§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the numbers of staff and annual costs of the Local Government Boundary Commission; the number of reports it issues each year; and the numbers and names of the reviews currently in progress.
§ Mr. KeyThe commission has a staff of 36 and an annual running cost of approximately £770,000. In 1990–91 it issued 24 reports.
The commission is currently carrying out statutory reviews of the 36 metropolitan districts, the 32 London boroughs, the City of London and the Inner and Middle Temples. In addition, it is completing the statutory reviews of the non-metropolitan counties with a review of the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire boundary and a second review of part of the North Yorkshire/Cleveland boundary. It also considers reviews of parishes carried out by district councils as and when these are submitted.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the material studies and conclusions from the Local Government Boundary Commission's final recommendation for the county of Humberside will be referred to the new review of the structure of local government.
§ Mr. KeyDecisions on the steps to be taken following the commission's report will be made after the statutory period for public comment.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the exact time and date when the Local Government Boundary Commission report was released(a) to the media, (b) to hon. Members and (c) to local authorities; and what advice he has given to the commission on releasing information to hon. Members to enable them to answer media questions.
§ Mr. KeyThe timing of the release of its reports is a matter for the commission. I have given no advice to it on the subject.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the total cost of the Local222W Government Boundary Commission's review of Humberside and the separate costs of each stage of the review.
§ Mr. KeyIt is not possible to separate the costs of an individual review from the total costs of the Local Government Boundary Commission.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new instructions he gave to the Local Government Boundary Commission following his statement of 23 April,Official Report, column 901, concerning his preference for unitary authorities in respect of the review of the county of Humberside.