RDAs Not Feeding Grassroots, say Business Leaders

11 August 2005

England’s Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) need to do more to encourage enterprise and communicate better with local businesses, a survey released today claims. Less than a third of companies understand the role of RDAs, and only 8% felt that their local RDA actually understood the needs of their business, according to the NOP poll of 500 members of the Institute of Directors (IoD). 

Mike Harris, Business Policy Adviser at the IoD, said:

“Many of our regional offices have excellent relations with their respective RDAs and have collaborated on a range of very beneficial projects. Moreover, for some IoD members RDA funding has made a significant difference to their business’s prospects. However, it remains apparent from our survey that the Agencies are yet to make much impression on most businesses at grassroots level.”

The findings of the survey - contained in a new IoD report, Transforming England’s regions? A business view of the Regional Development Agencies – suggest the RDAs face significant challenges. With comparatively limited budgets their remits appear to be too wide and the variations in regional economic performance they attempt to counter historically long-standing.

Ultimately, the conditions necessary for the stimulation of economic growth in England’s regions, and the sustenance of an entrepreneurial culture, will remain most dependent on the Government maintaining macroeconomic stability, regulating lightly and keeping taxation simple and relatively low, the report argues.

Mike Harris, said:

“The RDAs’ interventions, from regeneration projects to business grants, can be valuable. To increase their impact, though, they need a tighter focus on regional business priorities, concentrating on practical initiatives to support and encourage entrepreneurs. They also need to initiate more urgent work to raise businesses’ understanding of their role and responsibilities.”