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15 Nov 2004 : Column 1226W—continued
Regional Assemblies
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 26 October 2004, Official Report, columns 1112–1113W, on regional assemblies, what estimate he has made of the total cost of (a) the free mailing and (b) the free television broadcasts. [198270]
Mr. Raynsford: The delivery costs of the referendum mailing will be paid for by Government and cost £0.5 million. Other costs associated with the mailing were paid by the "Yes" and "No" campaigns.
Airtime for the TV broadcasts was provided without fee by the broadcaster. The "Yes" and "No" campaigns met the production costs from their campaign funds.
Regional Chambers
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the grants made to each of the regional chambers in the financial year 2003–04 by non-governmental organisations funded from public funds. [198155]
Mr. Raynsford: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Any grants received from non-governmental organisations are a matter for individual regional chambers.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what reports have been made by regional chambers to his Department (a) directly and (b) through the Government offices for the regions accounting for the expenditure of central Government funding. [198158]
Mr. Raynsford:
Regional chambers are required to prepare and submit to the relevant Government office an annual business plan containing objectives and targets to be met with the aid of Government grant. They are subsequently required to provide reports against those objectives on agreed dates throughout the year.
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Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent guidance issued to regional chambers on the expenditure of central Government funds. [198159]
Mr. Raynsford: Updated business planning guidance for regional chambers is being finalised. A copy will be made available in the Library of the House shortly.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) powers, (b) functions and (c) responsibilities are of each of the regional chambers; and which organisations held those powers, functions and responsibilities prior to the creation of regional chambers. [198160]
Mr. Raynsford: The voluntary regional chambers undertake a number of functions and responsibilities on behalf of their regions. The main ones are scrutiny of the work of the regional development agencies (RDAs), responsibilities as regional planning bodies, and acting as a regional voice or focal point on key issues of regional interest, such as integrating regional strategies.
Regional chambers were first designated in 1999 to provide scrutiny of the newly-created RDAs and had no predecessors in that role.
Regional chambers became the regional planning bodies in all regions in April 2003 with responsibility for preparing draft regional planning guidance. Previously this was the responsibility of non-statutory regional bodies known as regional planning conferences.
No recognised regional body or organisation provided a single regional voice or provided a regional focal point prior to the existence of regional chambers, though there were informal arrangements in some regions.
Regional Fire Control Rooms
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether existing fire control room staff will be employed in the new fire control centre for the south west; and whether the centre will be located outside the south west. [197357]
Mr. Raynsford: It is expected that staff in the new regional control rooms will be drawn from existing fire control room staff.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister plans to have a national network of resilient fire control centres with one in each Government Office region.
Regional Government
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff were employed by the West Midlands Regional Chamber in each of the last two years; and what the total staff costs were in each year. [197531]
Mr. Raynsford: At the end of the 2003–04 financial year the West Midlands Regional Assembly (WMRA) employed 11 staff. It currently employs 19 staff.
Salary costs during the 2002–03 financial year were £167,712. Salary costs during the 2003–04 financial year were £499,418.
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Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the budget of the West Midlands Regional Chamber was in each of the last two years; and what its source was. [197533]
Mr. Raynsford: The West Midlands Regional Assembly was awarded Government grant of £1,062,500 in 2002–03, and £1,676,050 in 2003–04.
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how many members the West Midlands Regional Chamber has; and how much members are paid, including expenses; [197534]
(2) how many unelected representatives there are in the West Midlands Regional Chamber; and who appointed each unelected representative. [197532]
Mr. Raynsford: The West Midlands Regional Chamber has a total of 100 members of which 68 are councillors nominated by the 38 local authorities in the region and 32 are regional social and economic stakeholders. Members do not receive any remuneration in respect of their role in the West Midlands Regional Assembly. The total amount of expenses paid in 2003–04 and 2004–05 to date is £765.
The full list of bodies that nominate stakeholders to the chamber is as follows.
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to transfer (a) power, (b) responsibility and (c) resources to a regional assembly from West Sussex county council. [197659]
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Mr. Raynsford: There are no plans to transfer any powers, responsibilities or resources to a regional assembly from West Sussex county council.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the press release of 5 November on regional government, what plans he has to strengthen (a) the regional chamber and (b) the Government office in the north-east. [198271]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue to take forward the proposals we set out in "Your Region—Your Choice" for devolving greater responsibility to the existing bodies in the regions and encouraging them to work closely together.
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