§ Mr. Maxwell-HyslopTo ask the Prime Minister (1) which Minister is responsible for keeping under review the relevance of the boundaries of the economic regions; and what is the procedure for altering those boundaries;
(2) whether he will publish a table showing which departments (a) collect or publish statistics based on the economic regions and (b) allocate grants, wholly or in part, on a regional basis, using the economic regions for such allocations, and statistics based on such regions.
§ The Prime MinisterIn considering any proposal to alter the boundaries of the 11 standard regions of the United Kingdom, the Secretary of State for the Environment would take the lead in consultation with colleagues.
A large number of Departments collect or publish statistics based on standard regions. "Regional Trends 25" (HMSO) brings together a very wide range of such statistics and attributes them to the appropriate departmental sources. It is available in the House of Commons Library.
Grants are not allocated, wholly or in part, on the basis of standard regions in England.