The meeting, held at the Cabinet Office in London, brought together the ministers for the English regions as well as the ministers for Scotland and Wales to look at what help the regions need and what Whitehall can do to provide it.
Barbara Follett, minister for the East of England said:
"The Government's measures to safeguard commercial investments in British banks and building societies will help to stabilise the financial system and support the long term strength of the economy. The overall aim of these measures is to protect ordinary savers, depositors, businesses and borrowers as well as to safeguard the interests of the taxpayer. "
"As Minister for the East of England it's my job to be a voice for the region in Whitehall and that's what the Council of Regional Ministers is all about - making sure central government knows what the public, business and voluntary organisations in our Region need to get by.
"The Council will help to ensure that the East of England's strategies to cope with the challenges presented by these difficult times are successful. This could involve bringing all parties together to respond quickly to local economic shocks and will help to remove barriers to delivering critical local services and job creation - such as unblocking infrastructure projects delayed by bureaucracy."
The Council of Regional Ministers is chaired by Minister for the Cabinet Office Liam Byrne and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper. It will meet every two weeks and will feed its findings up to the National Economic Council, which was set up by the Prime Minister earlier this month.
Background
The CRM was announced by the Prime Minister on 3 October and met for the first time today, 16 October.
The Council of Regional Ministers (CRM) will meet regularly to:
- discuss common issues and take action where appropriate including making recommendations to the Regional Economic Council (REC) and National Economic Council (NEC)
- act as a conduit to the NEC and REC for information gathered by Regional Ministers as part of their work in their region and
- facilitate the dissemination of key messages by Regional Ministers, including from the National and Regional Economic Councils.
The CRM will be co-chaired by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Chief Secretary of the Treasury and the deputy chairs will be the Minister of State, Communities and Local Government and the Minister of State, Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. All Regional Ministers will be members, as Ministers representing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Council's remit will be to:
- help ensure that the work of key regional public sector bodies is properly coordinated to address short term challenges and opportunities
- disseminate key messages for Regional Ministers to use in their discussions in the regions. This will include the narrative agreed by the NEC and
- act as a conduit to the NEC and REC, for information generated by Regional Ministers' work in their region. Regional Ministers will of course continue to raise specific issues bilaterally with Departments in the normal way.
