§ Lord Inglewoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in the case of the European regional development funding and European structural funding, commitments to end beneficiaries under delegated projects must be identified by 31 December, and whether this is likely to reduce the number of businesses likely to benefit from the funds and lead to underspending. [HL3223]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Simon of Highbury)Eligibility for structural funds expenditure is defined in each Commission decision approving Community programmes of grant.
22WAIn the case of aid schemes the decisions require that final recipients and the amount granted to each are identified before the end date for commitment under the programmes, i.e. 31 December 1999.
Aid schemes have been approved in accordance with the requirements in the decisions and it is a matter for each scheme promoter to ensure the funds are disbursed before the end date. There is no reason why this procedure should lead to underspends.