§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, with particular reference to Stoke on Trent North. [83438]
§ Mr. McNultyThe Coalfields Regeneration Trust is an independent UK wide grant making body launched in 1999 as part of the Government's response to the Coalfield Task Force Report published in 1998. Working with partners, it delivers the social and economic regeneration of the coalfields in England, Scotland and Wales.
No separate figures are available for the funding of projects by the Trust in the Stoke on Trent North area. However, during its first round of funding (1999–2002) the Coalfields Regeneration Trust made 11 grants with a value of £670,000 to the wider Stoke on Trent area. Since the inception of the second round of funding from April 2002 a further five grants have been made with a value totalling £458,300.
A wide range of community projects have been supported by these grants including the provision of new community facilities, the refurbishment of former miners welfare facilities and the provision of work based training opportunities to disaffected young people.