Local Authority Agreements

HL Deb 03 February 2005 vol 669 c61WA

Baroness Hanham

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have any plans to bring forward the general implementation date of local authority agreements prior to the conclusion of the pilots which are currently in progress; if so, what account they will take of the considerations arising from the pilots in modifying or applying the current scheme. [HL891]

Lord Rooker

Pilot local area agreements (LAAs) are now being negotiated in 21 areas. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has recently announced a further pilot phase of 40 agreements to be in place by April 2006. This announcement follows consideration of progress in the pilots. We will shortly be inviting expressions of interest from local authorities. A further phase will enable the approach to be tested more fully.

In developing the next phase of pilot agreements with local areas, we will draw on lessons from the initial pilots LAAs.