Written question asked by James Paice (Conservative) on Wednesday, 30 April 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 May 2008. It was answered by Jonathan Shaw (Labour) on Monday, 12 May 2008 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Rural Areas: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how often his Department draws down funding for the European Rural Development Programme from the EU; and what exchange rate is used to allocate that funding to the regional development agencies and Natural England.

Answer: The EU funding is paid in arrears, following receipt of a claim for reimbursement from the Rural Payments Agency. The claim for reimbursement is submitted on a quarterly basis in Euros.Budgets for the Regional Development Agency and Natural England Rural Development Programme for England are allocated by DEFRA, in sterling. The Regional Development Agencies and Natural England are responsible for committing the expenditure, but payments to beneficiaries and claims for reimbursement from the European Commission are made by the Rural Payments Agency, the Paying Agency for the Programme. Expenditure commitment details are provided by the Regional Development Agencies and Natural England, in Sterling, to the Rural Payments Agency, which makes the payments in sterling. It is the responsibility of the Rural Payments Agency to convert the sterling payments into euro claims for reimbursement from the European Commission. The exchange rate used is set by the European Central Bank rate, on the last but one day in the month before the payments were made.

Secondary information