The Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) launches its State of the Nation: Devolution report.
The report makes the following key recommendations:
- To ensure effective outcomes, the devolution process should be more coherent: accountability and leadership are essential but models to achieve it should not be imposed
- Central government should provide advice on the devolution submission process in England to ensure high quality devolution proposals that deliver the most effective outcomes
- Authorities seeking a devolution deal should demonstrate a clear model for leadership and accountability
- It is important to understand the infrastructure needed to help shape devolution’s new economic geographies
- Regional strategies should be developed to identify infrastructure need, ensuring the devolution of infrastructure policy in England is most effective
- Appropriate approaches to identify infrastructure need should be developed in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
- Skills are critical to delivering infrastructure-driven growth
- Regional infrastructure pipelines should be developed to identify upcoming projects and provide foresight on skills requirements
- Devolution settlements should ensure a joined-up approach to skills provision to deliver future infrastructure
- New powers should be matched by greater control over funding and financing
- Devolution settlements should include access to flexible but prudential approaches to attracting investment for infrastructure
- A systems approach to managing the linkages between infrastructure sectors is essential
- A systems approach should be adopted when developing regional infrastructure strategies to ensure that resilience planning is robust
- Future devolution agreements should include funding provision for digital infrastructure to enable a collaborative approach to systems and information management that benefits service users
- The overall aim of devolution should be improved quality of life and sustainability
- Devolution settlements should prioritise improving both quality of life and the environment alongside driving economic growth
Links to the full report and animation video.
