HC Deb 18 December 2001 vol 377 cc184-6W
Ann Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of whether the distribution of grants is proceeding at a sufficient rate to ensure that all objective 1 money allocated to west Wales and Valleys will stay in Wales and will not have to be returned to the EU structural fund under the conditions of the mid-term target review in 2003. [22173]

Mr. Paul Murphy

I meet the Assembly Finance Ministers regularly and discuss progress on the objective 1 programme. I am told there is no question of money having to be returned to the European Commission. The Assembly expects to exceed the target of drawing down £176 million from the Commission by the first decommitment date of 31 December 2002.

In addition, the Assembly has recently put in place new monitoring procedures to ensure that projects' sponsors claim their grant as quickly as possible after receiving approval. This will speed up the rate of programme spend.

Ann Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary on which projects in the Cynon Valley have been funded by west Wales and Valleys objective 1 funding since October 2000. [22174]

(2) what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary on the amount of EU objective 1 budget for west Wales and the Valleys that has been (a) committed and (b) spent on projects in the Cynon Valley since October 2000. [22175]

Mr. Paul Murphy

The administration of structural fund programmes in Wales and individual project approvals under those programmes are matters for the National Assembly for Wales and its executive agency, the Welsh European Funding Office.

Ann Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary as to whether sufficient match funding can be allocated to enable the full use of objective 1 funding to west Wales and the Valleys over the project period 2000 to 2006. [22176]

Mr. Paul Murphy

It is a condition of structural fund programmes that grant recipients meet a proportion of their project costs, in addition to the grant provided by the European Commission. This "match funding" does not all come from the Assembly budget but can be found from a wide range of different sources, for example, local authorities, voluntary organisations, lottery funding, colleges and training organisations and other public and private sector bodies.

Nevertheless, the Government have allocated an additional £1.4 billion to the Assembly budget over the three year spending review period from 2001–04 to ensure that the Assembly has sufficient funds to provide match funding for the portion of objective 1 projects which require Assembly support. It is for the Assembly to decide how this additional funding is allocated among its programmes, but the First Minister has assured me on numerous occasions that no other Assembly budget has suffered to provide match funding for the objective 1 programme. The Assembly's budget for 2002–03 makes specific provision for match funding across a number of policy areas.