To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, pursuant to AQW 44519/11-15, what proportion of Rural Development Programme funding has been ring-fenced; and where it has been allocated.

Funding within the Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020 is allocated on the basis of need and in line with expected demand. In the draft Programme document, the budget has been allocated as follows: £31.8m for a range of actions supporting knowledge transfer and information exchange, £228.8m for capital investment, including on farms, £16.7m for forestry measures, £158.8m for environmental measures, £65m for an Areas of Natural Constraint scheme, £4.9m for co-operation actions, £80m for supporting the economic development of our rural areas and £37.3m for technical assistance. The final allocations will depend on EU approval of the programme and any approved modifications during the 2014 – 20 programming period and on DFP approval of the necessary business cases.