In the United Kingdom, a regional development agency (RDA) was a non-departmental public body established for the purpose of development, primarily economic, of one of England's Government Office regions. There was one RDA for each of the NUTS level 1 regions of England. Similar activities were carried out in Wales by the Welsh Government Department of Economy and Transport, in Northern Ireland by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and in Scotland by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
In June 2010 the UK government announced plans to abolish the RDAs on 31 March 2012, with a view to future economic development being undertaken by local enterprise partnerships (LEPs). There was no direct replacement for the RDAs and the LEPs do not receive any funding from central government, in contrast to the substantial budgets administered by the RDAs.
Read more about Regional Development Agency: Background, Funding, Structure, Operation, Abolition and Replacement, List
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