§ Mr. HowardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he had made of the trend in the competitiveness gap between the best-performing and worst-performing United Kingdom regions since May 1997; and what estimate he had made of how this trend will change over the course of the Parliament; [17739]
(2) what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry regarding the regional competitiveness trends since May 1997 contained in the latest edition of the United Kingdom Competitiveness Index. [17737]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry jointly published our assessment of the causes and effects of the significant and persistent differences in economic performance between and within UK regions on 27 November 2001, in the document "Productivity in the UK: 3—The Regional Dimension". The document also sets out the policies and institutions the Government have put in place to tackle these imbalances.