§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on rural action programmes which contribute to overcoming isolation and poverty.
§ Mr. HanleyGiven the rural nature of much of Northern Ireland most Departments and statutory agencies administer programmes which help to a greater or lesser degree in meeting social and economic need in rural areas.
A particular example is the community regeneration and improvement special programme, jointly funded by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland and the International Fund for Ireland, which provides assistance to community groups and district councils undertaking projects to achieve local economic regeneration in villages and smaller towns in areas of particular disadvantage.
In order to assist those local groups developing plans to tackle social and economic need in the most deprived rural areas of the Province, and to optimise the impact of the Government's social and economic programmes in the more remote areas, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State accepted recently the recommendations of the Interdepartmental Committee on Rural Development. He appointed me the Minister responsible and accordingly I am at present engaged in setting up a Rural Development Council outside Government to act as an advice and resource centre for rural community groups. An executive chairman has already been appointed. Within the Department of Agriculture a rural development division has been established which will support a small team of area co-ordinators to co-ordinate the local delivery of statutory programmes and services and to provide integrated statutory responses to local development plans.
It is hoped that these structures will be fully in place by the autumn of this year.