§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many water level management plans have received grant aid for implementation from her Department in each of the last five years; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of this level of expenditure. [68192]
§ Mr. MorleyDEFRA provides grant towards the cost of approved capital works undertaken by the Environment Agency, local authorities and Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs), inter alia, to implement water level management704W plans (WLMPs). The numbers of works in relation to WLMPs approved for grant in each of the last five years is:
Number 1997 2 1998 2 1999 3 2000 2 2001 3 2002 (to date) 1 The Department is committed to its WLMP initiative. In February 2001 in order to encourage implementation of plans I announced an increase in grant rates for IDBs to 80 per cent. for sites of international importance, and 50 per cent. for sites of national importance.
The operating authorities have a High Level Target in relation to completion and implementation of WLMPs. Part B of this target is to have in place a detailed programme for implementing and reviewing WLMPs:
For European and Ramsar sites (by April 2002)For other SSSIs (by April 2003).The Environment Agency is also required to report to DEFRA on operating authorities progress in implementing and reviewing WLMPs against their published programme. We will be reviewing the information received from this reporting process to see whether expenditure is adequate.