§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the grants awarded by his Department to the South West Regional Flood Defence Committee in each year from 1993–94 to 1998–99 by(a) amount and (b) percentage change over the previous year. [65096]
§ Mr. MorleyGrant is awarded to the Environment Agency by means of Grant Earning Ceilings (GECs) which represent the total of approved flood defence capital expenditure in respect of which grant can be claimed. GECs reflect commitments on ongoing schemes and a national assessment of the priority and urgency of new schemes. Therefore year on year comparisons should be treated with caution. It is also the case that the Environment Agency's South West Regional Flood Defence Committee (RFDC) has not taken up the original award fully in all years.
I list below (i) the GECs originally awarded each year to the South West RFDC, (ii) the percentage change compared to the previous year's original GEC and (iii) the final outturn for each year.
year Original GEC (£million) Percentage change Final outturn (£million) 1993–94 5.8 +4 3.9 1994–95 5.6 -3 3.2 1995–96 5.0 -11 4.3 1996–97 4.5 -10 5.1 1997–98 3.0 -33 2.9 1998–99 2.2 -27 1— 1Not available
§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much he plans to award each of the regional flood defence committees in 1999–2000. [65095]
§ Mr. MorleyI have announced the award of 1999–2000 Grant Earning Ceilings (GECs) to the Environment Agency's Regional and Local Flood Defence Committees as follows for their core capital programmes. In addition further funding for flood warning improvements is being provided to the Agency on a national basis.
385W
£million RFDC area/district 1999–2000 GEC Anglia Essex 2.6 Great Ouse 0.8 Lincolnshire 6.0 Norfolk/Suffolk 8.8 Welland/Nene 0.9 North West 5.1 Northumbria 0.0 Severn Trent 4.7 South West 2.2 Southern Hampshire and Isle of Wight 0.4 Kent 1.4 Sussex 2.8 Thames 19.2 Wessex Avon/Dorset 0.9 Bristol/Avon 0.0 Somerset 2.6 Yorkshire 7.6