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Regional Affairs Committee
Thursday 3 April 2003
(Westminster)
[Mr. Alan Hurst in the Chair]
Government Offices in the Regions
2.15 pm
The Minister for Social Exclusion and Deputy Minister for Women (Mrs. Barbara Roche): I am pleased to be in Committee today under your chairmanship, Mr. Hurst, to discuss progress in developing the role of Government offices in the regions. Their significant role in government is being developed further. It is interesting to consider the background to the Government offices, where they stood in 1997 and what progress has been made to date. I will also discuss where their role fits into our wider proposals for regional change.
From their formation in 1994 until 2000, the Government offices represented three Whitehall Departments. Their role was to manage relationships with regional partners on behalf of central Government and, crucially, to manage and implement the Government's programmes. The potential for and benefits of developing the Government offices' role further were outlined in the performance and innovation unit's ''Reaching Out'' report, which was published in February 2000.
Since 2000, there has been a major change of programme to revitalise the role of the Government offices and the way in which they operate. The number of Departments that the Government offices represent has increased from three in 1997 to nine in 2003. Departments such as the Home Office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Transport have reorganised and strengthened their regional teams. They now have staff working in the Government offices.
The Government offices' role in implementing the Government's programmes at a regional level has also evolved. They are now implementing several of the Government's key policies, including sure start, Connexions and the national strategy for neighbourhood renewal. They have an important role to play in making life better for many of the country's most disadvantaged individuals, families and communities. By working so closely with local providers and representing nine Departments, the Government offices can take a truly cross-cutting view, identify improvements and feed information back to Whitehall. The Government offices are leading the way in providing comprehensive solutions to the difficulties that local communities sometimes encounter.
The Committee may find it interesting to know that there has been significant external recruitment at senior levels, with five of the nine current regional directors coming from non-civil service backgrounds. Additionally, a fully constituted management board for the Government offices network, with two private
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sector, non-executive directors and an audit committee chaired by one of the internal directors, has been established. A new corporate planning process has been introduced and Government offices' structures have been substantially reorganised.
At the centre of the Government offices is the Regional Co-ordination Unit. That unit has carried out a major review of area-based initiatives and made proposals to reduce by half the number of separate funding channels, although the total amount of money will not be cut. That proposal will be achieved by merging and mainstreaming schemes, and aligning those with similar aims.
The Regional Co-ordination Unit is also promoting the development of locally based single funding pots to help to make delivery on the ground less complicated. That means that local people will spend less time filling in forms and more time delivering services. Many of the Departments already represented in the Government offices intend to extend their regional presence even further, for example, by taking forward the work of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in providing more affordable housing and working with rural communities.
Increasingly, Departments are seeing the benefits of using their expertise with the Government offices to inform their decision making. The Government offices are responding to that positively. Their business planning process now links their activity to specific departmental targets and places greater emphasis on performance management.
In May 2002, the Government published the White Paper ''Your Region, Your Choice''. Where regions want it—subject to a referendum—elected regional assemblies will be established. The White Paper also set out our plans for improving regional arrangements in all regions, whether or not they opt for an elected regional assembly. Government offices have new responsibilities for integrating the Government's activities, have a stronger input into policy and will develop proposals for further regional flexibilities. Regional development agencies have been given extra resource and greater flexibility to apply it where they think it will contribute the most. Finally, regional chambers are being given additional support in their role of bringing together regional strategies and scrutinising the RDAs, working closely with the Government offices and other Government-funded bodies in the regions.
This is a time for change in the regions. The Government have pursued an active regional policy since they took office. In addition, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister announced on 5 February a further development in the agenda with the launch of ''Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future''. Since 2002, the role of the Government offices has increased significantly, as has their ability to provide advice and support to their Whitehall sponsors. That is the way in which the strategy is being advanced and I look forward to the debate this afternoon.
The Chairman: We now come to questions. Hon. Members have the opportunity until 3.15 pm to put
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questions to the Minister. They should restrict themselves to asking their questions to one at a time, but they will have more than one opportunity to do so.
Mr. Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge): The Minister referred to the role of RDAs and their increased freedoms and flexibilities—to use a phrase of which her Department is fond. Can she give the Committee insight into why business organisations have withdrawn their support for the RDAs in the north-west and east of England regions?
Mrs. Roche: My experience is that business organisations are involved in the RDAs. As the hon. Gentleman will know, the business voice is strongly represented in the composition of the RDAs. As a former Minister with responsibility for small businesses, I know how welcome many small businesses in both those regions have found the RDAs to be, especially given the new flexibilities surrounding the single pot, the work of the Small Business Service and the new venture capital funds that are coming on stream.
Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): As a permanent member of the Committee, I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Hurst. You have performed the role of Chairman very well in the past and I know that you will be a firm but fair Chairman today.
I shall now move on to the single question that I am allowed to ask. My hon. Friend the Minister introduced the discussion clearly, but will she develop what she said? The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) referred to regional assemblies, but perhaps he meant regional chambers.
Mr. Hammond: I was speaking about RDAs.
Lawrie Quinn: I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. Can the Minister say more about the important link between regional chambers and the Government offices, especially the role that local government plays? Certainly, in my region of Yorkshire and the Humber, thousands of jobs would have been lost without the effective contribution to the local economy of the strengthened regional Government office.
Mrs. Roche: My hon. Friend is right. Much of the work of the regional chambers in partnership with the Government offices has been impressive. It has been interesting to see all the political parties involved in the operation of the regional chambers. A great deal of work has been carried out, and I am aware of the work that goes on in my hon. Friend's region. I acknowledge the work of the chamber, the Government office and the RDA. I know the South East England Development Agency well as I have visited it on a number of occasions and launched reports there. Tripartite working has been well received, particularly in areas of economic growth and regeneration.
Several hon. Members rose—
The Chairman: Order. Committee members may remove their jackets if they so wish.
Mr. Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley): Thank you, Mr. Hurst. The Minister mentioned the prospect of having referendums on whether to have to elected
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assemblies. Can she tell the Committee what guidance has been given to ensure that no taxpayers' money is given in any way, shape or form to promote elected assemblies? Is she aware of any flouting of those guidelines and, if so, what enforcement action has been taken?
Mrs. Roche: Rules on the use of public money under the present legislation must be abided by. If there is any flouting of the rules, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman and others will report it to the appropriate authorities.
Mr. Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby): I am not critical of the Government offices—setting them up was the one useful thing that the Conservative party did in 18 years in power. However, their personnel are civil servants who are seconded from London who and go back to London; they do not necessarily have roots in the region. How are they fitted to implement the proposals of the White Paper ''Your Region, Your Choice'' and to develop regional policy and intrude regional policy into central Government deliberations?
Mrs. Roche: My hon. Friend raises an important question. I congratulate the Conservative party on having the foresight to create the Government offices, because they have made a major contribution.
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