To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding her Department plans to provide for the (a) establishment and (b) running costs of local authority leaders’ boards. (253867)

Development of regional strategies will require close working between local authorities and the Regional Development Agency (RDA) and each region will need to establish structures which best suit their overall arrangements.

When local authority leaders’ boards are established they will receive funding on the basis of an agreed business plan to cover their work on the Regional Strategy and any other agreed functions. It will be for the RDA and the local authority leaders’ board to decide between them how their joint working arrangements are resourced.