Caroline Spelman (Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Communities and Local Government; Meriden, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the contingent liabilities in relation to (a) alleged financial irregularities with the European Regional Development Fund and (b) corrections due to the European Commission in respect of such irregularities; and how much his Department and its predecessors have paid to the European Commission in respect of corrections imposed as a result of financial irregularities in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton (Minister of State (Yorkshire and the Humber), Department for Communities and Local Government; Doncaster Central, Labour)

The Department's resource account for 2008-09 which was published in July 2009 set out an estimate of contingent liabilities that could arise in future from the management of successive rounds of European regional development fund. The timing and magnitude of future liabilities largely depends upon the outcome of the audit of each programme in the 2000-06 round of ERDF which are due to close formally by 31 March 2010 and a number of audits conducted by the European Commission. The reported estimate of contingent liabilities will be reviewed in the light of the outcome of these audits.

The Department has settled with the European Commission the following amounts of financial corrections since 1997:

2008: €25.5 million (£20.1 million)

2009: €31.0 million (£26.9 million)