§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the estimated cost is of establishing an elected South West Regional Assembly including the costs of a referendum and of the first elections; and what the estimated running costs are in each of the first three years. [60024]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe costs of establishing elected regional assemblies will vary from region to region, mainly because of different sizes of their electorates. But we expect them all to fall in a range around £15 million to £30 million a region, including the costs of a referendum and of the first assembly elections. The South West is likely to be towards the middle of this range. Chapter 5 of the White Paper,Your Region, Your Choice, gave our estimate of the running costs of an elected assembly—around £25 million a year, or around £20 million excluding the costs of staff who will transfer from existing public bodies.
§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if an elected regional assembly will have the power to impose unitary authorities on existing county and district councils if so recommended by the Boundary Committee. [60025]
§ Mr. RaynsfordOur proposals for local government reorganisation in regions which have voted to have an elected assembly are set out in paragraphs 9.8 to 9.11 of the White Paper,Your Region, Your Choice, published on 9 May. The orders required to implement a reorganisation will be made by the Secretary of State and will need to be approved by Parliament. This process will run in parallel with the process for establishing an elected assembly for the region. But the assembly will have no powers or responsibilities involving the structure of local government in its region.