RDA CORPORATE PLANS FOR 2005-08

TASKING FRAMEWORK

Introduction

1.1       Under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998, each of England’s Regional Development Agencies has the following statutory purposes:

            ·                    to further the economic development and the regeneration of its region;

            ·                    to promote business efficiency, investment and competitiveness in its region;

            ·                    to promote employment in its region;

            ·                    to enhance the development and application of skills relevant to employment in its region,

                        and

            ·                    to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in the UK where it is relevant to

                        its region to do so.

1.2      These purposes apply as much in relation to the rural parts of each region as in relation to the non-rural parts.

1.3      The London Development Agency (LDA) is a functional body of the Greater London Authority reporting to the Mayor of London. Unlike other RDAs, the powers to direct the LDA are invested in the Mayor not the Secretary of State. The Mayor sets the context for the LDA’s work through his Economic Development Strategy (EDS), sets the Agency’s targets and approves its Corporate Plan. Because Government provides the LDA’s funding, it needs enough information to inform funding decisions and reach a considered view as to how the LDA is performing compared to RDAs elsewhere. It therefore attaches conditions to its funding in an annual grant offer letter. This specifies that the LDA will prepare a Corporate Plan in accordance, so far as practicable, with this guidance, that the Secretary of State will have an opportunity to comment on the draft and will agree the key performance targets in the Corporate Plan. The Mayor and Government also agree a Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the LDA, based on the national framework, which makes information available to central government as well as the GLA, without cutting across London’s devolved governance arrangements.