Written question asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative) on Thursday, 19 November 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 November 2009. It was answered by Dan Norris (Labour) on Monday, 30 November 2009 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

EU Grants and Loans

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the current underspend is on funding from the (a) European Regional Development Fund and (b) European Rural Development Fund which is administered by his Department; and what the total underspend was on European Regional Development Fund allocations in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Answer: The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is administered by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG). CLG has advised that the underspend on the 2000-2006 ERDF programmes in the English regions will not be known until after the final declarations are submitted to the European Commission on 31 March 2010.For the 2007-13 ERDF programmes, the 2007 allocation must be spent by 31 December 2009. The operational programmes appear to be on track to meet their spending targets.Funds from the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development are allocated over the seven year period of the Rural Development Programme for England. Unspent funds may be rolled forward under European Commission rules to be spent in future years. DEFRA is working closely with the rural development delivery bodies to re-profile future budgets to realise the environmental and rural outcomes planned for the programme.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 301067; 501 c384W
Session: 2009-10
Subjects: EU grants and loans European Regional Development Fund Rural development programme
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk