Building Communities: Strategy & Policy
The Regional Economic Strategy sets out what the NWDA needs to
do to support communities in the Northwest.
Regional Economic Strategy
Everything we do is set out in the Regional Economic Strategy.
The NWDA is responsible for turning the strategy into reality,
which is a complex task. We need to be clear what the strategy is
for and to make sure it fulfils its aims.
To make our job more manageable, the strategy is split up into
bite-size chunks. Building Communities is covered by the People
& Jobs section. (The others are Business, Skills &
Education, Infrastructure and Quality of Life.)
Within the People & Jobs section of the Regional Economic
Strategy, we have a number of jobs to do. We are involved in:
leadership and management training, including LEAD and mentoring;
Train to Gain; higher level skills; key sector training and
employability.
We are currently developing a new single strategy for the region
called RS2010.
Equality Strategy Group
The NWDA has representatives on the Equality Strategy Group,
alongside 4NW, the GONW, the Equality & Human Rights Commission
and the Chair of the Northwest Equality & Diversity Group.
Regional Equality & Diversity Strategy
The NWDA is responsible for delivering the "Economic
Participation for All" strand of the Northwest Equality &
Diversity Strategy. We do this through our Single Equality
Scheme.
We have published a Northwest Equality & Diversity Strategy
Review, which includes our plan for future activity until 2010.
Single Equality Scheme
To tackle equality and economic inclusion issues, the NWDA has
developed a Single Equality Scheme, which is our framework for
mainstream equality and diversity for our projects, programmes,
policies, processes and procedures as well as our behaviours. It
covers: race; disability; gender (incorporating transgender); age;
sexual orientation; and religion or belief.
Rural Strategy & Policy
Our new rural policy: Building on Potential in our Rural Areas
supports the Regional Economic Strategy by focusing on the economic
potential of the rural Northwest.
The Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Farming & Food
supports the development of a sustainable farming and food industry
through four key themes: a more effective food chain; healthy
communities; managing the environment; and investing in the
future.
The NWDA is responsible for the delivery of the strategy in the
Northwest and we have devised Farming & Food policy: Inspire -
Connecting Farming and Food in England’s Northwest.
The work is supported by a private sector-led Sustainable
Farming & Foods Influencing Group, a Rural Strategy Group, the
Northwest Rural Affairs Forum and the Government’s Regional Rural
Delivery Framework.
Food & Drink Strategy
Food policy is becoming more important because of issues such
as: security and resilience of supply; affordability and
accessibility; and environmental sustainability of supply chains.
This work is guided by the Northwest Food & Drink Strategy,
which was prepared by Food Northwest.
Tourism
Rural tourism is covered by the region’s Strategy for Tourism in
England’s Northwest.
Evidence Base
A strong evidence base better informs policy development and
implementation decisions through: undertaking primary research and
feasibility work; analysing and reviewing existing data; and
engaging with key stakeholders.
The evidence base supporting the Single Equality Scheme focuses
on research in the areas of: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people; disabled people and female leaders.
We have undertaken research which looks at the economic
participation and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people within the region. The report on this research
will be published in November 2009, and will be launched at the
second Regional Equality and Diversity Conference that month.
We are commissioning a similar piece of work focusing on
economic participation of disabled people in the region, which is
for completion in early 2010. We are also setting up a Women and
Work Taskforce, which will be looking at how we can develop more
female leaders in the region. The Taskforce report will be
published in spring 2010. Both will be launched at the conference
in November.