HC Deb 25 January 1995 vol 253 cc210-3W
Mr. Denham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities on which the integrated regional offices are required to advise him on the allocation of resources and, for each integrated regional office, the annual expenditure on each programme.

Sir Paul Beresford

In 1993–94 the Department of the Environment's regional offices advised Ministers on the programmes shown in the table. The Department of the Environment's regional offices became part of the Government offices for the regions in April 1994.

Department of the environment programme expenditure through the Government offices for the regions, 1993–94 ouuturn (£ million)
North East North West Merseyside Yorkshire and Humberside West Midlands East Midlands Eastern South West South East London Total
Housing Investment
Programme 83.0 162.0 53.8 154.6 194.7 116.2 142.4 140.6 187.5 530.4 1,765.2
Estate Action1 4 28.7 60.3 39.6 41.8 46.1 27.0 5.9 12.2 3.8 85.3 350.7
Housing Partnership
Fund 3.6 2.6 0.7 2.8 3.4 4.0 3.9 4.8 3.1 1.1 30.0
Housing Actions
Trusts1 16.0 26.5 2.0 30.6 75.1
Flats over shops 1.0 0.8 0.3 1.0 0.9 0.9 0.7 1.0 0.8 1.9 9.3
Energy Efficiency
Programme 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.7 0.4 0.5 0.3 0.3 5.2
Derelict Land Grant2 7.8 27.5 8.0 23.9 19.9 8.7 0.8 3.3 0.8 3.6 104.3
Urban Programme1
UPF5 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 166.5
City Action Team1 0.8 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 3.4
Task Forces1 1.8 1.0 2.2 2.3 2.6 2.3 0.6 5.0 17.8
Urban Development
Corporations1 78.5 37.1 22.5 16.7 62.4 20.7 105.4 343.2
City Challenge1 6 45.8 31.8 22.3 27.8 29.0 21.2 52.3 230.2
Coalfield Areas Fund5 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2.3
Manchester
Regeneration 23.3 23.3
Docklands Light
Railway 28.1 28.1
Merseyside Special
Grant 0.6 0.6
ERDF3 41.2 28.2 23.0 32.6 34.3 10.4 2.4 11.5 142.4
Notes:
1 Subsumed within single regeneration budget from April 199S.
2 Transferred to English Partnerships from April 1994.
3 ERDF payments, made on behalf of the European Community, include payments on projects which are the responsibility of other Government Departments.
4 Figures for the urban programme, urban partnership fund (UPF) and Coalfield areas fund are not held centrally on a region by region basis. The Urban programme will be subsumed within the SRB from April 1995.
5 Estate Action figures exclude resources for design improvement controlled experiment (DICE).
6 City challenge figures include city challenge Housing Corporation expenditure in 1993–94 and exclude payments made 1993–94 for expenditure actually incurred in 1992–93.

Mr. Denham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities which are administered by the integrated regional offices and, for each integrated regional office, the estimated annual expenditure on each of these responsibilities.

Sir Paul Beresford

On my right hon. Friend's behalf, the Government offices for the regions administer the single regeneration budget, housing and regeneration programmes, undertake certain planning and environment functions and provide the main local points of contact between the Department and local authorities. In 1994–95, the Government offices expect to spend the following sums in pursuit of these functions:

£000s
Government Office for the North East 3,174
Government Office for the North West 4,682
Government Office for Yorkshire and Humberside 3,532
Government Office for Merseyside 2,086
Government Office for the West Midlands 3,547
Government Office for the East Midlands 2,579
Government Office for the Eastern Region 2,063
Government Office for the South West 2,143

£000s
Government Office for the South East 3,177
Government Office for London 4,785

The Department does not allocate running cost resources at the level of individual programmes or functions.

Mr. Denham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of staff working in each integrated regional office; and in each integrated regional office, what is the total annual cost of their employment.

Sir Paul Beresford

The information requested is shown in the table.

Government office Total number of staff (as at December 1994) Total annual cost of staff employed – million
North East 289 6.2
North West 383 8.4
Mcrseyside 157 3.5
Yorkshire and Humberside 340 6.9
West Midlands 360 7.5
East Midlands 264 5.5
Eastern 191 4.5
South West 234 5.2
South East 241 6.0
London 340 8.8

The total annual cost of staff employed is based on the forecast pay costs of each office in 1994–95.

Mr. Denham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those of his Department's responsibilities on which integrated regional offices are responsible for preparing, advising on or implementing regional policy.

Sir Paul Beresford

The Government offices in the regions assist my Department in work on preparing and disseminating regional planning guidance, and on European regional development fund matters. They also advise bidders under the single regeneration budget on those bids of regional scale.