§ Ann WintertonTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will estimate the population of each standard region of England; and for what reasons the standard region is being used as the basic unit for elected regional assemblies.[82727]
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§ Mr. RaynsfordAnnex A of the White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice" (Cm 5511) includes the most recent population figures for each region at the time of the publication of the White Paper in May 2002. These figures were drawn from "Regional Trends 36" (Office for National Statistics, 2001). The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, as published in "Regional Trends 37", will be placed in the Library.
Chapter 6 of the White Paper makes clear that these regions represent the existing administrative boundaries used by the Government Offices for the regions, the regional development agencies and other parts of central Government, as well as being the standard statistical regions used by the Office for National Statistics. These regions have existed for various planning and statistical purposes since the Second World War, with minor changes over time. They are also a credible size to support a regional assembly and to differentiate the assembly from local government in the region.