Hello colleagues
The second North West of England regional conference of EU information
providers took place yesterday (10 November) in Liverpool. The
conference attracted 85 delegates from the NW's "official relays" plus
others from the voluntary sector and local authorities.
After an introduction from Cllr Mike Doyle, Chair of the NW Regional
Chamber, Dorothy Connor from Manchester City Libraries spoke about the
progress made in the region since the first conference last October.
Dorothy is chair of the NW EU Information Co-ordinating Group which was
set up to co-ordinate EU activities and services across the region after
last year's conference. Dorothy described a number of initiatives which
have taken place over the year including the distribution of a regional
audit and proposals for a regional directory, touring exhibition and
exchange of experience scheme.
Alison Hook from the Commission's London office then spoke about the
current issues which need to be put over to the public about the EU.
These included how the EU is striving to raise standards of living,
improve quality of life and provide equal opportunities.
Lynne Charles, Public Affairs Officer at the European Parliament office
in London, then described the new voting system which will come into
place with the next EP elections in the UK on 10 June 1999.
Brian Eaton, Economic Intelligence Officer with the Government Office NW
then spoke about how the Regional Development Agency aims to support EU
activities in the region.
After a quick break (we were running about half an hour behind at this
stage!), Malcolm Hurst who is Vice Chair of the North West Euro Forum
spoke about how the euro will affect businesses in the NW and what the
Forum is doing to keep companies informed. This includes the creation
of a special help-desk at the Euro Info Centre NW in Liverpool.
Gordon Benson, from Industrial Common Ownership Movement, then spoke
about what the voluntary sector does in the NW, concentrating on the
funding which they distribute and the sorts of projects they support.
The final speaker in the morning was Peter Fell from the North West
Regional Chamber who spoke about the information society and the work he
is doing to encourage use of IT in the region.
During the afternoon, delegates went into workshops looking at a range
of subjects reflecting the topics they had heard about in the morning.
Five workshops looked at "Connecting with young people in the region",
"The NW and the euro - keeping businesses informed", "Citizen's voice in
Europe - the European elections", "Access for all - EU information and
IT in the region", "EU information for NGOs". Delegates were asked to
look at what gaps in information provision there might be for these
sectors and what could be done to fill those gaps.
After the groups had fed back their ideas, Alison Hook summed up and
asked Dorothy Connor and Deputy Chair of the Co-ordinating Group, Howard
Patterson from the EIC NW, to talk about ways forward for the region.
It was agreed that the Group is doing valuable work and that everyone in
the region should strive to continue contacts and links through shared
training activities and other events.
All in all, a very successful conference - and we even managed to catch
up on time by the end of the day! If you would like any further
information about it, please ring me on +44 (0)161 228 3691.
Best wishes
Catherine
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Catherine Webb (Ms), EIA Manager
European Information Association
Central Library
St Peter's Square
Manchester M2 5PD, UK
Tel: +44 (0)161 228 3691
Fax: +44 (0)161 236 6547
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
E-mail discussion group: [log in to unmask]
Homepage: http://www.eia.org.uk
EIA - developing, co-ordinating and
improving access to EU information
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