To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total value of grants that Scotland has received from the European regional fund since the fund's inception. [5230]

Since the inception of the European regional development fund in 1975, Scotland has received awards totalling almost £1.5 billion. The Government place great emphasis on ensuring value for money from these receipts, particularly as the UK is a net contributor to the European Community budget. To ensure transparency of these receipts in the UK's public expenditure system it was announced in the House on 17 February 1992 that the Government would provide automatic cover for, and identify separately, all forecast ERDF receipts.