§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on(a) the involvement of One North East in the decision-making process which preceded Budget 2003 and (b) One North East's role in delivering commitments made in Budget 2003. [111248]
§ Alan Johnson(a) The Agency was asked, along with Government Office to feed in our Regional priorities for the Budget, in the context of the delivery of the Regional Economic Strategy and the Productivity in the UK report. We did this in January 2002.
The Agency also responded to Treasury consultations on cross cutting issues, in particular Science and Industry.
(b) One NorthEast's role in delivering commitments made in Budget 2002.
The 2002 budget delivered excellent new flexibilities for all RDAs, through the establishment of a single budget for uncommitted resources. The activities funded by the Agency are agreed with Government through the Corporate Plan. One NorthEast's total gross expenditure for 2002–3 was 228 million. The provisional figures for 2002–03 show that the Agency has exceeded all of its targets.
The RDA is also charged with leading the Region to ensure the delivery of Regional output targets, derived directly from Departmental PSA targets, and therefore directly contributing to the delivery of the Budget.
The Regional Outcome targets are included in the Corporate Plan a copy of these has been placed in the Libraries of the House.