HC Deb 13 March 2002 vol 381 cc1085-6W
Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what his estimate is of the cost to the taxpayer so far of running mayoral referendums in local authorities in England; [42233]

(2) what his estimate is of the cost to the taxpayer of introducing new executive structures on local authorities. [42232]

Mr. Byers

Information to estimate the costs and savings of introducing new executive arrangements, including the holding of mayoral referendums, is not currently available centrally.

Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the administrative costs were of local government reorganisation in each local authority that has been restructured since 1990 in(a) cash and (b) real terms, expressed in 2002 prices. [42231]

Mr. Byers

This information is not available.

Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to introduce annual elections for local government in England. [42230]

Mr. Byers

We have no plans to introduce annual local government elections in England. As stated in our White Paper 'Strong Local Leadership—Quality Public Services' we will be inviting the Electoral Commission to propose options to simplify the current cycle of local elections.