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Regional Economic Council

Aim

The Regional Economic Council (REC) has been established to ensure that the issues and concerns of each region are heard and acted upon across Government. The Council is co-chaired by the Chancellor and Secretary of State for BIS with membership including Departmental Ministers, Regional Ministers, Regional Development Agency Chairs, representatives from Local Authorities, business and trade unions.

Announcement on the Regional Economic Council

The NEC press notice states:

A Regional Economic Council will be established to ensure that the issues and concerns of each region are heard and acted upon across Government. The Regional Economic Council will bring together Regional Ministers with RDA chairs and representatives of business and trade unions to meet quarterly chaired by the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Objectives

  • To share concerns from regions and their businesses on any issues affecting regional economies, and to feed this into Government so that it can inform national policy responses.
  • To galvanise regional actors to take coordinated actions required to deal with economic issues impacting on the national economy and protecting and promoting jobs and skills;
  • To provide a mechanism for discussion of key thematic issues, regional prioritisation and delivery responses.
  • To inform the work of the National Economic Council (NEC) and to consider actions relating to the economy discussed at the Council of Regional Ministers (CRM)

Relationship between the NEC, REC and CRM

We expect the NEC to influence the communications work of the CRM. The REC will be the outward facing Council, involving non-governmental parties who can feed in perspectives from the bottom up, and a sounding board for Government and the forum for review of policy. It will discuss actions from the NEC and CRM and feedback views of its members to the NEC.

National Economic Council

The REC is closely connected to the National Economic Council providing a quarterly update from the REC to the NEC, covering activity and feedback from the regions on the economy, and updates from recent NEC discussions to each REC.

Council of Regional Ministers

The CRM is a forum that feeds into the NEC and supports the REC. As well as communications, we expect the focus of the CRM to be one of overseeing delivery of national economic priorities in the regions. An oversight role will reduce the potential overlap on cross-cutting policies and that of existing Ministerial responsibilities.

Regional Ministers chair advisory groups in each region to ensure local economic leadership structures allow them to engage with key regional stakeholders from business, local authorities, RDAs and others.

Timing

The REC meets quarterly.

Secretariat

Joint secretariat run jointly by BIS and HMT.

Angela Latta, BIS, 020 7215 5495
Juliet Chua, HMT, 020 7270 4790

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