HC Deb 11 January 1995 vol 252 cc137-8
5. Mr. Charles Kennedy

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will outline progress towards the implementation of United Kingdom objective 1 funding; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Charles Wardle

In the six months since the adoption of new six-year programmes for the three UK objective 1 areas, grants of nearly £200 million have been approved to more than 1,150 projects.

Mr. Kennedy

I thank the Minister for that reply. Given the welcome nature of the structural funding available to the three areas in question, including the Scottish highlands and islands, does he agree that one of the implementation difficulties that seems to arise is that smaller business people rarely have the back-up required to make an application? They do not have the complex range and detail of professional services that are required, so the bulk of the funding understandably goes to local authorities, enterprise companies and so on, which have greater expertise at their disposal. Will the Minister and his officials see whether more help can be given specifically to smaller business people so that they can get as much advantage from the funds as the bigger concerns?

Mr. Wardle

The hon. Gentleman highlighted the progress in his constituency as part of the highlands and islands objective 1 grant. I understand that £16 million of objective 1 grants have been approved for 208 projects. He will know from his constituency that some of them are fairly small sums, but he makes a perfectly valid point, which should be considered by the monitoring committees. If he approaches the appropriate Government office, I am sure that it will take the point on board and that the monitoring committees will want to think about it.

Mr. Salmond

Has the Minister analysed how the cuts in local authority finance in Scotland will impact on the ability of the highlands and islands and the north-east of Scotland to take advantage of objective 1 and objective 5b status? Would not it be ironic, if somewhat familiar, if benefits from Europe were undermined by the policies of the London Government?

Mr. Wardle

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman takes such a sour approach to the good news for Scotland. I hope that he bears in mind the fact that the six-year allocation of structural funds from 1994 to 1999 for the highlands and islands will amount to £263 million. That must be good news.

Mrs. Anne Campbell

Does the Minister recognise, however, that the squeeze on local authority spending may lead to an inability to take up European funds, particularly given the need for matching grants?

Mr. Wardle

The hon. Lady will want to bear it in mind that the keynote for regional policy should be value for money. In that context, local authorities could do a great deal more.