•

Providing policy leadership for tourism;

•

Promoting a positive image of the region as a location for business, potential investors and visitors;

•

Working with the Northwest’s five sub-regional tourist boards to grow the visitor economy;

•

Attracting major national and international cultural, sporting and business events to the Northwest and maximising their benefits through the delivery of the Major Events Strategy;

•

Working across Agency directorates and with partners to ensure that investments are targeted at projects that will raise the quality of the experiences open to visitors, particularly in the public realm;

•

Implementing a programme of public affairs activity to communicate Agency policy and achievements and build support with MPs and MEPs.

•

Leading collaborative action to improve skills and service levels in the tourism sector and to support business leadership.

Human Performance The Agency also has a Human Performance directorate. This is responsible for dealing with all employment issues in the Agency, including staff development and organisational change.

Major events in England’s Northwest

Cumbria - The Lake District

8

How we deliver Projects and schemes supported and funded by the NWDA are largely delivered by public and private sector partners, at a sub-regional and local level. Once a project has been developed and has secured Agency investment, a team of specialists will work closely with partners to deliver the scheme.

The Agency works with a wide range of local and regional delivery partners including local authorities, community and voluntary groups and the private sector. However, perhaps the most significant partners are Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs).

The Agency has been instrumental in the establishment of URCs in key towns and cities across the Northwest – New East Manchester, West Lakes Renaissance (Cumbria), ReBlackpool, Central Salford and Liverpool Vision – the first URC to be established in the UK. The Agency is also a

major partner in Liverpool Land Development Company, which is spearheading economic development in four of Liverpool’s Strategic Investment Areas.

To ensure local solutions to local problems, the Agency has formed five Sub-Regional Partnerships, which bring together business, the public sector and voluntary and community groups. They are responsible for leading economic development within their sub-regions and identifying economic priorities which will deliver the RES. The five Sub-Regional Partnerships are: • • • • •

Cheshire and Warrington Economic Alliance Cumbria Vision Greater Manchester Forum Lancashire Economic Partnership The Mersey Partnership

The future Following the ‘Performing Strongly’ rating in its 2006 Independent Performance Assessment, the Agency, working with the National Audit Office, agreed an Improvement Plan with a clear focus on actions to address key areas of development. Part of this is to focus on improving the evaluation of our activity, which will be vital in improving the delivery of projects and informing future investment decisions. With evaluation a key issue for Government, the Agency has already taken the lead in this area for Regional Development Agencies on a national level.

Along with other regional partners, the Agency will continue to focus on playing its part in delivering the Regional Economic Strategy, and focusing on the actions that will have the greatest impact on our economy. By working together in partnership, we will deliver real transformational change across the region.

For further information on our projects and activities please visit www.nwda.co.uk

Through sustained investment in the region’s people and businesses, and with a remit increasingly focused on providing strategic leadership, the Agency will continue to create real economic benefits for the Northwest.

mediacity:uk

Blackpool Seafront

9

Who we are and what we do

Board and Executives Executive

STEVEN BROOMHEAD Chief Executive

IAN HAYTHORNTHWAITE Executive Director, Resources

MARK HUGHES Executive Director, Enterprise and Skills

BERNICE LAW Chief Operating Officer, Seconded to Liverpool Culture Company

PETER MEARNS Executive Director, Marketing

steven.broomhead@nwda.co.uk

ian.haythornthwaite@nwda.co.uk

mark.hughes@nwda.co.uk

bernice.law@nwda.co.uk

peter.mearns@nwda.co.uk

PATRICK WHITE Executive Director, Policy

PETER WHITE Executive Director, Development

JAMES BERRESFORD Director of Tourism

FIONA MILLS Director of Human Performance

patrick.white@nwda.co.uk

peter.white@nwda.co.uk

james.berresford@nwda.co.uk

fiona.mills@nwda.co.uk

BRYAN GRAY MBE DL Chairman

PROFESSOR SIR MARTIN HARRIS CBE DL Deputy Chairman

DAVID BROCKBANK

JOSEPH DWEK CBE

PETER HENSMAN

Cllr DR PAULEEN LANE CBE

DAVE McCALL

Cllr JOHN MERRY

PROFESSOR JOHN MOVELEY OBE

VANDA MURRAY OBE

Cllr MARIE RIMMER CBE

ANIL RUIA OBE JP LLB ACA

BRENDA SMITH

Cllr MIKE STOREY CBE

PROFESSOR MAUREEN WILLIAMS

The Board

10

Publications

Regional Economic Strategy 2006

Regional Economic Strategy 2006 Summary

State of the Northwest Economy – Long Term Forecast 2007

Annual Review & Business Plan

Delivering for the region

315° magazine NWDA Quarterly Magazine

Climate Change Action Plan

Sustainable futures

Useful Web Links Cheshire and Warrington Economic Alliance The Mersey Partnership Cumbria Vision Lancashire Economic Partnership Manchester Enterprises Liverpool Vision Central Salford URC West Lakes Renaissance New East Manchester Reblackpool Government Office for the North West North West Regional Assembly Liverpool Land Development Company

www.cwea.org.uk www.merseyside.org.uk www.cumbriavision.co.uk www.lancashire-ep.org.uk www.manchester-enterprises.com www.liverpoolvision.co.uk www.centralsalford.com www.westlakesrenaissance.co.uk www.neweastmanchester.com www.reblackpool.com www.go-nw.gov.uk www.nwra.gov.uk www.liverpooldev.co.uk