Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I have one amendment in this group. Amendment 181 would simply insert a duty to evaluate from a cost-benefit basis the whole of this part. The plain point behind that is to find out whether this new legislation is worth while. The Government have presented the Bill as a measure to help us to get out of recession. If that is what it is and what it will do in practice, it will be well worth knowing whether it is working. If it turns out that the new measures do not help or are even a burden, plainly it will be prudent to stop and think again rather than, putting it coarsely, continuing to flog a dead horse. I have seen the impact assessments prepared by the department but I hope that the Minister can lay out for us in Committee the Government’s estimated costs for the implementation of Part 5 on regional strategy. How much will the new political infrastructure cost? Will it be an ongoing cost and, if so, will it diminish or increase? Once the Government have seen through the implementation of the provisions of this part and got the show going, where will the money come from to keep it on the road? How much will the leaders’ boards cost to run? How much is in the budget for the operational costs of the RDAs? Does the Minister agree that this money would be better spent at a local level, rather than simply churning money around so that we have a duplication of duties and costs? Given that we were told when the Bill was unveiled that it was a direct answer to the Government’s economic difficulties, and in light of the fact that in the past weeks and months the same Government have been at pains to tell us what uncertain and uncharted economic territory we are entering, would it not be prudent to assess with empirical evidence whether the structures in the Bill are the correct ones to deal with the economic turmoil? I hope my amendment will be seen as constructive and helpful.