To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether local authorities in Gwynedd, Dyfed and Powys have adequate matching resources to enable them to take up fully the funds available from the European Community under the IOP for those three counties; and if he will make a statement.

Expected receipts from the European Community are taken into account when setting the level of public expenditure, so that spending is higher than would otherwise be the case. Local authorities within the area of the Dyfed, Gwynedd and Powys national programme of community interest benefit from increased credit approvals and reduced borrowing requirements.