The Committee believes that Regional Development Agencies must be the chief focus for scrutiny because of their significant budgets and the central role they play in coordinating the economic and strategic activity of each region. The Committee believes that more should be done to monitor the delivery of services in the regions, to complement national lines of accountability.
The report recommends that one select and one grand committee should be astablished for each of the administrative regions in England except London. Arrangements for London are likely to be somewhat different, due to the office of the Mayor of London and London Assembly.
The report recommends the following:
- A relatively small membership of up to ten, reflecting the political composition of the House of Commons (thus some members may be nominated from outside the relevant region);
- Power to travel withing UK, with each committee meeting mostly within its region;
Positive working relationships and regular liasion with departmental select committees and with local authorities to co-ordinate activities, develop local knowledge and avoid duplication;
- Less frequent meetings than departmental select committees in the interest of establishing proportionate scrutiny and facilitating Members’ attendance and involvement.
One of the regional select committee chairman should sit on the liaision Committee, made up of the chairmen of all select committees.
In addition, the report recommends that there should be up to two regional grang committee meetings in each session, either in Westminster or in the relevant region, to involve a wider range of MPs.
The Committee recommends that these arrangements should be implemented on a temporary basis until the end of the present Parliament, followed by a review to decide their future. |
