To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money his Department has spent in each year since 1998 on community relations programmes; and what estimate he has made of the value for money of such expenditure. [122634]

The amount of money spent on community relations programmes in each of the last five financial years was as follows:

year	£
1998–99	12,741,741
1999–2000	13,542,188
2000–01	12,295,712
2001–02	10,471,580
2002–03	10,403,164
TOTAL	59,454,385

The totals include funding provided under the EU Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation 1995–99 (Peace I), the EU Physical, Social and Environment Sectoral Programme 1994–99 and the interim funding arrangements pending the coming into operation of the Peace II Programme.Regular independent evaluations of funding of community relations programmes are commissioned. Evaluations completed within the last 3 years of the funding provided to the Community Relations Council, District Council Community Relations Programme and Co-operation Ireland, which together amount to some £4.5 million of the mainstream Community Relations Programme provision of just over £5 million annually, were generally positive about the impact of their activities to promote better Community Relations in Northern Ireland. Both Programme and project evaluations carried out in relation to the EU funding have also been generally positive.