§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many(a) new and 523W (b) safeguarded jobs are directly attributable to each regional development agency for each year since their inception. [157201]
§ Jacqui SmithWhen England's Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) were established in April 1999, they inherited eleven different programmes, each with their own budgets, objectives and output definitions. So the figures for the three years 1999–2000 to 2001–2002 were reported using a number of different definitions. The following table shows the total number of jobs directly attributable to RDA activity for each of the first three years since their inception. The figures are not split between new and safeguarded jobs.
1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Advantage West Midlands 25,305 12,792 8,587 East of England Development Agency 2,615 3,019 1,546 East Midlands Development Agency 10,092 11,243 9,321 London Development Agency 1 N/a N/a 13,007 Northwest Development Agency 33,340 34,685 29,523 ONE North East 11,695 15,369 18,786 South East England Development Agency 8,310 16,476 3,063 South West of England Regional Development Agency 3,547 21,766 17,965 Yorkshire Forward 15,720 21,282 14,788 The basis for reporting outputs changed with the introduction of the Single Programme budget in April 2002, when a common targetry framework was introduced, together with a set of agreed outputs for each RDA and common output definitions. Target levels are set through the corporate planning process and each RDA has the flexibility to set targets within the common framework based on the priorities for its region. The following table shows the total number of jobs directly attributable to RDA activity in 2002–03 against the Corporate Plan targets. This information has been previously published -1 refer the hon. Member to the statement I made on 7 July 2003. The figures are not split between new and safeguarded jobs.
2002–2003 Target 2002–2003; Achievement Advantage West midlands 13,626 13,416 East of England Development Agency 953 2,177 East Midlands Development Agency 5,150 2,940 London Development Agency 14,450 13,873 Northwest Development Agency 14,532 16,764 ONE North East 7,449 7,774 South East England Development Agency 2,066 3,107 South West of England Regional Development Agency 6,450 6,508 Yorkshire Forward 10,500 10,888 All of the above information is taken from each RDA's Annual Report and Accounts, which the eight RDAs outside London are required to produce, and are laid in Parliament. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House. The London Development Agency also produces an Annual Report and Accounts, which is not required to be laid in Parliament, but is available on the LDA's website.
1 The London Development Agency was not established until July 2000 and the LDA first reported outputs in 2001–2002.