To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding each regional development agency received from (a) rural development programmes and (b) other programmes run by his Department in each of the last five years; and how much each agency spent on policy areas which are his Department's responsibility in each year. (127396)

DEFRA is one of five departments which fund regional development agencies (RDAs) through a single programme budget (the "single pot"). This funding gives RDAs the ability to address regional priorities, while at the same time contributing to the delivery of national public service agreement targets—including DEFRA’s public service agreement targets on sustainable development, rural productivity and access to services, and sustainable farming and food. Funding is allocated using a funding formula.

DEFRA funding to the RDAs since 2002-03 is as follows:

The significant increase in the DEFRA contribution to the single pot from 2005-06 is the result of the transfer of additional funding from the Countryside Agency for rural socio-economic activities (£21 million per annum), a commitment made in rural strategy 2004.

How each RDA utilises its single pot allocation will vary according to regional need. Details of RDA priorities and planned spending can be found in individual RDA corporate plans, (approved by Government), with six-monthly reports on performance, setting out what has been achieved. These documents can be found on each RDA website.

Responsibility for the delivery of the socio-economic measures of the Rural Development Programme for England (and legacy of the earlier England Rural Development Programme) was passed to the RDAs on 1 October 2006. This implemented another of the commitments from the rural strategy 2004. The level of funding for the new programme has yet to be finalised but RDAs will have access to a minimum of £40 million per annum over the period 2007-13.

The move to devolve funding to the regions through RDAs is part of the Government's devolving decision-making agenda. RDAs, working in partnership, will decide how to spend their resources to meet national targets and address regional needs. However, DEFRA is confident that by devolving these responsibilities to the RDAs and having increased the resources it makes available to them, rural delivery will become more responsive to local priorities and better focused on areas and people who need it most.