Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what factors her Department uses to determine the relative level of central Government funding given to each National Park authority; and what weight is given in that process to the minimum funding required to operate planning functions in the least well-funded National Parks.

Overall funding levels for national park authorities are calculated based on a range of demographic and other factors relevant to delivery of the national parks’ statutory purposes and their planning function. Factors include the size of the park, the population and the number of planning cases. Within that, national park authorities are independent bodies and it is for them to decide how best to allocate their funding to deliver their functions and the locally determined priorities as set out in their Management Plans.