19 January 2007
England's eight regional development agencies spent more than £5m last year running offices overseas, leading a senior Conservative MP to call them inefficient and wasteful.
The RDAs claim that the offices, which are in a number of European countries as well as the US, Japan, China and India, are necessary to attract foreign investment.
But Tory MP Julie Kirkbride told Public Finance these were in addition to trade missions run through embassies — and in many cases each RDA had an office in the same country. 'Money is being spent on effectively duplicating UK Plc's presence in other countries. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has an office,' she said.
'What most of the RDAs are doing at the coal face is competing with one another rather than selling UK Plc.'
Spending figures given to Kirkbride by the Department of Trade and Industry show that in both Japan and the US, English RDAs maintain five separate offices, costing £1.2m and £2.5m respectively in 2005/06. In both China and Australia, there are four separate offices, although in the former these are shared between seven RDAs.
In a number of other countries, two or three RDAs shared an office, but the two RDAs representing Southeast and Southwest England had no shared arrangements.
A spokesman for the Southwest England Development Agency told PF that although it did not share offices with other RDAs, some of its overseas offices shared facilities with businesses while others were run from staff's own homes.
Advantage West Midlands spent the most money — £1.1m — maintaining its eight overseas offices, half of which were shared. But a spokesman said this was 'money well spent' as it had led to high levels of foreign investment. He believed RDAs' work with foreign companies was responsible for creating or safeguarding more than 6,000 jobs in 2005/06.
Trade and Industry Secretary Margaret Hodge told Parliament on January 11 that the UK Trade and Investment department was reviewing RDAs' representation and effectiveness overseas.
PFjan2007
