§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made towards the achievement of(a) targets and (b) delivery of the (i) regional economic strategy and (ii) corporate plan of each of the regional development agencies. [152063]
§ Jacqui SmithEngland's Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), working with their regional and local partners and stakeholders, have produced Regional Economic Strategies (RESs) which set out the medium to long term vision for the economic development of their regions. They are designed to be implemented by the RDA and by regional partners and stakeholders. Each RDA monitors and reports to its region on delivery of the RES differently but the Annual Report and Accounts, which the eight RDAs outside London are required to produce, outline the achievements and progress made by each RDA. They are laid in Parliament and copies are available in the Libraries of the House. I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made on 17 July 2003 about the Annual Reports and Accounts for 2002–03. The London Development Agency also produces an annual report and accounts, outlining achievements and progress, which is available on its website.
The Government has agreed a common framework of targets for the RDAs to achieve. (The framework can be viewed on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/rda/in.fo/index.htm.) Target levels are set through the Corporate Planning process and current targets were agreed by Ministers (and, in London, by the Mayor) and published in RDA's Corporate Plans for 2003–2006. The RDA details the activities and initiatives it will undertake in order to help implement the RES, and to contribute to the achievement of the targets set, within its Corporate Plan. Progress on achievement of the Tier 3 output targets is published six monthly and I refer the hon. Member to the statements I made on 7 July 2003 and today.
The Corporate Plans, RESs, and Annual Reports and Accounts are available on each RDA's website.