New Institutional Spaces: TECs and the Remaking of Economic Governance (Regions and Cities)

Since the beginning of the 1980s, Britain has experienced a series of changes in its economic governance aimed at reviving the economy on a regional and national scale, and removing the increasing welfare burden on the government through state or state-encouraged investment in training. Using as an example the construction, implementation and role of one of the innovations of this period, the Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs), the author puts economic governance into context. He argues that the objectives of the state and employers are in conflict, and that institutional change is driven by short-term political imperatives and not the long-term skills needs of regional and local economies.