§ The Minister for Industry and the Regions (Jacqui Smith)I have published the Regional Development Agencies' reported Tier 3 outputs for 2002–03. These impressive figures are evidence of how the RDAs are making a concrete difference in every region. The figures cover the creation and safeguarding of jobs, amount of brownfield land brought back into use, numbers of businesses added to the regional economies and the number of learning opportunities. These results, which are in line with their challenging targets are testimony to the hard work and commitment of staff working in RDAs and their regional partners.
Also published today are the results of regional surveys of stakeholders' perception of RDAs' performance, which were conducted by MORI, on the behalf of DTI. These results show that although RDAs are relatively new organisations their stakeholders are generally satisfied with their performance and feel that they are addressing the right priorities. The majority of stakeholders thought that RDAs have been successful at developing coherent Regional Economic Strategies and working effectively as lead partners to deliver regional initiatives. The surveys also highlighted the need for RDAs to work harder to communicate clearly what they are trying to achieve and to publicise their activities better.
Press releases on the Tier 3 outputs and the regional surveys results have been issued in each region. Copies of these press releases, the regional survey reports and the Tier 3 output figures for 2003–03 have been placed 43WS in the Libraries. MORI's reports on the regional surveys have also been placed on Government office websites. Links to the reports and more information about the RDAs and their performance is available on the DTI website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/rda/info/index.htm.