§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what funds were awarded under objective 1 to Liverpool during the past 12 months: how many bids were entered for this money; how many were accepted; what is the total amount of money used from the allocation; what is the residue; and how the residue is to be used.
§ Sir Paul BeresfordThe objective 1 programme covers the five boroughs of Merseyside, including Liverpool. The first round of applications seeking £243 million grant were submitted in August 1994. Many applications, for example for business support services or for training schemes, were not targeted at Liverpool alone and it is therefore not possible to say how much funding was bid for the borough. Approvals in principle for the first round of successful applications involving grant of £175 million were announced in November 1994. This includes £36 million of ESF for training projects, of which a significant amount will benefit Liverpool, and over £12 million of ERDF to projects based in Liverpool.
Over £550 million of European funding remains for the rest of the programme up to 1999. It will be used in accordance with the single programme document. A second round of applications is currently under consideration.