To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 25 February 2010, Official Report, column 86WS, on Right to Control (Trailblazer sites) how many bids her Department received to become Trailblazer sites; and what the name was of each bidder. (320934)

The Department received a strong field of bids from 43 local authorities wishing to take part in the Right to Control Trailblazers. Taking into account joint bids, this amounted to bids from 36 potential Trailblazer areas.

The Trailblazers that were selected represent a good mix in terms of demography, geography, and different types of local authorities (two-tier authorities, unitary authorities, metropolitan and London boroughs).

The local authorities that submitted a bid were:

Joint bids

Coventry and Warwickshire

Barnsley and Sheffield¹

Greater Manchester¹ this includes Manchester City, Bury, Trafford, Stockport, and Oldham

Islington and Westminster

Single bids

Barnet¹

Bexley

Bournemouth

Blackpool

Bradford

Calderdale

Central Bedfordshire

Darlington

Derbyshire

Durham

Enfield

Essex¹

Hampshire

Kent

Kirklees

Lambeth

Leicester¹

Newham¹

Norfolk

Northamptonshire

Nottinghamshire

Peterborough

Portsmouth

Redbridge

Redcar and Cleveland¹

Rotherham

St. Helens

Staffordshire

Stockton

Surrey¹

Wakefield

Worcestershire

¹ Selected Trailblazers.