§ Lord Melchettasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much grant aid has been paid from public funds to internal drainage boards in each year since 1976, under what legislative provisions are such payments made, and for what purposes has such public money been spent.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Earl Ferrers)Section 91 of the Land Drainage Act 1976 provides for the payments of grant on expenditure incurred by internal drainage boards in carrying out drainage schemes. The amount of grant paid to all boards since 1976 has been as follows:
£ 1976–77 1,339,241 1977–78 1,715,725 1978–79 2,193,016 1979–80 2,464,566 1980–81 2,826,936 Each drainage scheme on which grant has been paid will have been designed either to alleviate or to prevent flooding of urban property or agricultural land, or to improve the drainage of agricultural land.