Silloth (Hansard, 8 January 2001)

§ Ms Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 21 December 2000]: The following forms of assistance are available to, allocated through and provided with the support of the DETR, DTI, DCMS and DfEE to Silloth. (In some cases the information is provided for Allerdale and Cumbria, on the basis that it is for the district council and county council to determine which areas will be targeted for assistance):

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Objective 2—European Funding Silloth is eligible for Objective 2 European regional funding. Assistance available under the North West Objective 2 programme for the period 2000–06 totals £400 million. A further £240 million is available over the same period for Objective 3, which delivers the European Social Fund throughout the region.

Neighbourhood Renewal Fund Allerdale will receive about £1.712 million over the next three years as part of the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund announced in October.

New Commitment to Regeneration There is one Pathfinder in West Cumbria which covers Allerdale and Copeland.

North West Development Agency Silloth has received Rural Development Programme funding of £65,900k and Redundant Building Grants of £63,201k from the NWDA.

Housing Investment Programme Resources for housing for the whole of the Borough of Allerdale are provided through the Housing Investment Programme. For next year this will incorporate an Annual Capital Guideline of £1,122k, an additional amount of £122k to tackle housing problems in former coalfield areas, and £133k Disabled Facilities Grant to support the funding of adaptations.

Local Transport Plan Cumbria county council received over £15 million for 2001–02 in the recent Local Transport Plan settlement.

Department of Trade and Industry Silloth is eligible for Regional Selective Assistance, Enterprise Grant Scheme and SMART funding. To date Silloth has received one RSA offer of £20,000 for a project with expected costs of £183,000 and seven jobs created. The full amount of grant has been paid to the company. In addition, through Business Link Cumbria, small businesses in Silloth have access to advice and financial assistance. This support will continue via the Small Business Service from 1 April 2001.

Department of Culture Media and Sport

Lottery Awards Organisations in Silloth can apply for Lottery Awards funding.

Sports Action Zone The Sports Action Zone for West Cumbria will receive £70k per year for at least five years.

371W

Department of Education and Employment

Cumbria local education authority funding
£ million
	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01
Standard Spending Assessment	170.358	186.095	195.477	205.842
Standards Fund	1.999	2.605	6.370	9.733
Class Size Reduction	—	—	0.868	1.512
Education Action Zone	—	—	—	0.770
Nursery Education Grant	1.951	0.557	0.601	—
£290 million Special Grant to Schools	—	—	—	3.402
£50 million Special Grant to LEAs	—	—	—	0.571

Notes:

1. At national level, £527 million was taken from the total SSA to fund the Nursery Voucher Scheme in 1997–98.

2. Funding for the reduction of (infant)class sizes was part of the Standards Fund in 1998–99.

3. Education Action Zone funding is paid to the Zone not to the LEA.

4. Standards Fund/Gest figures are DfEE contribution only and exclude capital funding.

5. Some elements of the standards fund are targeted at Adult education and under fours, these have been included.

6. Nursery education grant data are not available for 2000–01.

Early Years Cumbria has been allocated sufficient funding to create 808 (£959,904) new free part-time early education places in 2001–02 rising to 915 (£1,114,470) in 2002–03 and 1,037 (£1,294,176) in 2003–04. The Cumbria Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership is responsible for setting criteria, based upon need, to decide which children should receive these places.

Sure Start The Allerdale district will receive a Sure Start grant of up to £3 million over three years as part of the third wave of funding. Allerdale is part of the rural pilot programme which is exploring how services can best be delivered to families over a wider geographic area than that covered by other Sure Start Programmes.

Employment and Training The Employment Service offers a full range of services to unemployed people in Silloth through its Jobcentres in Maryport and Carlisle. In addition, a vacancy display has been set up at Silloth's community centre, offering a freephone link to Maryport Jobcentre. This will be replaced next year by a vacancy kiosk with computer links to Jobcentre vacancies. Workington and Carlisle each have Jobclub and Jobplan workshops which advise clients and offer support in finding employment. Intakes are on a weekly basis and travel expenses are refunded. Maryport Jobcentre currently undertakes twice weekly sessions at Johnson Controls to take claims for benefit and offer employment advice to staff being made redundant. The redundancy has been declared large scale and early access to ES programmes is open for redundant workers. Ongoing meetings between Employment Services, Cumbria county council and Enterprise Cumbria Ltd. have now defined the plan to submit an application to the Rapid Response Fund to assist workers with additional support for re-training. The local Jobcentre works closely with the local parish council and periodically holds advisory sessions for clients at the community hall.

New Deal for Young People Silloth is part of the Cumbria Unit of Delivery (UoD). New Deal for Young People in the Workington parliamentary constituency has placed 652 people into employment since April 1998, 508 of whom were in sustained employment (employment exceeding 13 weeks).