§ Mr. McNultyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he will make an announcement about the membership of the boards of the regional development agencies. [64082]
§ Mr. PrescottThe board members of the eight Regional Development Agencies outside London will be as follows:
Eastern RDA
- Vincent Watts (Chairman)
- Sal Brinton
- Alan Cherry
- Peter Dawe
- Greg Grant
- Ken Lewis
- Peter Martin
- Chris Mole
- Richard Powell
- Neville Reyner
- Jacqueline Russell
- Marie Skinner
- Stelio Stefanou
East Midlands RDA
- Derek Mapp (Chairman)
- Jane Bradford
- Ted Cassidy
- Graham Chapman
- Martin Doughty
- Peter Gadsby
- Gillian Gardiner
- Len Jackson
- Bob Middleton
- Peter Moore
- Pat Morgan-Webb
- Christine Wood
North East RDA
- Dr. John Bridge (Chairman)
- Alistair Arkley
- Kevin Curran
- Barbara Dennis
- Professor Derek Fraser
- Phillip Hughes
- Richard Maudslay
- John McCormack
- Hugh Morgan-Williams
- Miles Middleton
- Rita Stringfellow
- Sue Wilson
- John Williams
North West RDA
- Lord Thomas of Macclesfield (Chairman)
- Maggie Chadwick
- Mike Doyle
- John Dunning
319 - Felicity Goodey
- Clive Jeanes
- Richard Leese
- Alan Manning
- Dennis Mendoros
- Kath Reade
- Dr. Fred Ridley
- Judy Robinson
- James Ross
South East RDA
- Allan Willett (Chairman)
- Jim Baker
- Ken Bodfish
- Professor Clive Booth
- Barry Camfield
- Bryan Davies
- Janis Kong
- Russ Nathan
- Winifred Oliver
- David Rogers
- Sarah Ward
- Caroline Williams
- Kevin Wilson
South West RDA
- Sir Michael Lickiss (Chairman)
- Doris Ansari
- Cairns Boston
- Ewen Cameron
- Peter Chalke
- Nigel Costley
- Tudor Evans
- Helen Holland
- Michael Leece
- Alfred Morris
- Tim Parker
- Stella Pirie
- Jeremy Pope
West Midlands RDA
- Alex Stephenson (Chairman)
- Richard Barnes
- Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya CBE
- Michael Bird
- Albert Bore
- Sue Davis
- Dr. Anthony Harris OBE
- James Hunt
- Professor Christine King
- David Sparks
- Sukvinder Stubbs
- David Thompson
- Brian Woods-Scawen
Yorkshire and Humber RDA
- Graham Hall (Chairman)
- Muriel Barker
- Julian Cummins
- Brian Greenwood
- Richard Gregory
- Lord Haskins
320 - Stephen Houghton
- Paul Jagger
- Michael Johnston
- Adeeba Malik
- Sir Gareth Roberts
- Paul Shepherd
- Pamela Warhurst.
These boards fulfil the commitment we gave in our White Paper 'Building Partnerships for Prosperity' to reflect an appropriate balance of regional interests. We have already announced that the boards will be led by chairmen with solid business backgrounds. As regards the main regional stakeholders, within each board business experience dominates; four members are drawn from local government reflecting a balance between type and size of authority, geographical spread and party balance; and at least one member on each board can offer a strong rural perspective together with others who have relevant rural experience. Each board also offers expertise from the field of education and the trades union movement and, across the country as a whole, the boards offer significant experience of the voluntary sector. The White Paper had envisaged boards of twelve but, while it has proved possible to constrain the potential size of the board by choosing members who can offer a range of expertise, we have decided that the full range of expertise necessary can only be achieved, at this stage, with boards of thirteen.
All boards will have at least three women—women represent about a quarter of the membership overall. This compares well with other business focused NDPBs. Ethnic minorities make up about 5 per cent. of the board membership.
I have today published a Departmental press release which gives biographical details of the board members. Copies have been placed in the Library.