REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY HELPS BOOST NORTHWEST’S ECONOMY

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has once again exceeded its expectations, with new figures published by BERR today showing that their performance had helped boost economic development in the Northwest.

For the 2007/08 financial year, figures just released show that the NWDA has:

• created or safeguarded 17,749 new jobs in the region, and helped 6,748 people to get a job;
• created or attracted 1,965 new businesses to the region;
• helped 20,969 businesses to improve their performance, and assisted 861 businesses to engage in new collaborations with the UK knowledge database;
• attracted £489 million of investment to regenerate deprived areas, 58% of it from the private sector;
• regenerated 291 hectares of brownfield land; and
• helped 25,805 people in their skills development, including 971 through the “Skills for Life” strategy and 1,108 supported to achieve a level 2 qualification or its equivalent.

Announcing the latest results, Minister of State at the Department of Business and Enterprise, Pat McFadden, said:

“At a time of economic uncertainty it is more important than ever that we have strong RDAs supporting business, fostering economic development and helping to create and safeguard jobs in their region.

“This report shows that NWDA is doing well and meeting its targets.”

Steven Broomhead, NWDA Chief Executive, added:

“I am delighted that we have exceeded our targets once again. This not only reflects the real difference that the Agency is making, but also demonstrates how our relationships with public and private partners are helping to boost economic development in the Northwest.

“Moving forward, our challenge is to continue this success by implementing the Government’s Sub-National Review and leading the development of a new, single integrated regional strategy. These figures show we are well positioned to meet this challenge and continue to help the Northwest reach its full potential.”

Notes to Editors

• England’s Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are business-led organisations, launched in 1999 (and in London in 2000) to stimulate regional economies to reach their full potential. The RDAs’ top priority is to provide strategic leadership to promote economic development, enterprise and regeneration in their regions, tackling economic differences within their regions as well as driving up the performance of the regions as a whole.

• The RDA Tasking Framework, introduced in April 2005, comprised a set of six core outputs with four mandatory components. Each RDA set target ranges against these outputs in their Corporate Plans for 2005-08. The outputs cover:

o employment creation and support;
o business creation and support, including businesses encouraged to collaborate with the UK Knowledge Base;
o leverage of public and private sector infrastructure investment;
o brownfield land reclamation/redevelopment; and
o skills development.

• More information is available from http://www.berr.gov.uk/regional/regional-dev-agencies/rda-performance/page24205.html.

• The RDAs are financed through a Single Programme budget (the "Single Pot"). This replaced the funding programmes that existed previously, through which each contributing Government Department's allocation was made. Money from the contributing Departments (BERR, CLG, DIUS, DEFRA and DCMS and UKTI) is pooled into one single budget. The funding, once allocated, is available to the RDAs to spend as they see fit to achieve the regional priorities identified in their regional economic strategies and the challenging targets set by them in their Corporate Plans.

• In addition to the targets common to all RDAs, each RDA set supplementary targets which varied according to regional priorities.

NWDA media contact Neil Roscoe, Senior Press Officer on 01925 400232 or mobile 07980 713282 or neil.roscoe@nwda.co.uk

BERR media contact: Alexandra Thompson – 020 7215 5964 or alexandra.thompson@berr.gsi.gov.uk

For further information and to view previous press releases visit us at www.nwda.co.uk/news

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) leads the economic development and regeneration of England's Northwest and is responsible for:
• Supporting business growth and encouraging investment
• Matching skills provision to employer needs
• Creating the conditions for economic growth
• Connecting the region through effective transport and communication infrastructure
• Promoting the region’s outstanding quality of life

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