§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if the caps on local authority expenditure will be adjusted to allow for the funding of local authority regional assemblies in England; [40848]
(2) if additional Government funding will be made available to cover the costs of local authority regional assemblies in England. [40849]
§ Ms ArmstrongThe Government have made it clear that 1998/99 will be the last year of crude and universal capping. A consultation paper on Improving Local Financial Accountability was published on 30 March and looks at what new arrangements may need to be put in place. We expect the costs of non-statutory regional chambers to be modest and to be met from within existing budgets. Funding for directly elected regional assemblies will be considered as part of any future proposals for them to be created.