To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will allocate an annual payment of £30,000 to the Dart Estuary Environment Management Partnership through either the Environment Agency or Dart Harbour Navigation Authority to continue the work initially funded by the Cycleau Project. (102481)

The DEEM Partnership was formed to implement the DEEM Plan, which is non-statutory. It is for the local partners to decide whether to continue voluntary financial contributions after December 2006 when Cycleau comes to an end. The South West Region of the Environment Agency has decided to continue to fund estuary partnerships where affordable, and it has recently agreed to provide funding for the River Dart for another year while it reviews the future of DEEM with the other local partners.

Government policy is that ports are not eligible for public funding, on the ground that subsidy is likely to cause market distortion in an otherwise free sector. The Dart Harbour Navigation Authority is a trust port and obtains its funding by way of charges levied on its users. It has a duty to use funds for the benefit of the management of the harbour, which can include participating in a voluntary partnership to help manage the estuary.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding his Department made available to the Environment Agency in the South West in 2005-06 to fund the work of the Dart Estuary Environment Management Partnership. (102483)

The Environment Agency (EA) receives grant in aid funding from DEFRA for their environmental protection work. The EA then take decisions about local funding priorities. In 2005-06, the EA’s South West Region contributed £5,000 to the Dart Estuary Environment Management Partnership from their local budget.