North finds it has no voice

Feb 14 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

CITY leaders have warned “we are being denied a voice at the highest levels” after it emerged Government bodies spending more than £120bn a year have almost no North East representatives.

Research has shown the North is the most under-represented of all regions on the boards of national quangos – the semi-independent bodies responsible for everything from handing out lottery grants to advising on where to build new roads.

London and the South East have the most influence over these increasingly powerful bodies, which are responsible for some 21% of public spending. Researchers at the New Local Government Network (NLGN) think tank said the North East was the worst performing region when it came to having a say in major decisions.

Chris Leslie, director of NLGN, said: “While London and the counties immediately surrounding it are home to over half of all quango board members, there are in contrast vast swathes of England, especially the North East, with apparently no voice on our public bodies.”

The research comes as one super-quango which the region is heavily represented on, the Northern Way, announces it is having to spend £6m on a new evidence-gathering team to ensure its voice is heard at the highest levels. The Northern Way, made up of three regional development agencies, set up the research programme to strengthen the North’s influence over economic policy.

The research group is needed because out of more than 1,000 quango board members surveyed, the North East was found to have just 21 seats.

Newcastle City Council leader John Shipley, who sits on the Northern Way board, said there was a “democratic deficit” effecting the North East. “We are missing out here, our regional voice is not being heard in the corridors of power. The Lyons review urged the Government to move more departments and bodies outside London and the South East and really nothing has been done.

“If they did move these quangos around, it would give a much more English face to the decision-making bodies and make them much less South East focused. The North East is roughly 5% of England’s population and for that we would expect to see at least 5% of the board seats going our way.”

One particular quango the North East should benefit from is the Commission for Integrated Transport.

This advisory group was set up to oversee the Department for Transport and recommend a “strategic direction”.

Yet despite a board consisting of 18 members, none are currently from the North East, while councils from London and South East appear to dominate membership.

A spokeswoman for the group said it had not prevented them “looking effectively at regional transport issues”.

She added: “We make sure that what we consider has a national focus and is not contained to the South East.”

The body set up to oversee quango membership has agreed more has to be done to encourage a greater variety.

Spokeswoman Pamela Cooke said: “While we cannot influence where a body will meet or have its headquarters, one of our key aims is that the boards seek as wide a range of people as possible. It is important that these boards are diverse and while people have to be chosen on their merits, the quangos seeking them should ensure they have as diverse a list as possible applying.”

To read the full NLGN report click here

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Quangos explained

THE vast majority of the quangos surveyed are not just heavily represented by the South, they are located there as well.

While many departments have to be based in the capital, those that can move are reluctant to do so.

The BBC Trust is one group encouraging a move out of the South, with many staff preparing to relocate to Manchester. But for other quangos, the best way to gain influence remains through the few board places available on each.

There are a number of different ways to get on a quango. Sometimes names are put forward by so-called nominating bodies groups, such as trade unions or consumer bodies. Other positions are advertised in national newspapers or on internal websites. And most Government departments will have a list of potential candidates for the increasingly important post. Since Tony Blair promised to consign quangos to the "dustbin of history" they have instead continued to grow, with nearly 900 across the UK, and at least 405 could in theory have representatives from outside London and the South East.

Between them they employ an estimated 30,000 members. The latest official list, the Public Bodies Directory 2006, takes 352 pages to list the many different and obscure bodies.

The New Local Government Network said that with such a large collection and so little outside representation that "voices are heard so rarely that they cannot possibly expect to have their needs advocated effectively".

Chris Leslie, director of NLGN, said: "Looking at England as a whole, within each region there are clear concentrations of power, postcodes which are clearly more likely to produce the ‘great and good’ for seats on quango boards. We suspect that the poorer the area you live in, the less likely you are to climb to the heights of quango board membership."

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Meanwhile, money goes to the wrong Newcastle

THE Government may have to fight to get back more than £2m misspent when Southern civil servants “forgot” where Newcastle upon Tyne is.

A legal battle is looming after Government spending bosses admitted they have spent the last two years confusing Newcastle-under-Lyme with the much larger, and considerably more northern, Newcastle upon Tyne.

The mistake has meant money which could have gone to support schemes such as the Science City research team instead went to form part of an unquestioned increase for the Staffordfordshire council.

Council officials in Newcastle-under-Lyme have received regular instalments of the Business Growth Incentive grants which amounted to £2.7m.

And despite some raised eyebrows at the Staffordshire-based council, which has a population of just 73,944, nobody thought the payments were excessive until Government accountants decided to double-check.

The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) realised earlier this month that it had based its figures on Newcastle upon Tyne, population 270,000.

They then quickly sent a letter to council leaders in Newcastle-under-Lyme asking for the money back – but most of this has already being allocated to town centre businesses.

Council leader Simon Tagg said he had “no intention” of returning the cash.

He said: “I’m flabbergasted that someone could have made this mistake. It’s like when the Government lost those discs.

“The council accepted this money in good faith.

“It was a large amount, but we assumed it was in recognition of the work we have done to encourage business growth in the borough.”

Newcastle (upon Tyne) City Council leader John Shipley said: “It’s not my place to get involved with another council’s business, but I do think DCLG should admit it messed up and let the council keep the money.

“The Government made the mistake, the council should not be punished.

“We have been given a clear commitment that we will get the £2.7m paid to us regardless.”

The Government is hoping to give the Tyneside council a larger grant this March, regardless of the outcome of the Staffordshire dispute.

A spokeswoman for the DCLG said: “This is a regrettable error, and we have taken action to rectify it.

“We are working closely with the councils involved, and are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.”