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Budget (Northern Ireland) Order 2007

I had not intended to contribute to this debate but shall do so after hearing about the vast sums being spent in Northern Ireland, in particular on education, for historic reasons that we all understand. The number of people in Hampshire and Dorset together is equal to the number in Northern Ireland. It would be invidious to compare the combined cost of education in Hampshire and Dorset with the money going into Northern Ireland. It is probably too late now to do so because it has all gone through. But have the Government thought about local government as an important element in the provision of education? Have they thought about having just one unitary authority and 26 what I shall call community councils, rather than parish councils or whatever one wants to call them? The cost of that might be significantly less than the present reorganisation proposals. I simply ask the question. The Minister may not be able to answer it, but it struck me forcefully as we were talking about the amount going to education and the reorganisation of local government and the costs therein.