Executive Director's Report

                                                February 2008

The long campaign for Birmingham New Street Station to be re-developed led to success. A major training pilot is now underway – which could lead to radical changes for the better in training provision for employees. The West Midlands Business Council were in discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, the Minister for the West Midlands and two Shadow Cabinet Ministers. The Olympic roadshow travelled from Herefordshire to Solihull. West Midlands Police were urged not to let up in the fight against business crime.

Transport

After a long campaign led  by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the West Midlands Business Council the Government finally agreed to make up the difference and fund the re-development of Birmingham New Street Station – the rail hub for the Midlands and the nation.

West Midlands Business Council Deputy Chairman, Dr Sarindar Singh Sahota OBE, said:

"At last, the Government has made the right decision".

"This news will help make Birmingham and the West Midlandsan attractive area for inward investment, business growth - and new jobs".

"With much of the work planned to be completed by 2012, it will also help the Midlands cash in on the expected increase in the number of tourists caused by the Olympics".

Skills

After work undertaken by the West Midlands Business Council with EEF West Midlands, the Learning and Skills Councils have agreed to pilot workplace training with the reports of the pilot being available sometime in April.

This is a major step forward as the pilot is designed to see if tailor made workplace training accredited by assessors to cut out the cowboys can assist small and medium sized businesses with real and effective training in the workplace. If the pilot is successful it could have important ramifications as to how training is delivered in the future.

The West Midlands Business Council – with the leadership of EEF West Midlands – also fed into funding proposals by the Lifelong Learning Network into plans to help with training for engineering. In response, the Business Council called for these proposals to be linked to the Skills Action Plan – which was about to be launched by a Government Minister – and for Job Centre Plus and other relevant public agencies to be tied into this work to avoid needless duplication and waste of resources.

In addition, the West Midlands Business Council – with the leadership of the National Farmers Union – fed into proposals being developed by the Learning and Skills Councils to improve training provision for rural businesses. In response, the Business Council called for the fact that the population is ageing in rural areas to be taken on board by public agencies and that courses should not be cut because some rural trades are hit by short term market fluctuations.

Government and Opposition Politicians

Throughout February, the West Midlands Business Council paid host to a series of high profile politicians.

On Leap Year Day – 29 February – which was also the first day of the Labour Party Spring Conference – business leaders welcomed the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Rt Hon John Hutton MP, as well as the Minister for the West Midlands, Liam Byrne MP with Labour MP, Sion Simon – a member of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee and Labour MP, Gisela Stuart, a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.

Colleagues raised the need for action on skills, cutting red tape and ensuring business does not lose its role after regional quangos are changed post 2010 (more on this is shown below).

The Minister for the West Midlands gave a strong statement of support for the role and work of the West Midlands Business Council.

The West Midlands Business Council also met with the Europe Minister, Jim Murphy MP, where the marketing of the West Midlands region and the need to cut red tape when applying for a European R&D grant were raised.

These and other issues were also raised in private meetings with the Conservatives' Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Minister for the Black Country, the Rt Hon Francis Maude MP and the Shadow International Development Secretary and Shadow Minister for Birmingham, Andrew Mitchell MP.

Action on Jobs

Public agencies need to work more closely together to create new jobs, the West Midlands Business Council has declared.

The statement was made in response to the consultation initiated by the Regional Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands, with the delivery framework of the Regional Economic Strategy – the governing document for economic development across Birmingham, Black Country, Coventry, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

West Midlands Business Council Chairman, Barrie Williams, said:

"Advantage West Midlands has worked well with other partners to ensure there is real action on the ground to regenerate the Midlands".

"The public sector moved quickly to help small firms and workers after the collapse of MG Rover and the closure of the Peugeot plant".

"In north Staffordshire, the Agency works with business to make a difference to the future of the Potteries".

"But services such as the careers advice service, Connexions and Job Centre Plus, should not just come together when a crisis hits the headlines".

"For people trapped on benefits, such as on Incapacity Benefit, problems in getting work are a daily crisis that all public agencies must work hard to tackle".

"So, we would urge all public bodies to follow the lead of Advantage West Midlands and come together on a regular basis to help people into work".

"This is good not just for families – but also to ensure that our economy does not just survive but thrive with every person helping the economy at a time of increased turbulence in the markets".

"It makes good business sense – and is something the people of the West Midlands region needs".

Crime

West Midlands Business Council – under the leadership of the Federation of Small Businesses – urged West Midlands Police not to let go in the fight against business crime.

The call was made at a special meeting with the business community called by the West Midlands Police Authority. Just days earlier, the West Midlands Business Council had called on all local authorities to play their part with the police to crack down on business crime – which costs the West Midlands region – according to the Government Office for the West Midlands - £14,000 per hour.

Olympic and Paralympic Games

The Olympic roadshow aimed at businesses to show the commercial opportunities from the Games travelled throughout much of the Midlands in February.

The roadshow stopped off at Ross on Wye, Stourport, Worcester, Coventry and Solihull. We are grateful to the Leadership Trust for the Ross event and Business Connections 4 North Worcestershire for the Stourport event. We are also grateful to Advantage West Midlands and the Confederation of West Midlands Chambers of Commerce for their support.

To find out more about how the 2012 Games can work for your business please go – free of charge – to three key websites that can help your business get work – www.london2012.com/business www.ready-for-business.co.uk www.villagesupplychain.com

Changes to Regional Quangos

The governing body of the West Midlands Business Council decided that business must continue to have a role when changes take place to regional quangos in 2010.

From 2010:

• Regional council leaders will come together to make collective decisions on regional economic development;
• Regional Development Agency will have more powers as it will also be responsible for setting the regional planning regime as well as setting regional economic development policy;
• The Government has appointed a Minister for the West Midlands to oversee this process;
• There will be some kind of House of Commons committee devoted to West Midlands regional issues – though the precise form of the committee is still to be decided.

Therefore, the lobbying and advocacy role of the West Midlands Business Council will not just remain in tact - but with more players involved in the regional agenda, such as the direct involvement of MPs - rather than the current indirect engagement of regional Members of Parliament – this will inevitably increase the work and focus of the West Midlands Business Council.

This makes the reforms to the West Midlands Business Council, as agreed by the Board, even more important if we are to provide an added value contribution to member organisations in this new environment.

However, the fine detail of the changes has not been worked out and that is why there is much debate in regional public bodies as to how the precise changes will eventually take place.

The Government recognises this uncertainty and it was due to publish a consultation paper in December 2007 on this issue – but this has now been delayed to some indistinct time in 2008.

The West Midlands Regional Assembly has launched the third stage of its review of the RSS which will lead to practical changes that could last for years – such as with energy policy and the provision of rural public services. This work is taking place completely within the Assembly with only the normal courtesies to the Regional Development Agency.

It seems there is no appetite for the Government to move quickly to the new regional arrangements and the Assembly will still maintain its clear statutory roles throughout 2008 and 2009. One of the possible reasons for the lack of appetite in rushing these changes through is that this bureaucratic unravelling, if taken ahead too quickly, could harm the Government's ambitious plans for a large house building programme across England to begin as soon as possible – including in the West Midlands region.

The governing Council has decided that the following options should be considered by decision makers to ensure business has a role in the regional agenda post 2010.

Option One - Scrutiny

The Sub National Review was silent to a large extent on the statutory watchdog role that the Assembly has over the Regional Development Agency (RDA).

However, the Governance of Britain White Paper did consider the establishment of regional select committees – including a West Midlands Select Committee – to undertake a scrutiny role on regional affairs.

The Government did suggest that members of regional select committees could include people who are not MPs but are active in the regions. This has reportedly been met by opposition from the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin MP.

Therefore, while this issue is still under debate, the West Midlands Business Council could argue that it should have a clear scrutiny role over the work of the RDA and other regional bodies.

Strengths

• Clear role for the business community;
• Chance to change policy for the better;

Weaknesses

• Can only act after decisions have been made;
• Not the same powers as the limited executive powers the business sector now has within the Assembly;
• Could lead to confusion and duplication with the role of House of Commons West Midlands committee.

Option Two – Nomination Role to Regional Public Sector Boards

It has been suggested that bodies such as the West Midlands Business Council should have sole nominating rights for the business sector members onto various public sector boards – subject to the Secretary of State's final approval – thereby establishing a direct link between business representative organisations and business leaders of public bodies.

Strengths

• Strong influence over the direction of public bodies;
• Actions likely to be business led as a consequence;

Weaknesses

• Despite the positive aim of this option, this could be misinterpreted as criticism of public bodies;
• This would cause very serious damage to the positive links that we desire and hamper existing work for the regional economies;

Option Three – Amending Role

The West Midlands Business Council could have an amending role over the actions of regional public bodies. This would be in line with current Government thinking.

Local Government Minister, John Healey MP, has made it clear how the regional structures will eventually work:

"What we're proposing in the regions is that local authority leaders hold the Regional Development Agencies and the whole regional planning processes to account – not just the power to scrutinise but to approve the regional strategy that gives them a purchase on the process"

Therefore, local government leaders will act like the House of Commons, having a veto role over proposals presented to them by the executive. In this case, the organisation presenting proposals will be the RDA with its Integrated Single Strategy – linking the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS – covers planning) with the Regional Economic Strategy (RES – covers economic development).

Therefore business – the wealth creators of the West Midlands region – possibly with other bodies – could act in a House of Lords style role – proposing amendments and changes to plans that are being developed and also have the authority to ask local authority leaders to think again on any decisions reached by them.

Ultimately, as local authority leaders are elected and with the grain of the new proposals from Government, the final decision of local authority leaders would have to be accepted.

However, business would have a real and substantive role to make changes for the better.

In essence, this is very similar to how the business sector operates now in the West Midlands Regional Assembly. During Phase Two of the RSS Review in late 2007, business sector members were busy sending amendments to the draft document, once it was published, until it was in a state that business sector members could finally support.

By guaranteeing a role for the business community in the policy making process business will be at the heart of making practical changes for the good of the economy.

Strengths

• Gives the business sector a very similar role and powers to its current position within the West Midlands Regional Assembly;
• Gives the business sector a key influencing role before decisions are made;

Weaknesses

• Does not advance the powers the business community already has within the West Midlands Regional Assembly.