§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what progress has been made with programme agreement for those areas that have lost Objective 2 status but have entitlement to transitional funding; and if he will make a statement. [119560]
§ Ms Beverley HughesFollowing the formal approval of the UK Objective 2 map on 30 March, the UK can now submit draft Objective 2 programmes to the European Commission. We formally lodged with the Commission on 14 April the Objective 2 programme documents for Yorkshire and the Humber; North East; West Midlands; East Midlands; North West; London; East of England and South East. (The programme for the South West will be lodged at a slightly later date.) This should ensure that452W these programmes will be eligible for funding to be backdated to 1 January 2000, and will help in meeting financial commitments in the first year of the programme.
These programmes documents include details of plans for transitional areas in each region. We fully anticipate that, subject to negotiations with the European Commission, all the English Objective 2 programmes will be approved before the end of the year.