National and Regional Consultation - Our Responses

Part of our role as the East Midlands Area Policy Unit is to respond to national and regional consultation exercises.  The Government, national bodies and regional organisations regularly issue consultation documents on all aspects of policy and strategy. 

In the past we have been consulted on issues such as transport, planning, the economy and education.  If a proposed policy or strategy will impact on small businesses in the East Midlands, we will submit a written response expressing the views and opinions of our members. 

Our responses to these consultation exercises help us to lobby publicly-funded bodies for change that will benefit small businesses.  You can view our responses to some of these consultation exercises below. 

East Midlands Skills Strategy (EMSS)

The East Midlands Development Agency (emda) produced a draft East Midlands Skills Strategy (EMSS) in May this year.  This draft strategy outlines a number of measures for developing the skills of employed, unemployed and young people.

We submitted a response to the consultation on the EMSS on 28 June 2010 and we have called for:

• Better links between school, further and higher education curriculums to give young people a set of core skills and behaviours they will need for the workplace (eg. literacy, numeracy, IT, communication, planning and initiative)
• More shorter training courses which are delivered in a flexible way to minismise disruption to the business
• More accredited units/modules of training so that businesses can pick and choose which modules will best meet the needs of their business and enable businesses to 'build their own' qualification
• Less focus on priority industrial sectors and more focus on providing small and medium sized businesses with the skills and know-how to improve and develop their business

Click on the images below to see our full response and to read a copy of the draft strategy.

Our Response to the Consultation on the East Midlands Skills Strategy (June 2010)	Draft East Midlands Skills Strategy (May 2010)

Network Rail - East Midlands Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS)

In August 2009 Network Rail began a 12-week consultation exercise on their draft

East Midlands Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS).  This strategy considers the capacity and demand for rail services across the East Midlands, and outlines several options to improve the rail network between 2009 and 2019. 

The East Midlands Area Policy Unit submitted a response to the consultation in November 2009.  We called for:

• Electrification of rail routes across the East Midlands
• Lengthened trains to reduce overcrowding 
• Revisions to the track layout at Derby to ease congestion and delays
• Immediate line improvements at Newark
• Co-ordination of train timetables with flight arrival and departure timetables to aid business travel

Download a copy of our response to Network Rail

Sub-national Review of Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR)

In the 2006 Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government would undertake a review of how economic development and regeneration was organised and delivered across the English regions.  This review became known as the Sub-national Review (SNR).

The Government published their findings from the review in July 2007.  The Government then produced a consultation document called 'Prosperous Places: Taking Forward the Review'. In June 2008, the East Midlands Area Policy Unit submitted a written response.

The SNR led to the development of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill.  In August 2009, the Government consulted on two particular aspects of the Bill: the development of the new single integrated Regional Strategy, and the establishment of the Local Authority Leaders' Boards.  Again, we submitted a response, outlining the views of FSB members.  The Bill became law in November 2009 when it received Royal Assent.  Click on the images below to see how we responded to the Government's proposals:

East Midlands Regional Select Committee

The East Midlands Regional Select Committee is a Parliamentary Committee of five Labour MPs from constituencies within the East Midlands.  It was created on 1 January 2009, and it's remit is to conduct investigative reviews on policy and administration in the East Midlands.  The Regional Select Committee has the power to hold any publicly-funded body in the East Midlands to account.  

On 2 April 2009 the Regional Select Committee began their first inquiry on the 'East Midlands Development Agency and the Regional Economic Strategy'.

The East Midlands Area Policy Unit gave evidence to the Regional Select Committee at an Oral Session on 22 May 2009.  We also submitted two written documents, outlining the opinions of FSB members, which you can download here:

East Midlands Area Policy Unit Written Submission (May 2009)

East Midlands Area Policy Unit Supplementary Evidence (June 2009)