To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what matched funding the Government has provided to programmes under the INTERREG III programme; (204508)

Under INTERREG III the UK provided match funding to the programmes’ technical assistance budgets. €3,727,142 was paid to the North West Europe Programme; €1,149,584 to the IIIC West Programme; €1,594,950 to the North Sea Programme and €870,085 to the Atlantic Area Programme.

The ODPM also provided £5.9 million of match funding to UK partners for pre-application INTERREG IIIB project and partnership activities. From 2003 to 2006, more than 48 UK-organisations benefited from an ODPM award, representing 43 projects across the three INTERREG IIIB Programmes. The majority of organisations receiving OPDM awards were in a project-lead position.

The Government will not be providing match funding for individual projects in the new programmes. But we will be contributing towards programme technical assistance budgets. The amounts for the 2007 to 2013 programme period are:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the INTERACT Handbook on the European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation. (204579)

I have deposited a copy of the INTERACT Handbook on the European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2008, Official Report, columns 1206-7W, on INTERACT programme, which INTERACT working groups representatives from her Department have attended in the last 12 months. (204580)

Since May 2007 representatives from CLG have attended two INTERACT programme meetings. Two CLG officials attended a Monitoring Committee meeting on 19 to 20 October in Vienna. One CLG official attended a Monitoring Committee meeting on 4 March 2008, also in Vienna.