All RDAs across England are closing by March 2012
(see transition and closure section).
With our resources reducing steadily, this page has not been recently updated and the information below may not be current.
If in doubt, please contact us directly.
South West RDA confirms scale of budget reductions
29 June 2010
The South West RDA confirms today (Tuesday June 29) that it will
receive a reduction of around 20 per cent in its budget for the
current financial year as a result of the Government’s spending
cuts, announced in May.
The programme budget for projects and initiatives across the
region has been cut from £142,482m for 2009/10 to £114,686m -
a reduction of £27,796m, or almost 20 per cent. This is in addition
to the £2.3m cut in ‘back office’ costs which also need to be made
this year.
The Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS)
has confirmed that the South West will be one of four regions to
bear a greater proportion of the reduction in RDA funding
nationally, relative to their original budgets.
Jane Henderson, chief executive at the South West RDA, said: “We
have understood for some time that these cuts were coming but have
only now received confirmation of how they will be apportioned
across the country.
“The majority of the £28m cut in our programme budget will be
managed by delaying existing work or reducing some of our planned
investments. As a point of principle, we will not unilaterally
break any existing contracts.
“We will now have to review our investments with our partners
and expect that this exercise will be completed in the next few
weeks.
“We still have more than £114m this financial year to invest in
the economy, and we will continue to work with businesses, local
authorities and other partners to ensure our investments have the
maximum impact on the region.”
The announcement comes on the same day that the Government has
confirmed plans to replace RDAs with Local Economic Partnerships
(LEPs), and announced the launch of a Regional Growth Fund.
Further details will be set out in a White Paper to be published
later in the summer. The Government is seeking outline proposals
from partnerships of local authorities and businesses before
September 6 on how they wish to form the new LEPs.
Jane Henderson continues: “Today’s announcement gives a broad
framework, but there is still a range of important detail to be
clarified.
“There is uncertainty over precisely which work will be carried
out locally, which nationally and which not at all, while it is not
clear how future arrangements will be funded. The Regional Growth
Fund, for example, seems to be targeted at ‘areas particularly
affected by cuts in public spending’, which may or may not include
the whole of the South West.
“Local authorities and business leaders now have the opportunity
to propose where and how LEPs should be created. We are keen to
work closely with these key partners to help them understand
functions, projects and activities, which we currently manage and
deliver, to ensure this transition is handled efficiently and for
the maximum benefit of local and regional economies."
For media enquiries, contact Paul Harris at the South West RDA
on 01392 229589 / paul.harris@southwestrda.org.uk
or James Harper on 01392 229547 / james.harper@southwestrda.org.uk
Notes to editor
The South West RDA works for and promotes a modern, stronger and
more resilient economy across South West England. Our work involves
creating better jobs, successful businesses, more prosperous
cities, towns and villages within an economy that uses less carbon
and will still be thriving in 20, 50 and 100 years time. More
information can be found at www.southwestrda.org.uk
The table below shows how cuts are apportioned across the
country (excluding London). It does not take account of the £23m
that the nine RDAs (including London) have to find from their
administration budgets.
| RDA |
Budget (£000) |
Prorata reduction (based on CSR 07 allocation
£000) |
Cut (£000) |
Revised budget 2010/11 (£000) |
Percentage cut |
| AWM |
199,674 |
41,204 |
37,083 |
162,590 |
18.57 |
| EEDA |
101,910 |
19,418 |
23,325 |
78,585 |
22.89 |
| EMDA |
124,285 |
23,563 |
28,305 |
95,980 |
22.77 |
| NWDA |
286,688 |
57,821 |
52,039 |
234,649 |
18.15 |
| ONE |
219,988 |
36,590 |
32,931 |
187,057 |
14.97 |
| SEEDA |
124,641 |
23,519 |
23,251 |
96,390 |
22.67 |
| SWRDA |
142,482 |
23,140 |
27,796 |
114,686 |
19.51 |
| Yorkshire Forward |
214,645 |
11,745 |
40,270 |
174,375 |
18.76 |
| Total |
1,414,313 |
270,000 |
270,000 |
1,144,312 |
|