§ The Minister for Local Government, Regional Governance and Fire (Mr. Nick Raynsford)Today we are publishing the Government's response to the ODPM Select Committee report "Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity". Copies of the response have been deposited in the House Libraries and it is available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's web sitehttp://www.odpm.gov.uk/regions.
We welcome the Select Committee's report. It makes a number of important points which we are already attempting to address and others which will need to be considered in the context of work being undertaken to deliver the regional economic performance Public Service Agreement.
The Government's economic policies already provide a solid basis for the development of the regions. Interest and inflation rates are now lower and more stable than in any other period for a generation. There are more people in work than ever before and unemployment is at its lowest for a generation.
But we acknowledge the persistent disparities in regional economic performance. We have a work programme in place to deliver our regional economic performance public service agreement, which will be monitored through data on gross value added (GVA) and other indicators. Progress will be reported in July 2006.
Our strategy is not to set one region against another. It is focused on enabling every region to perform to its economic potential. That is the key to a successful British economy.