§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to provide support for voluntary organisations funded by the European social fund who have received no payments from the fund for the financial year commenced in January.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe responsibility for the delays in payment under the European social fund rests with the European Commission. The Commission will not release money from the fund until it has approved the United Kingdom's plan for 1994 to 1999. The plan was submitted in November 1993, and despite pressure from this Department, the Commission has only just begun negotiations with us. The Government are pressing the Commission to approve the plan as soon as possible.
The Department has parliamentary authority to make payments as an agent of the Commission only once the funds have arrived. We sympathise with the position in which the voluntary organisations find themselves as a result of the Commission's delays. We are considering urgently whether we can do anything to alleviate the problems they are facing.