Advantage West Midlands has announced a review of all its
projects - as a result of the recession, reduction in resources and
knowledge gained from a recent independent evaluation of its
activity.
The message, already shared with key stakeholders and projects,
reflects the Agency's need to update its three-year Corporate Plan,
which details how the Agency will contribute to the West Midlands
Economic Strategy.
Mick Laverty, Chief Executive of Advantage West Midlands,
said:
"The economic climate has deteriorated dramatically since we
published our Corporate Plan in May 2008 and a number of
significant factors have impacted on our funding capacity"
"We have had to re-prioritise plans in order to re-direct
resources toward responding to the immediate pressures facing
businesses in the region - starting with a £64 million
package of support. The support package included the
establishment of a transition loan fund for business, a grant
scheme for property developers and providing more funds for our
Manufacturing Advisory Service and Business Link network.
"Government have cut our budget by over £48 million and we
are anticipating further cuts next year when they announce the
results of their comprehensive spending review (CSR 2010).
"We have reduced our estimate of the land and property receipts
we will be able to generate in the current climate by £21m
and may have to reduce this further.
"The Government's evaluation of RDAs, published in March 2009,
showed that Advantage West Midlands will deliver £7.45 of
benefit to the region for every £1 we have spent. The
evaluation provides valuable information about which types of
projects give the best return, and Government have asked us to use
this to prioritise activities which provide the maximum impact in
the short and medium term.
"All these factors mean we must now review and revise our
Corporate Plan.
"We remain committed to working alongside our partners to secure
the future economic prosperity of the region. Any partner
with a contract already in place with us will not be affected, we
have sufficient resources to cover all of our current commitments.
But it is crucial we focus our resources where they can have the
greatest impact.
"Now more than ever we need to make every penny count. I remain
optimistic about what can be achieved with our collective
resources."
Partners will be written to by the end of June, earlier if
possible, to share the outcomes of the review.
In the meantime, Advantage West Midlands will keep partners
updated on the status of their project(s) as decisions are made
and, where appropriate, are committed to working in partnership to
identify alternative sources of support.