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Northern Ireland Office

Answer

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what impact the N+2 requirement of the funding process for the Peace II programme will have upon the allocation of the total funds made available under this programme; and if he will make a statement. [126119] Mr. Pearson: For all Structural Funds Programmes the N+2 requirement means that any part of an annual commitment not properly claimed from the European Commission by the end of the second year following the year of commitment will automatically be withdrawn. For the PEACE II Programme monies committed for 2000 and 2001 must be spent and claimed from the European Commission by the end of 2003, otherwise the monies will be lost to the Peace II Programme. As regards the current position the PEACE II Monitoring Committee on 24 June 2003 adopted a strategy to ensure that funds are fully utilised. This strategy has three key components. The first is to maximise spend up to 31 December 2003 and this can be achieved by all Implementing Bodies and project sponsors continuing to approve and implement projects on the ground in line with the Priorities and Measures specified in the Programme. The second component involves working closely with the SEUPB and the European Commission to ensure that the N+2 target for the Programme at the end of the year is set with due regard to the full and proper application of the various Regulatory provisions involved. I anticipate this work will involve a reduction in the expenditure targets for this year. However, while both the above are producing results, they alone will not be sufficient to avoid a loss of funding. Therefore the third component is to increase spend through the inclusion of projects which were not originally intended to be funded through the PEACE II Programme, but which nonetheless meet the distinctiveness and other requirements of the Programme. This will mean that some existing Departmental spend would be scored against the Programme in the remainder of this year. However, since this will release the same quantum of resources from Departmentalexpenditure, I intend to use these resources to rebalance the Programme early in 2004 and thereby ensure that activities originally intended can go ahead as planned. I have also commissioned a review of the PEACE II Programmes Implementing systems and processes.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

126119; 410 c435-6W;410 c475-6W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Community development Community relations Finance EU grants and loans Northern Ireland Peace Voluntary organisations

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk