§ Lord Lyellasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they will issue guidance to the Local Government Commission and announce its work programme.
§ Lord StrathclydeWe have today issued to the local authority associations and other organisations with an interest the policy guidance we intend to issue to the new Local Government Commission. It takes account of the comments we received on the draft guidance issued last November. We have also today issued draft procedure guidance for the Local Government Commission. Copies of both documents have been placed in the Library of the House and additional copies are available in the Printed Paper Office.
We intend to direct the Local Government Commission to undertake a rolling programme of 67WA reviews of the shire counties of England, area by area.
Review will be carried out in five tranches. The areas to be covered in each tranche are:
First Second Third Fourth Fifth Avon Cambridgeshire Bedfordshire Dorset Cornwall Gloucestershire Somerset Cumbria Berkshire Essex Hertfordshire Lancashire Oxfordshire Cleveland Hereford and Worcester Northumberland Durham Devon Buckinghamshire Shropshire Derbyshire Hampshire Cheshire Norfolk Surrey Humberside Leicestershire East Sussex Suffolk Lincolnshire West Sussex Warwickshire North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Wiltshire Kent Isle of Wight Staffordshire Northamptonshire This represents a balanced and manageable programme for the commission and gives priority to those areas where there is a history of dissatisfaction with the existing local government structure. We expect structural changes following the commission's reviews to take effect between 1994 and 1998.