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Local Enterprise Growth Initiative

: I will try to come to that point before I conclude. I was just moving on to some issues that are relevant to Stoke. We recognise that we have asked a lot of local authorities that wish to bid for the first round of LEGI funding, the deadline for which, as was mentioned, is 9 December. We have made some £10 million of pump-priming money available to all eligible local authorities to cover the costs of the bidding process. Although it is a difficult task, there is also a beneficial element to the process, as it forces local authorities and their local and regional partners to think hard about increasing enterprise in their communities. Local authorities will have to demonstrate in their proposals an understanding of the nature of the market failure in the locality and that they have the right solutions to reverse it. We should not get too hung up on the 9 December deadline. LEGI is not about quick fixes. Local authorities will be able to bid for LEGI funding in two further rounds. Many authorities will choose to take the extra time to hone their proposals and develop their research, and authorities that are unsuccessful in the first round are free to use the experience to prepare improved bids in the later rounds. I understand that Stoke has adopted an innovative approach to their proposals so far, inviting a broad range of local partners to submit projects for consideration to build a LEGI bid from the ground. Such innovative thinking is welcome. It will be difficult to turn around the economies of deprived areas without doing new things. We want to learn from innovation, capture it and apply it to other areas. The key to LEGI success will be the quality of the proposal. We want bids that demonstrate the real difference that LEGI funding can bring to an area. The process of choosing the successful proposals will have two stages. First, regions will rank bids in order of their quality, set against the national criteria soon to be published. That will involve discussions between Government offices and regional development agencies. As my hon. Friend said, Stoke will need to maintain the close relationships that it has already established with the Government office for the west midlands and Advantage West Midlands. The regions will then make recommendations to Ministers who will make the final national decisions. I stress again how competitive the process will be. We expect to fund only 10 bids in the first year, 10 more the next year and 10 more the year after, but, from what my hon. Friend said and from the discussions that are taking place in Stoke and the west midlands, it seems that Stoke is giving itself every chance of success. My hon. Friend asked whether there would be one bid per region. Given that 10 bids will be successful each year, it is clear that there will be more than one in at least one region. However, bids will be judged on the success criteria, so there may be more in some regions. My hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright) will be reassured to know that officials have noted the strong bid that Hartlepool is putting together. I am sure that he will continue to watch matters closely. On the amount of money that will be available, my advice is that £2 million to £10 million will be available for successful bids each year for five to 10 years. So where are we now? A great deal of progress has been made on LEGI in a short time. The extensive consultation process not only demonstrated the breadth of support for the initiative but gave us an opportunity to refine some elements of the programme. In July, we signalled through the next steps document that my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government presented to the House that we were going ahead with LEGI and setting a broad timetable for local authorities and others. We look forward to reviewing high quality bids in December and to funding them from April 2006. There is a great deal of work still to do. LEGI has ambitious aims, and we hope that the impact will be far reaching, boosting the economies not only of the most deprived communities but of the regions and the nation. We must learn from successful programmes so that other local areas can adapt LEGI to their local economies. We have never attempted to tackle this problem in such a sustained way, but by working with partners in neighbourhoods, local areas and regions we will try to make a big difference to local economies. I wish my hon. Friends and their local authorities every success in the process.