§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what level of match public funds from his Department is available to EU Objective 1 regions for each of the next seven calendar years; [104304]
(2) what assessment he has made of the requirements for match public funds from his Department for the EU Objective 1 regions of (a) Cornwall and Scilly, (b) Merseyside and (c) South Yorkshire for each of the seven years of the programme. [104300]
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§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 10 January 2000]: It is the responsibility of grant applicants in the Objective 1 regions to calculate how much match public funding they will need and from where they should obtain this. The Government have provided and will continue to provide significant financial support through a variety of programmes sponsored by different departments. MAFF is currently considering its contribution to this support. Local partnerships can prioritise the use of these resources to fund projects jointly with the Structural Funds.
Regional partners can also seek to match their European funds with contributions from the voluntary and private sectors, as well as through loans from organisations such as the European Investment Bank.