A Joint Proposal for an Economic Development Learning Network from LGiU/Lepu

1.         Introduction: Why a Learning Network?  

The Policy Context

Economic development and regeneration are areas of growing responsibility for local government. They are large and complex areas (so much so that we need two different, but overlapping terms to cover it all), encompassing activities like support for enterprise and growth, skills training, action on worklessness, and the physical development and regeneration of regions, towns, and neighbourhoods  – but also a lot more. They cross over into other core local government functions like planning. They also involve collaboration and partnership working with businesses, the third sector, and various statutory national bodies, and  linking policy on place shaping with policy on labour markets to ensure local residents benefit from growth in the economy. At heart, local economic development is about securing the livelihoods and working lives of local people both now and for the future.

Considerable responsibilities and new powers for economic development are currently attaching to local government. For example, the Government has enlisted local government collaboration and support in its plans for welfare reform and its drive to tackle worklessness. The Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF), meant to provide resources to local authorities to tackle worklessness and low levels of skills and enterprise in deprived areas, now forms a distinct element of the new Area Based Grant. CLG has allocated about £50m as a reward fund to deprived areas that have agreed relevant LAA targets. The Government's City Strategy Pathfinder programme is meant to link up local provision, particularly employment and skills provision, to maximise the opportunities available to people in the most disadvantaged areas.  In tackling worklessness, Multi-Area Agreements, meant to drive economic development at sub-regional level more generally, could be a preferred route to empower local partners. 

In the White Paper: Raising Expectations: Enabling the System to Deliver the Government announced its intention of transferring funding for 16-19 education and training from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to local authorities’ education budgets. Although the budgets will be ring-fenced, the proposed reforms will restore to local authorities an important relationship with FE colleges after more than 15 years. They will give councils a clear strategic lead for 14-19 education and training, enabling integration of provision between schools, colleges and employers. The commissioning of provision will require sub-regional partnerships working, and, again, such groupings could develop from MAAs.

There are proposals to enlarge the resources available to local government in pursuing economic development. Prominent amongst these is the proposed Supplementary Business Rate set out in a White Paper accompanying CSR07 which urged local authorities to ‘ensure that economic development is central to their mission and their policies to improve well-being in their areas'. A supplementary business rate could build on a prototype already successfully established through Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

In the document:  Prosperous Places: Taking Forward the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR) the Government has made clear its intention to devolve more responsibility for economic development to local government, which will work in close partnership with Regional Development Agencies. The proposals include a statutory duty to produce an economic assessment. It is also proposed that RDAs will delegate funding on a programme basis (as opposed to a project-by-project basis) for economic development and regeneration, although  RDAs will need to ensure that capacity exists at local authority or sub-regional partnership level.

The Benefits of a Learning Network

The context set out above demonstrates the need to improve and enhance local government capacity in order to safeguard funding and to secure the economic potential of local communities. A learning network creates a unique opportunity for capacity building by bringing together local authority practitioners and elected members into contact with experts and academics delivered through the networks described below. It offers a flexible, participatory, and interactive form of learning, of which an important element is the exchange of knowledge and the embedding of good practice derived through the experience of participating members. Participants will shape the form and content according to their own current or emerging priorities.

2.         The Learning Network – Who Will Deliver it ?

The learning network will be delivered in partnership by the Local government Information Unit (LGiU) and the Local Economy Policy Unit (Lepu).

The Local Government Information Unit is an independent research and information organisation. It represents the interests of local authorities by providing practical, independent advice, resources and training.  Its core mission is to strengthen local democracy and community engagement and promote innovation in local public services. Its 140 affiliates reflect the local government landscape by authority type and control.

The LGiU’s team of policy analysts are experts in their field. They are able to analyse and interpret national policy changes and legislation, and provide rapid and practical advice on the implications for individual local authorities. Similarly, its publications,  events, and briefings give an insight into what's happening, and what's important. Among other services, it runs the Skills, Training, Economy, Environment, and Training (STEER) subscription service.

The LGIU has a proven track-record in running learning networks, in delivering different types of seminars and events and in promoting the achievements of its members. It works with councils in a number of ways to develop capacity, for example:

·        Policy Projects: a Carbon Trading Councils scheme has 40 members trading on a live trading platform and taking part in a supporting learning network.

·        Learning Networks: such as the year-long Neighbourhood Management network (sponsored by CLG) and the Tackling Extremism network for London Councils

·        Learning and Development: the LGiU has run many training projects for councils (e.g. Croydon, Northampton, Bromsgrove) in topics like scrutiny, engagement, partnerships, and finance.

The Local Economy Policy Unit (Lepu) has been a vital national resource in local economic development since the early 1980s. It runs a seminar programme, undertakes research, and publishes the journal Local Economy, a unique publication that combines peer-reviewed academic research with contributions from practitioners reporting on cutting-edge development in the field. 

Based at London South Bank University (LSBU), Lepu is able to draw on academic expertise in physical regeneration, planning, and the social sciences both within the university and across the UK. It has long standing international networks through which good practice in both the organisational aspects of economic development interventions, and the development of programmes and policies can be collated and disseminated to inform the UK situation. These networks include the European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA) with its network of over 150 development agencies across the European Union, the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme which operates globally, and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) based in Washington DC. Additionally, Lepu has an established research partnership with the Real Estate Institute at New York University and has established teaching links with the Jean Moulin University in Lyon. These international links, generating insights from many countries, could add considerable value to the proposed learning network

Lepu can offer a strong academic contribution to the content of the learning network, with the potential to contribute to a programme of continuous professional development. Lepu, with LSBU, will shortly launch a new MA in Cities and Development from which individual units or parts of units could be accessible through the learning network.

Lepu, like the LGiU, has a proven capability of running a wide range of differently- styled events, from short seminars to extended conferences.

The network will be facilitated by David Walburn and Andrew Jones. David Walburn is the Director of Lepu and formerly Chief Executive of Greater London Enterprise (GLE), where he continues as a policy adviser (GLE is an economic and enterprise development company owned by all London boroughs, although it has received no public subsidy since 1986). He is a founding member and former president of EURADA (where he continues to lead on SME finance) and a member of the IEDC’s International Committee in Washington DC. Andrew Jones is an associate consultant with Lepu and a part-time policy analyst with the LGiU. He has over fifteen years of experience in economic development gathered in the Employment Department, Training and Enterprise Councils, and a number of commercial consultancies. Initially a labour market and skills specialist, his expertise has broadened to include urban regeneration, neighbourhoods and governance, and sustainability. 

3.         The Learning Network – How Will it Work ?

This proposal is for a collaborative learning network of, and for, elected members and officers of local authorities.

The participation of other partners (RDAs, Business Link, Chambers of Commerce, etc), in various capacities, could be negotiated.   

An initial programme of events could take place on a roughly five-weekly cycle running over a period of 12-13 months. The events could consist of exchanging practice and knowledge, together with 1-2 external speakers. Because of its networks and contacts, Lepu is ideally placed to select the most creative and stimulating experts, practitioners and consultants to contribute their ideas, although LGiU/Lepu will occasionally act as external contributors. LGiU/Lepu will mostly act as facilitators, gathering and summarising materials and distributing them among participants.  The location of events would rotate around various parts of the country.

At the end, participants could divide into policy-themes, each running through a similar five-weekly cycle, although perhaps of shorter overall duration. Up to three work-themes at this later stage could be run concurrently. The precise content of the work-themes could be decided with the initial participants, although some suggestions are made below. Participants could drop out at the end of the first cycle, or buy into any number of the concurrent work-themes .  

We anticipate the precise content of events will evolve in response to suggestions from participants. However, an initial sketch of the first cycle of events is set out below.

Sessions 1-6: these could cover the processes of economic assessment, strategy formulation, monitoring, and evaluation. As indicated above, the format will consist of participants exchanging information with contributions from guest speakers. Some cutting–edge examples of data analysis and interpretation will be presented.

Indicative Content:

Session 1: Understanding places

Session 2: Data sources and uses

Session 3: Understanding business sectors, modelling and forecasting

Session 4: Beyond growth: capturing well-being indicators

Session 5: Strategy formulation: the rationale for intervention 

Session 6:  Monitoring and evaluation

External contributors at these first 6 events could include Cambridge Econometrics, CURDS (University of Newcastle) Centre for Cities, Trends Business Research, Local Futures, the New Economics Foundation, and National Statistics. 

The remaining 6 sessions could cover various aspects of doing economic development, for example:

Session 7: Tackling worklessness, labour markets and skills   

Session 8:  Business support, start-ups, and SMEs

Session 9: Understanding and supporting business clusters

Session 10: Economic development and environmental sustainability  

Session 11: Neighbourhood renewal and area-based initiatives

Session 12: Community economic development

Contributors to these events could be drawn from the Community Development Foundation, the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR,  Sheffield Hallam University), the Work Foundation, Gavurin, and the Centre for Social Inclusion. Lepu could draw on its international networks to bring expert contributions from the USA or Europe.

Work themes

These could be organised around some of the introductory sessions listed above. For example:

• working with business and business support
• skills, training, and worklessness
• economic development and environmental sustainability
• neighbourhood renewal and area-based regeneration

At these later stages, depending on interest, the programme could be woven in with units or parts of units in LSBU’s  MA on cities and development.