Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what amounts of social policy expenditure have been allocated by his Department and its agencies to combat rural disadvantages.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryThe Rural Development Commission, which is the Government's principal agency in England for carrying forward our policies on the rural economy, is developing and implementing a wide range of initiatives which deal with economic and social problems in the countryside. The Commission's expenditure on its social programmes in 1989–90 was £4.7 million.