§ Mr. CurryTo ask the President of the Council what proposals she has for parliamentary scrutiny of the Regional Development Agencies. [66188]
§ Mrs. BeckettRegional Development Agencies are non-departmental public bodies and Ministers will be accountable to Parliament for their activities in the usual way.
The Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 requires the accounts of each RDA to be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Copies of the accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on them will be sent to the Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions who will lay them before each House of Parliament. The Comptroller and Auditor General also has powers to carry out value for money studies on the RDAs.
RDAs are also required to submit their annual reports to the Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions who will lay copies before each House of Parliament.
Each RDA will have an Accounting Officer, usually the Chief Executive, who will be accountable to Parliament through the Public Accounts Committee for the expenditure of public money.
RDAs are also open to scrutiny by the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee. They have just begun their second inquiry into RDAs.
I also recently announced that I will be submitting a memorandum to the Modernisation Committee inviting them to examine the possibility of reviving and adapting the Standing Committee on regional affairs. Matters relating to RDAs would certainly be within the remit of such a Committee.