To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on the (a) status, (b) role and (c) purpose of the EU Interreg III project.

Interreg III is an EU community initiative, funded from the European regional development fund (ERDF) for the period 2000 to 2006, which has three programmes designed to promote territorial and social cohesion across the European Union. The three programmes are:

Interreg IIIA, a programme to promote joint projects involving regions in neighbouring member states to promote regional economic development and regeneration.

Interreg IIIB, a transnational programme which aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion across large groupings of European regions through transnational co-operation.

Interreg IIIC an inter-regional programme intended to improve the effectiveness of policies and instruments for regional development co-operation across the whole of the European Union and neighbouring countries.