§ Mr. Harry BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give details of the scope, funding and operation of European Community funding for coalfield and former coalfield areas under the RECHAR programme, and of the work undertaken by his Department to assist with the operation and monitoring of 225W this programme, together with details of any restrictions that have been placed upon the abilities of local authorities to fund schemes which would otherwise have attracted grants under the RECHAR programme.
§ Mr. Leigh[holding answer 5 December 1990]: The European Commission's notice about the RECHAR initiative for Community assistance to coal-mining areas was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities of 27 January 1990. This set out, inter alia, the eligible measures and the criteria for the definition of eligible areas. The Commission's decisions as to eligible areas were published in the Official Journal of 18 July 1990. Eleven programmes of measures were submitted by the Government to the Commission on 26 July 1990 and are currently awaiting Commission approval. The Commission has indicated that the financial allocation to the United Kingdom areas will be 156.2 million ecu.
My Department, the Departments of the Environment and of Employment, the Welsh Office and the Scottish Office, which are responsible for the applications, have
A and A/S levels BTEC GCSE First and National Diploma Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent Clwyd 451 13 1,528 45 251 7 Dyfed 50 2 1,337 51 40 2 Gwent 904 23 1,106 28 297 7 Gwynedd 69 4 782 48 — — Mid Glam 75 2 1,281 38 53 2 Powys 13 2 420 52 40 5 South Glam 349 13 819 30 322 12 West Glam 1,632 35 1,610 35 262 6 Wales 3,543 15 8,883 38 1,265 5 Numbers relate to full-time and sandwich students following the required courses at higher and further education and tertiary colleges. They are shown as a percentage of the total number of full-time and sandwich students on further education courses.