Minister for the North East
In July 2007 Nick Brown was appointed the North East’s first ever Regional Minister. It’s been an opportunity to put the North East, and East Newcastle, at the heart of Government thinking.
The job has meant being the region’s representative within Government – making the case for job opportunities to be based in the area; making sure that local priorities are the guiding factor in Whitehall decision making on schools and housing; and making sure that welcome central decisions such as the Government’s drive to imrove GP’s services are flexible enough to reflect the true wishes and needs of the people who’ll be using those services every day.
But it has also meant being the Government’s representative within the region. Nick has visited skills conferences, voluntary organisations, environmental groups, universities, and much more in between, to make the case for how Government policy can work for them, but also to make sure that where shortcomings are identified they are fed back in to Government.
Nick’s priority as Minister for the North East has been to get the region through the economic downturn. Nick has worked side by side with the private sector and the trade unions to ensure that people are able to keep their jobs and, where that has not been possible, has worked hard with JobCentre Plus and other organisations to make sure people get back into work as soon as they can. The investments of the past decade in skills and training will make this more possible than it would otherwise have been.
Until the economic downturn the North East had the highest growth rates of any English region. Nick is determined not to let that progress go to waste.
You can find all the latest news on what Nick’s been doing as your Regional Minister here.
And you can find a regularly updated list of all Nick’s engagements as Regional Minister here.