§ Mr. Nigel EvansTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the cost of the headquarters for a regional government in the North West of England; and what the breakdown of this sum is broken down by budget heads. [83786]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Government has made no estimate of the cost of a headquarters for a regional government in the North West of England. As paragraph 6.7 of the Government's White Paper on Regional Governance says, it will be for an assembly to decide on the best way to meet its accommodation requirements, including the location of its headquarters.
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§ Mr. Nigel EvansTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the cost of the initial start-up costs of regional government in the North West of England; and what the breakdown of this sum is broken down by main budget heads. [83787]
§ Mr. LeslieThe costs of establishing elected regional assemblies will vary from region to region, mainly because of different sizes of their electorates. 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 North West is likely to fall towards the upper end of this range.
§ Mr. Nigel EvansTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the cost of(a) holding and (b) promoting a referendum on regional government in the North West of England. [83788]
§ Mr. LeslieParagraph 69 of the Explanatory Notes to the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill says that the cost of a referendum may range from about £2m in the North East to about £6m in the South East.
With regard to the costs associated with the promotion of a referendum in the North West, that would be a matter for the Electoral Commission under the provisions of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (sections 108–110 and schedule 12); or, if pertaining to a local authority publicity campaign relating to regional referendums, a matter for the Code on Local Authority Publicity which my Rt. Hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has issued under section 4 of the Local Government Act 1986.
§ Mr. Edward DaveyTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the administrative costs of(a) regional development agencies, (b) government offices for the regions and (c) regional chambers were, in each region in (i) 2000–01, (ii) 2001–02 and (iii) 2002–03. [83815]
§ Mr. LeslieThe information is as follows:
(a) The Regional Development Agencies' administrative costs for 2000–01 and 2001–02, together with estimates for 2002–03, are set out in the following table:
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Thousand RDAs administrative costs 2000–01 spend 2001–02 spend 2002–03 forecast expenditure North East 10,463 11,603 16,722 North West 14,476 15,004 19,921 Yorkshire 8,284 10,354 14,750 East Midlands 7,213 7,488 10,467 West Midlands 8,352 9,083 13,500 East 4,710 5,925 7,245 South East 6,343 7,143 12,839 South West 8,380 9,099 13,975 London 5,354 9,805 14,044 (b) The Government Offices' administrative costs for 2000–01 and 2001–02, together with estimates for 2002–03, are set out in the following table:
GO 2000–01 spend 2001–02 spend 2002–03 forecast expenditure North East 8,197.33 8,973.88 8,658.69 North West 13,651.03 15,250.91 13,852.48 Yorkshire and Humber 9,357.21 9,889.50 9,520.69 West Midlands 9,960.77 10,315.96 9,213.41 East Midlands 7,335.77 8,200.80 7,395.22 East 7,542.50 8,532.82 7,704.08 South East 9,477.27 10,309.34 9,249.80 South West 8,711.39 10,671.85 9,418.63 London 13,860.98 13,175.10 12,215.67 Totals 88,094.25 95,320.16 87,228.67 (c) Regional Chambers are not Government bodies. They receive funding from a variety of sources, primarily the participating local authorities. The Government have agreed to provide a contribution towards their costs for the next three years, starting in 2002–03. This equates to £600,000 per Chamber— £15 million in total across all the regions over the three year period.