§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on what help is available through(a)her Department and (b)the Countryside Agency to local community councils. [39397]
§ Alun MichaelSupport for rural community councils is now provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs through the Countryside Agency. £2.984 million was paid in 2001–02; from 2002–03, under a new three-year service level agreement, £3.334 million will be available each year. Rural community councils may be eligible for funding under other programmes run by DEFRA and the Countryside Agency—for instance if a particular rural community council puts forward a successful bid to run a project under the England Rural Development Programme or within one of the programmes run for us by the agency, but no separate record is kept of money they may have received from such sources.