Policy Review Section

Abstract

This issue of the Policy Review Section contains a single major article by Bob McKean of the consultancy firm PEIDA and Andrew Coulson of the Institute of Local Government Studies. It reviews the role of enterprise boards and focuses in particular on their investment activities. In recent years enterprise boards have been set up by various local authorities as a response to high levels of unemployment and economic decline and the perceived failure of central government policies to tackle these problems. Enterprise boards may be defined as economic development companies established by local authorities to provide a focus for some or all of their economic development initiatives. They were primarily established as a response to what was regarded as the failure of the financial institutions to service adequately the requirements of local companies in terms of their need for long-term development capital. Each of the enterprise boards has established its own distinctive approach and range of activities. One common theme, however, is the rejection of the approach of promoting one region against another, emphasizing instead a catalytic role in forging links between the skills and resources of the local community and the expertise and finance of the private sector. The track record of enterprise boards over the past five years has led to praise from senior politicians in all the major parties. Indeed they are seen by some as having a potentially important role to play in a future national economic and industrial strategy which starts from the premise that economic revival must build upon the existing industrial base and workforce in the regions through the injection of long-term development finance, the introduction of best practice new technology and the provision of quality training.