To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what criteria were used to allocate the funding referred to in the answer of 23 October 2007, Official Report, column 195W, on regional development agencies: finance to each regional development agency; and what the reasons were for the variation between regional development agencies of their administrative costs as a percentage of their respective grants. (170632)

The regional development agencies' budgets for 2007-08 were allocated to the RDAs following the Spending Review 2004. Grant in aid was divided between the RDAs using a funding formula which takes into account the needs of the region (including skills, worklessness and productivity).

Once the overall budgets were set, the RDAs produced corporate plans in which they set out their requirements for pay and non-pay administration costs. Those plans were approved by Ministers.

Differences in the proportion of the total budget spent on administration by RDAs arise for a number of reasons. These include the different geographic size and population of the region, the different sizes of the RDAs’ total budget and the different choices which the Agencies make in terms of whether they deliver particular objectives themselves or whether they operate through sub-regional partners.