§ Mrs. EllmanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions which projects put forward for Objective 1 funding in the Merseyside programme are being re-assessed in relation to the rulings made by the European Commission concerning state aid. [143175]
§ Ms Beverley HughesNone of the projects presently receiving funding from the 1994–99 Structural Funds Objective 1 programme on Merseyside have been re-assessed because of state-aid issues. The Merseyside Structural Funds Programme Secretariat is currently appraising applications for funding under the 2000–06 Objective 1 programme. It is a condition for the receipt of grant that all projects accepted for funding must comply with the European Commission State Aid rules and the appraisal process will take this into account for all applications.