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Postal Voting

Linda Perham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to extend the pilots for postal voting used during the recent local elections to other areas. [112534]

Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been very encouraged by the early indications that all-postal voting has been a success in the May 2003 local elections, and in the light of the Electoral Commission's evaluation of each pilot scheme we shall decide what steps to take on extending postal voting at local elections. Before making all-postal voting available as an option in all local elections, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister would consult widely.

Regional Assemblies

Mr. Cameron: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers the shadow regional assemblies have; what their (a) membership, (b) cost and (c) remit are; and if he will make a statement. [112838]

Mr. Raynsford: The existing eight Regional Chambers call themselves Assemblies, but they are not shadow bodies for the elected regional assemblies, whose potential remit was described in the 2002 White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice". The Chambers initially came together voluntarily to act as a focal point for considering issues of regional interest.

The Chambers are designated under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 as representative regional bodies to scrutinize the plans and activities of the Regional Development Agencies. As of 1 April 2003, they have all chosen to become Regional Planning Bodies responsible for keeping regional planning guidance (RPG) under review and preparing any draft revisions as necessary. They collectively receive government grant of £11 million a year for these

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purposes. An additional £3 million is being made available from the Planning Delivery Grant fund for the purpose of improving their performance in the review of RPG. The bulk of their funding, to support their broader role as a regional focus, comes from local authority subscriptions and other sources.

To meet the criteria for designation and receipt of grant their membership needs to be representative of the range of views and interests within the region. The Government expect at least 30 per cent. of Assembly measures to come from stakeholder groups, representative of business, trades unions, environmental, consumer and other groups. The remainder come from local government, and reflect the broad political balance across the region. The Government are not prescriptive about the size of the Assembly, provided that these criteria are met, and both the size of the Assembly and the selection process for membership vary from region to region.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library the responses of (a) the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, (b) the TUC Northern Region, (c) the TUC North West Region, (d) the IOD North West, (e) the North West Chambers of Commerce, (f) the Local Government Association North, (g) the Local Government Association North West, (h) English Regions Network, (i) the North West Regional Assembly, (j) the North West Constitutional Convention, (k) CBI North West, (l) CBI Northern and (m) Sustainability North West, to the recent consultation on regional government in the North West of England. [112912]

Mr. Raynsford: The Government have asked for responses by 16 May to their soundings exercise on level of interest in each English region in holding a referendum on an elected regional assembly. An announcement will be made in due course as to the region(s) that will proceed towards holding referendums first. At the same time, the Government will publish a summary of the responses received and a breakdown of the responses by region and type of organisation. Where organisations have provided substantial evidence and have not asked that their responses be kept confidential, we will also make their responses available.

Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish his plans for the holding of referendums on regional government. [113005]

Mr. Raynsford: The Government published their proposals to hold referendums in those English regions where there is demand for them in their White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", on 9 May 2002. The Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act, which enables referendums to be held, received Royal Assent on 8 May 2003. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will announce shortly the region(s) in which he is directing local government reviews, the necessary precursor to referendums on elected regional assemblies.

Rent Service

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will give landlords the right to seek pre-tenancy rent determinations from the Rent Service. [112431]

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Mr. McNulty: The Rent Service already provides the equivalent of pre-tenancy determinations to landlords on request, providing that they can demonstrate that there is a tenant about to take up residence.

In addition, the Rent Service is currently running a market rental guidance scheme, which includes the provision of pre-tenancy determinations for landlords. Further details of the scheme can be obtained from the Rent Service headquarters and its local offices.

Search Agents

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the comparative costs incurred by local authorities in (a) staff and (b) administrative time in dealing with enquiries from personal search agents making enquiries about land and property information (i) by post and (ii) electronically; and if he will make a statement. [112181]

Mr. McNulty: Local authorities are not required to provide this information to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and no assessment of costs incurred by local authorities has been made. Local authorities have discretionary powers to charge for answering inquiries about land and property made in connection with home sales and other transactions. In determining the amount of the charge, each authority has to have regard to its costs in dealing with such enquiries. Charges for Local Land Charges Register inquiries are prescribed by my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor, who is currently considering an application by the Local Government Association for an increase in the prescribed fees.

Standards Board for England

Mr. Luff: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many complaints have been considered by the Standards Board for England against (a) parish or town councillors, (b) district councillors and (c) county councillors in Worcestershire; and how many of these complaints have been upheld. [112659]

Mr. Leslie: For parish and town councillors in Worcestershire: 85 allegations have been received by the Standards Board, of which 37 have so far been passed for investigation. Of the 29 completed cases, nine have been passed to the Adjudication Panel. Hearings are yet to be held.

For district councillors in Worcestershire: 42 allegations have been received by the Standards Board, of which 14 have so far been passed for investigation. Of the seven completed cases none has produced evidence of breaches of the code where action is considered necessary.

For county councillors in Worcestershire: two allegations have been received by the Standards Board. None of these has so far been passed for investigation.

Mr. Luff: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister why complainants to the Standards Board for England remain anonymous; and if he will make it his policy to require the disclosure of the names and addresses of complainants to councillors against whom complaints are made. [112660]

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Mr. Leslie: The conduct of investigations into allegations of misconduct is a matter for the Standards Board for England and for ethical standards officers employed by the Board. I understand that it is the practice of the Board to provide anonymity for persons making allegations only in exceptional cases, where that person is considered vulnerable.

Mr. Luff: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many complaints have been considered by the Standards Board for England against (a) parish or town councillors, (b) district councillors, (c) unitary authority councillors and (d) county councillors; and how many of these complaints have been upheld. [112667]

Mr. Leslie: For parish and town councillors: 1,805 allegations have been received by the Standards Board, of which 801 have so far been passed for investigation. Of the 404 completed cases, 90 have been passed for hearing to the Adjudication Panel. Of the 42 cases so far heard by the Adjudication Panel, 41 have concerned parish councillors, 40 of which were upheld.

For district councillors: 839 allegations have been received by the Standards Board. 289 of these have so far been passed for investigation. Of the 114 completed cases, 24 have been passed for hearing to the Adjudication Panel. These are yet to be heard.

For unitary authority councillors: 280 allegations have been received by the Standards Board. 88 of these have so far been passed for investigation. Of the 30 completed cases, one has been passed for hearing to the Adjudication Panel. This case is yet to be heard.

For county councillors: 72 allegations have been received by the Standards Board. 13 have so far been passed for investigation. None has produced evidence of breaches of the code where action is considered necessary.

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