§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of the criteria which applicants will have to satisfy when applying for European grant assistance under each of the headings outlined in the Northern Ireland community support framework document.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 4 April 1990]: The primary requirement for applicants is that their proposals should comply with the specific priorities identified by the EC Commission in its Community support framework for Northern Ireland. These call for: improvement of the physical and social environment; reduction in the effects of peripherality; diversification and strengthening of the industrial and tradeable services sectors; development of agriculture and tourism; and training to develop Northern Ireland's human resources. The funds available are, of course, limited, and proposals must also demonstrate value for money.
The detailed project criteria form part of the various operational programmes currently being negotiated with the Commission. As these are agreed, the criteria will be made known to those wishing to put forward proposals. Work is also in hand on application guidelines which will be circulated to local partners, and to others on request.
§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of the current negotiations between his Department and the European Commission in relation to European funding.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 4 April 1990]: Negotiations with the Commission on the Northern Ireland Community support framework were completed in December last year. Since then, negotiations continue on the content of the various earning programmes to be supported from our allocations from the three structural funds. Other, special. programmes may also be funded from outside member state allocations and officials are discussing with the Commission how Northern Ireland can best benefit from them. These measures include, of course, the transfrontier programme on which we and the Government of the Republic of Ireland are jointly negotiating with the Commission.
§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total amount of financial assistance received by(a) each Northern Ireland Government Department, (b) each district council in Northern Ireland and (c) other organisations from European Community sources, in each year since 1980.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 4 April 1990]: Northern Ireland's largest single source of funding from the European Community is the guarantee section of the European agricultural guidance and guarantee fund. However, the bulk of such receipts are centrally disbursed, by the intervention board for agricultural produce, and details of payments are not generally maintained on a regional basis. There are numerous other sources of EC grant and although, in most of these cases, figures for the Province as a whole are available they are not analysed on the basis sought. Nevertheless it has been possible to construct a table showing for the last three financial years (aggregated) the amounts of structural fund money 887W received by the various Northern Ireland departments, by the district council sector and by other bodies. The details are as follows:
Financial Years Northern Ireland Departments DANI £ million DED £ million DOE £ million DHSS £ million DENI £ million District Councils £ million Others £ million Total £ million 1987–88 to 1989–90 24.1 139.2 18.4 4.6 23.5 11.9 81.2 302.9 (These figures are provisional; their accuracy depends upon 1989–90 receipts being finalised.)
In so far as it would be feasible, the further detail requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.