Examination of Witnesses (Questions 120-124)
MR NEIL
KINGHAN, PROFESSOR
MARK KLEINMAN,
MR ANDREW
CAMPBELL, MR
BOB LINNARD
AND MR
STEPHEN SPEED
13 MARCH 2006
Q120 Mr Betts: It has but it also
happens to be effectively in some areas the RDA which is precisely
one of the problems, surely. If we get to the creation of a city
region based on economic reasons we are presumably going to have
some form of arrangement, either a collaboration with local authorities
or an executive board but some form of arrangement, which enables
people in the city regions to take decisions, presumably about
economic activity, because that is one of the issues. They sit
down, make their decisions, and let us take the Sheffield example
based on the meeting—
Mr Kinghan: Which we were both
at!
Q121 Mr Betts: —and then they
have to put those decisions for second-guessing, for approval,
to a non-elected Regional Development Agency -in fact two in the
case of the Sheffield City region. It hardly gives the impression
of a streamlined way forward to make more effective decision-making,
does it?
Mr Kinghan: I do think you are
asking us to speculate about what might happen if various things
were to happen. If the cities come forward with proposals that
Ministers want to act on, if they then want to give more force
to the concept of a city region possibly through governance changes,
then the relationship between those bodies, if they existed, and
the Regional Development Agencies are one of the things that we
would need to think through.
Q122 Mr Betts: But it is an issue
that has to be addressed?
Mr Kinghan: We would have to look
at the relationship but there would still be a role for the Regional
Development Agencies carrying out their current functions, but
we would need to think about those relationships in the future.
But this is all very hypothetical.
Q123 Mr Betts: Picking up a point
with the Department for Transport, the Department for Transport
has not got a wonderful track record for devolving, has it? We
have had the draft Regional Assemblies Bill in front of this Committee
a couple of years ago and when you looked at it there was not
a single power being devolved to the Regional Assemblies from
the Department for Transport. The Regional Assemblies could basically
talk about what the Department for Transport was going to do and
that was it.
Mr Linnard: Against that background
it is quite a big step to be going through the regional funding
allocations exercise, and to go back to your question that was
asked earlier about what policies the regions would have influenced
it is inconceivable that at the other end of the regional funding
allocations exercise the schemes that are taken forward in the
regions will be the same as the schemes that would have been drawn
up had it been done in the old way, which is basically in Whitehall.
So that will be proved to be something which has given real influence
to the regions.
Q124 Mr Betts: So coming on to the
concept of the city regions then, you might be quite relaxed as
well as giving the powers of the PTE over to the city region,
which seems to be not a terribly devolving sort of mechanism,
to look at something in terms of devolving powers down from the
Department nationally or even regionally to a city regional level?
Mr Linnard: Well, all these things
are—
Mr Kinghan: You are trying to
get us to speculate again!
Chair: Can I thank you all very much
and we will look forward to your homework in due course.
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