B54: Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 – what does it mean for regeneration, economic development and governance?

The first spending and finance review of the Brown Premiership brought a range of revenue and delivery commitments across government departments. Some sectors such as transport benefited significantly from the Spending Review and associated Pre-Budget report, whilst others such as employment fared less well.

Upon reflection, the spending commitments, strategy and delivery policy for regeneration, economic development and governance are somewhat of a mixed bag. Commitments in regeneration such as the more deprivation and geographically focused Working Neighbourhoods Fund have been offset by a failure to commit funding to the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative beyond its current cycle. Similarly, reductions in the number of and a more locally focused set of Performance Indicators for local authorities have not been complemented by a reduction in the complexity surrounding national Level Public Service Agreements.

This bulletin aims to describe and analyse the contents of the Comprehensive Spending Review and in particular assess the implications of its commitments at the local level with regard to:

• What it means for regeneration;
• What it means for economic development;
• What it means for governance.