§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if the strategy funds for Regional Development Agencies, announced in the pre-Budget Statement, also apply to the Welsh Development Agency. [142584]
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§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe pre-Budget Report announcement concerned English Regional Development Agencies, and gave them more budgetary flexibility, and a new Strategic Programme, allowing Regional Development Agencies to switch resources into the new Strategic Programme for innovative schemes that meet their economic and other strategic aims.
The Spending Review provided increased resources for Regional Development Agencies and Wales received Barnett consequential of those increases in the usual way. It is for the Assembly to determine how to allocate its resources among its programmes according to its own priorities, and its recent budget announcements set out detailed plans, including increased funding, for the WDA for the next three years.