§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what are the administrative costs of(a) regional development agencies, (b) Government offices for the regions and (c) regional chambers are for each region, (i) this year and (ii) projected for the next financial year. [8955]
§ Mr. ByersI refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Employment and the Regions on 23 October 2001,Official Report, column 137W.
We have not issued the RDAs with allocations for next year. The RDAs will be submitting proposals for their administration to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in their corporate plans.
The Cabinet office oversees the work of the Regional Co-ordination (RCU) and the Government offices, for which the total administrative running cost budget for the financial year 2001–02 is £101.63 million and £98.63 million for 2002–03. There is an annual resource planning exercise that will allocate the sums between individual Government offices and the RCU. This has commenced and is due for completion in December. Programme budgets administered by the Government offices are the responsibility of the Secretaries of State for the relevant sponsor Departments.
The regional chambers were designated by the Secretary of State following the establishment of regional development agencies in 1999. They have been established voluntarily by bodies representing the interests of each region. Their running costs are a matter for the chambers and their members. The Government have 428W however allocated £500,000 this year to each regional chamber, with an additional £1 million for chambers to use collectively, to help them establish a stronger strategic and scrutiny role within the regions.