Manchester Family/Centre of Excellence
To fulfil its economic development and regeneration functions, two Manchester Family limited companies, namely New Economy and Manchester Investment and Development Agency Services (MIDAS), have been transferred as wholly owned subsidiaries to the GMCA. The economic development and regeneration functions included in the GMCA budget for 2012/13 are the provision of core funding to New Economy and MIDAS, and to Marketing Manchester.
There are three Centres of Excellence, borne out of a significant restructuring of the Manchester Family of agencies in 2010/11. They are as follows:
- New Economy, specialising in research, strategy, evaluation and performance management, including employment and skills;
- MIDAS / Manchester Solutions, specialising in business growth, trade and inward investment;
- Marketing
Two strategic boards – Business Growth, Trade and Inward Investment and Marketing, Communications and tourism are in place to oversee the activity relevant to their respective Centres of Excellence. For the Research Centre of Excellence, strategic direction comes directly from the GM LEP who also take responsibility for performance management of the Centres of Excellence.
Company Boards for the four component organisations of the Manchester Family – Marketing Manchester, MIDAS, New Economy and Manchester Solutions – are also in place. These Boards meet company law requirements and take responsibility for discharging company accounts and scrutinising budgets, alongside the GMCA which also receives a quarterly financial forecast from Marketing Manchester, MIDAS and the New Economy.
