All Inclusive? Third sector involvement in regional and sub-regional policymaking

Regions and sub-regions play an important, if often unseen, role in policymaking. Influential decisions linked to regeneration, planning, housing, economic development and the allocation of European funding are all taken at these levels by a complex web of quangos and partnerships.

Both the Government and the opposition have emphasised the part that the third sector should play in influencing policymakers generally. This report considers the third sector's role as a key stakeholder in decision-making at the regional and sub-regional level, with a particular focus on economic development. It paints a broad-brush picture of engagement between policymakers and the third sector, depicting some of the challenges and opportunities. It concludes with a set of practical recommendations, both for the third sector and for the public sector, for more effective engagement.