HC Deb 29 March 2004 vol 419 cc1270-1W
Matthew Green

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the(a) total budget, (b) departmental funding and (c) administration costs for (i) rent assessment panels, (ii) The Ordnance Survey, (iii) The Standards Board for England, (iv) The Housing Corporation, (v) Housing Action Trust, (vi) The Boundary Commission for England, (vii) The Boundary Commission for Wales, (viii) The Property Advisory Group, (ix) The Audit Commission, (x) English Partnerships, (xi) The Rent Service, (xii) The Advisory Panel on Standards for the Planning Inspectorate, (xiii) Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, (xiv) The Fire Service College, (xv) The Planning Inspectorate, (xvi) The Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils, (xvii) The Building Regulations Advisory Committee, (xviii) The Community Forum, (xix) The Residential Property Advisory Group and (xx) Valuation Tribunal for this financial year.[150099]

Yvette Cooper

For 2003–04, figures are tabled as follows:

the Humber would be entitled to redundancy if regional assemblies were established and they were offered (a) no new employment, (b) a job in the new unitary authorities and (c) a job in the regional assembly; [163706]

(2) whether staff displaced from existing local authorities offered new placements would be given compensation for relocation following the formation of regional assemblies. [163707]

Mr. Raynsford

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently considering with the Local Government Associaion, local government employers, trade unions and other key stakeholders potential arrangements for local government reorganisation. In the light of this work the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will decide what arrangements to adopt for any reorganisation following the referendum this autumn.

Ann Winterton

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what revenue raising powers the proposed regional assemblies for(a) the North West, (b) the North East and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber would have. [163709]

Mr. Raynsford

The revenue raising powers of elected regional assemblies were set out in Chapter 5 of the White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions", published in May 2002 (Cm 5511).

In summary, the White Paper states that assemblies will receive a general grant to meet most of their direct running costs. But the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister believe that an assembly should be able to raise some extra money within the region if believes that this is desirable. Thus assemblies will be able to raise additional funds through a precept on the council tax. The money will be collected on behalf of the assembly by local authorities in the region as part of their existing arrangements for collecting council tax. As is the case for London, an assembly will not be able to vary non-domestic rates or affect business taxes.

The contribution of council tax-payers to the running costs of the assembly would be equivalent to around 5p per week (£2.60 a year) for a Band D council tax-payer in any region.

An elected assembly would be allowed to set a higher charge to fund additional spending if it considered this desirable. Assemblies will be accountable to their taxpayers for the precept levels that they set, however, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will have a reserve power to limit this amount through arrangements comparable to the existing local authority capping regime.