Building confidence

The 22 June Executive Committee approved 'Building Confidence' - the Assembly's submission under the Government's Strengthening Regional Accountability initiative. Our proposals are designed to build the capacity of the Assembly to scrutinise SEEDA more effectively and to ensure that the breadth of regional government activity connects more strongly to the region's expressed priorities. Direct government funding of up to £500,000 is being made available. The proposals aim to build the self-confidence of the Assembly and the confidence of others in its work. There are three elements -

• Improving regional intelligence, to give us a better understanding of how the South East works.
• Engaging members and stakeholders more strongly so that, with improved external communications, our voice can be as representative as possible.
• Scrutinising SEEDA's plans and their impact both for fit with the region's expressed priorities and the contribution made by SEEDA to meeting them.

With the overall direction of the submission agreed, Assembly Chief Executive Paul Bevan identified two areas where the proposals now require detailed development. Firstly there is a need to work up with social/environmental and economic partners practical ideas for supporting their contribution to Assembly business. Secondly it will be essential to broker with SEEDA effective arrangements both for retrospective scrutiny and, more importantly, for the collaborative development of regional policies to ensure that they reflect the Assembly's priorities.

Reviewing the regional strategy

The Executive Committee quizzed SEEDA Board member Kevin Wilson on the process and timescale for reviewing the Regional Economic Strategy. He thought the review (from Autumn 2001) would be fundamental, and that it would be important for the Assembly's input to be both early and comprehensive. With the financial flexibility afforded to the RDA by the 'single pot', there would be important decisions to be made about the geographical focus of SEEDA's future activities and the extent to which resources and implementation might be devolved sub-regionally.

Business plan and budget

The Assembly's business plan and budget for the current year - now revised to account for the additional funding of £500,000 expected from the Government - was signed off by the Executive Committee on 22 June.

The Plan envisages the distribution of the Assembly's resources across the various aspects of its work as follows. Support activities such as communication and administration are included within these headings:
Proportion of total expenditure by policy area:

Joined up governance 5%
RDA scrutiny 30%
Regional Planning and Transport 55%
Health 2%
Europe 3%
Advocacy 5%

The Assembly's total budget for 2001-02 now looks like this in summary:

The Executive Committee agreed that in preparing next year's budget (2002-03) the Chief Executive should aim to ensure that the call on local authority subscriptions does not increase above the rate of inflation.

The Business Plan, along with the Annual Report for last year, is now being prepared for publication in time for the Assembly's annual meeting on 11 July.

Towards the london plan

The Executive agreed a proposed response to the Mayor of London following his publication of an initial discussion document on the spatial development strategy for London. The response follows a debate by the Planning Committee on 23 May and a meeting of the Joint Advisory Forum for London, the South East and East of England on 15 June, at which deputy mayor Nicky Gavron presented the London strategy.

Our proposed response - to be placed before the full Assembly on 11 July for debate and endorsement - is broadly positive, although sceptical about London's ability to meet the aspirations of accommodating both economic and population growth within its own boundaries. Key issues are raised about transport interconnections, strategic development corridors and waste disposal, and these will require close dialogue - and no doubt some negotiation - between London and the Assembly.

The London Plan is ambitious, and Executive Committee members voiced concern that the Assembly would need to push hard to ensure that the South East is not disadvantaged by the Mayor's strong 'domestic' agenda. Nevertheless, the success of London, alongside New York and Tokyo, as one of the three true 'world cities' , is recognised as critical to our region's continued economic prosperity.

Access to information

As part of the Assembly's commitment to open governance the Executive Committee agreed a policy on access to information, to be placed before the full Assembly at the annual meeting in Woking. The policy has been drawn up in the context of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and following consultation with local authority chief executives and members of the public who have shown a particular interest in the Assembly's business.

The policy adopts the principle that, with the exception of commercially or personally confidential information, all the Assembly's business should be open to public scrutiny. This will be effected by making available on our web site the papers for all formal meetings of the Assembly and its committees. In addition all the Assembly's files will be open for inspection, and hard copies of papers will be supplied albeit subject to a photocopying charge. The policy also sets out target response times to information requests and procedures for challenging the Chief Executive's rulings on confidentiality.

Healthy region forum

Although the South East is the 'wealthiest and healthiest' in the UK, the second meeting of the Healthy Region Forum on 20 June received compelling evidence of the region's under-performance on health service delivery. An 'atlas' mapping key performance figures has been prepared, and is to be published shortly. The next meeting of the Forum will provide an opportunity for members to debate with regional partners some of the critical factors contributing to poor performance, such as delayed discharges from hospital (bed-blocking) and staff shortages.

Bin brief…

Government reshuffle - The post-election reorganisation in Government has split regional responsibilities three ways. The minister directly responsible for regional assemblies is now Nick Raynsford, in the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. RDAs now come under the DTI, headed by Patricia Hewitt, while Government Regional Offices come under Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the Cabinet Office. The latter will oversee the publication of a Green Paper on English Regions later this year.

Arts Council - A second draft of the Arts Council's reorganisation plans is expected to be published soon. In the meantime the Executive agreed to impress upon the new Culture Minister Tessa Jowell our concerns that the regional voice should be properly represented at the national level in arts development.

Local elections - The political balance of the Assembly has not changed sufficiently to affect the allocation of local government seats on Assembly committees. The distribution of political party places therefore remains as follows:

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Last updated: 21 August 2007