Through Insight East, the East of England has increased its capacity to provide quality economic evidence and analysis which supports decision making.
This annual review highlights the key achievements of Insight East since its launch in March 2009. The recession and the events leading up to it put the economy firmly in the spotlight over the past year. Decision makers in the region needed to know its underlying causes and impacts.

This report is based on findings from the National Business Survey (NBS); in particular the focus will be on the East of England region. The National Business Survey is one of the largest and most statistically robust of its kind carried out in England and Northern Ireland with over 5,300 companies responding from all sectors of the economy. Nationally, NBS results demonstrate the continued challenging conditions faced by businesses but also indicate that market conditions are stabilising with a slight overall improvement in business performance.

The latest monthly economic outlook provides a view of the main economic measures of change, as well as news from the region about key industries and sectors. The official end of the recession is to be welcomed, but the long road to recover will not be smooth. Recovery will be slow due to weaker (although recovering) rates of demand and other underlying business factors such as lower profit margins.