Tony WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the local, sub-regional and regional partnerships, boards of zones and other cross-sectoral bodies supported by his Department; and the funding streams with which they are associated. [142185]
§ Ms Beverley HughesThis information is not held centrally. Recent reports point to a wide range of formal, informal, statutory and non-statutory partnerships covering a wide range of interests. As a result, the Government are trying to encourage greater rationalisation. The recently issued draft guidance on local strategic partnerships is intended to encourage the development of a single co-ordinated framework for partnership arrangements at the local level. We have also set up the Regional Co-ordination Unit. The unit has recently published an action plan which sets out how the Government intend to modernise the way they work at regional and local level and improve the way services are delivered on the ground.