Management and Best Practice Toolkit

HC Deb 31 October 2002 vol 391 cc921-2W

Mr. Breed

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many applications were made and how much was spent through the internet-linked management and best practice toolkit in(a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03 to date; broken down by project. [78394]

Alun Michael

Following a commitment in the Rural White Paper the web based best practice toolkit for parishes was launched in September 2002. It was developed by the Countryside Agency working with the Local Government Association (LGA), the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) and the improvement and Development Agency (IDeA). The `Knowledge' website is a free web resource. The address is www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk and is currently used by over 15,000 registered users.

The editorial management is jointly owned by the IDeA, LGA, NALC and the Countryside Agency. The Countryside Agency chairs and services the editorial management meetings. The toolkit focuses particularly on partnership working between parish and town councils and principal local authorities.

The toolkit is a resource not a mechanism for application for grants. Therefore figures cannot be provided in the format requested.