§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will list by political party, the number of councillors who sit as board members of each of the Regional Development Agencies; [96012]
1001W(2) what is the total number of Regional Development Agency board members in England; and of those, how many are councillors. [96007]
§ Ms ArmstrongThe eight Regional Development Agencies currently have 102 board members in all, including the Chairmen, and four vacant board positions. Four councillors were appointed to each board, affiliated as follows:
Regional Development Agency Labour Liberal Democrat Conservative Independent Advantage West Midlands 3 0 1 0 East of England 2 1 1 0 East Midlands 3 1 0 0 North West 3 1 0 0 One NorthEast 3 0 0 1 South East 2 1 1 0 South West 2 1 1 0 Yorkshire Forward 13 1 0 0 1 Includes one former councillor who was not re-elected at the last election
§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what proportion of his Department's non-departmental public body(a) employees and (b) expenditure is represented by the eight regional development agencies. [96003]
§ Ms Armstrong(a) Approximately 5 per cent. (using available figures of RDAs' staffing on 1 April 1999 compared with NDPBs' staffing on 1 April 1998); and
(b) 24 per cent. (planned expenditure for 1999–2000).
§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what have been the set-up costs to date of regional development agencies. [96004]
§ Ms ArmstrongThe Regional Development Agencies spent £5.138 million in the four months before they were established on 1 April 1999. In addition to inherited resources, RDAs have £17 million this financial year to spend on administration.
§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many meetings(a) Ministers and (b) officials have had with representatives of each of the regional development agencies. [96009]
§ Ms ArmstrongMinisters and officials have been involved in a regular, and ongoing, programme of meetings with the Regional Development Agencies.
§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many regional development agency strategies he has received; and when and by what method he intends to respond to them. [96011]
§ Ms ArmstrongStrategies for all eight Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) were presented to Ministers on 26 October. We aim to formally respond to these by the end of the year. A decision on the appropriate method of response will be made after full consideration of the Strategies.