§ Mr. MacShaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what funding has been allocated to the United Kingdom under the European social fund for the period 1994 to 1999. [19077]
§ Mr. Paice[holding answer 10 March 1997]: The total amount allocated to the United Kingdom from the structural funds over the period 1994 to 1999 is £9,530 million and we expect that £4,344 million of this will be allocated to the European social fund: the precise allocation to the ESF will be known when the current negotiations on the objective 2 programme for 1997–99 have been completed. These figures are based on 1994 prices and an exchange rate of 1.39 ECU to £1.