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Regional Development Agencies

Volume 486: debated on Tuesday 20 January 2009

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the operating costs were for each regional development agency in England in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) July 2008, (d) August 2008, (e) September 2008 and (f) October 2008; and what he assesses the effect on for the economy was of the operation of the regional development agencies. (246088)

Operating costs are defined as staffing plus administration costs. The table shows the operating costs for each Regional Development Agency (RDA) for 2006-07 and 2007-08. However, the totals provided for July, August, September and October 2008 are not audited management account figures and therefore some elements included in the statutory accounts such as depreciation charges are excluded from the sums presented.

In relation to the question on benefits to the economy from RDAs operations; the Government have commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an independent evaluation of the economic impact of RDAs. Their report has just been completed and I will be presenting it to the House shortly.

Total operating costs

£ million

2008-091

RDA

2006-07

2007-08

July

August

September

October

AWM

21.3

30.5

2.2

2.3

2.2

2.0

EEDA

15.9

17.1

1.6

1.6

1.3

1.1

EMDA

16.4

17.6

1.4

1.4

1.4

1.4

LDA

45.7

43.8

4.1

3.2

3.7

3.6

NWDA

38.8

34.3

2.8

4.2

3.1

3.0

ONE

24.8

24.7

1.9

2.3

2.3

2.5

SEEDA

24.3

26.1

1.8

3.2

1.8

2.3

SWRDA

23.1

24.4

2.2

2.3

1.5

1.9

YF

23.7

228.7

1.7

1.7

1.7

1.8

1 Figures for 2008-09 have not been audited.

2 This figure includes £3,178,000 of expenditure incurred by subsidiaries. Costs incurred by subsidiaries of YF were consolidated into the Agency’s accounts in 2007-08 for the first time. In 2006-07 costs incurred by subsidiaries were not included with those of YF. For comparison purposes, the subsidiaries cost for 2006-07 was £3,616,000.