Rural Community Councils

Chris Huhne
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to what date his Department is committed to fund rural community councils; what plans he has to fund rural community councils after this date; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner
Since 1 April 2005, my Department has committed in excess of £10 million in support of the 38 Rural Community Councils (RCCs) in England, as shown in the following table.

--------------------
|       |Amount (£)|
--------------------
|2005-06|3,334,000 |
--------------------
|2006-07|3,384,000 |
--------------------
|2007-08|3,481,000 |
--------------------


In addition, RCCs benefit from grants and other funding for specific rural community development projects and activities.

Current funding agreements with RCCs end on 31 March 2008. A decision on future funding will be made in the context of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.