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Research Programme

The Research Team within the Policy Directorate exists to supply timely, high quality and accurate data, information and intelligence to both support the strategic need of the Agency and the evidence base needs of the region.

As part of the Business Plan and in line with the Agency’s commitment to rationalise the use of external consultancy, EMB asked the Research Team to take a role in reviewing research proposals and to strengthen its work to remove duplication and improve information sharing across the agency.

This has involved engagement in consultancy procurement, project and strategy development within Agency teams and working to pull together a statement of future requirements across the agency with the aim of taking a strategic view of our research needs, monitor expenditure and improve value for money.

The programme of research has been categorised into the following Regional Economic Chapters and the related research can be accessed via the links below or by using the left hand navigation:-

• Economic
• Business
• Skills and Education
• People and Jobs
• Infrastructure
• Quality of Life

These themes set out our regional priorities and remain the NWDA’s area of focus over the next 12 months. It is constantly changing to reflect research priorities to enhance our understanding of the region.

RES Evidence Base

A core focus of the Regional Intelligence Unit activity over will be to collate the evidence base for the new Regional Economic Strategy 2009. Drawing upon historical, existing and forecasted intelligence this work will stimulate debate and inform discussions between the Agency and regional partners. Activities key to collating the evidence base for this piece of work (additional to the Research Programme) are as follows:

• Forecasting forum
• Pocket databank
• Regional Economic Forecasting Panel
• Area snapshots
• RES Monitoring report

Further details for each of these activities can be found under the economic research pages using the link on the left hand side.