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Regional Assemblies - 23 April 2004

Mr. Curry: Mr. Curry: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the (a) dates and (b) venues of all meetings open to members of the public or by special invitation held in the (i) North East, (ii) North West and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber organised by the relevant Government regional offices to discuss the Government's proposals to establish regional assemblies at which a Government Minister spoke; what the cost was of holding each meeting; how many (A) members of the public and (B) invitees attended; what the schedule is for future meetings; and what the budget is for each meeting in each of the relevant regions. [165977]

Mr. Raynsford: The dates, venues, audience size and cost of the Hearings in the regions attended by Ministers so far are tabled:

Date	Venue	Region	Public	Invitees	Cost (£)
4 March 2004	Ewood Park, Blackburn	North West	210	40	5,400
4 March 2004	Berwick Community High School, Berwick	North East	55	65	6,600
18 March 2004	Pennine Theatre, Sheffield Hallam University	Yorkshire and the Humber	68	67	10,300
25 March 2004	University of Newcastle	North East	132	88	9,700
1 April 2004	Windsor Suite, Quality Royal Hotel, Hull	Yorkshire and the Humber	180	170	6,900
5 April 2004	Liverpool Marriott City Centre Hotel	North West	126	42	12,400
15 April 2004	Stonecross Manor Hotel, Kendal	North West	179	31	5,100

Ministers have attended public meetings in Middlesbrough and Halifax on 22 April at estimated costs of £11,400 and £7,700 respectively.

Future meetings are being scheduled, but details of these meetings have yet to be finalised.

In addition, the dates, venues, audience size and cost of previous meetings with an invited audience attended by Ministers, as indicated in the written statement on 3 November 2003 are tabled as follows:

Date	Venue	Region	Public	Invitees	Cost (£)
3 November 2003	Durham Castle	North East	—	100
3 November 2003	St. William's College, York	Yorkshire and the Humber	—	57	Total of 25,000
4 November 2003	The Village Hotel, Warrington	North West	—	80
1 December 2003	The Door, Hanover St, Liverpool	North West	—	15	—
4 December 2003	Town Hall, Barnsley	Yorkshire and the Humber	—	31	—
22 January 2004	Midland Hotel, Manchester	North West	—	400	3,200
23 January 2004	West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds	Yorkshire and the Humber	—	240	6,000
23 January 2004	Vermont Hotel, Newcastle	North East	—	120	6,200
29 January 2004	Speke, Parklands Youth Centre,	North West	—	25–30	44
	King George V College, Sefton	North West	—	20
25 February 2004	North Manchester Chambers of Commerce, Bolton	North West	—	30	—

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David Curry MP | House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA | tel: 020 7219 6202