§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the costs of running an elected regional assembly will come out of the existing regional budget. [121473]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions", sets out the funding arrangements for elected regional assemblies.
The costs of running an elected regional assembly will not come out of the budget for regional programmes. Assemblies will receive general grant to meet most of their direct running costs in addition to their programme grant. But people in the region with an assembly will make some contribution to its running costs.