Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) funding and (b) marketing support the Government provides to the sparkling wine growing industry in the south east. [170555]

George Eustice, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Natural Environment, Water and Rural Affairs: The United Kingdom uses its annual support provided under Council Regulation (EC) 1234/07 (€280,000) for its wine and sparkling wine sector in two areas:

We allocate €120,000 (approx. £100,000) annually to the single payment scheme (SPS) to give all vineyards the ability to benefit from payments under this programme.

The remaining amount is transferred annually to the Rural Development Programme. This has enabled, inter alia, the development of a dedicated wine sector training programme (Wineskills) which provides advice on aspects of brand building, marketing and exporting.

We have recently secured places for two wine producers to represent UK wine producers on an EU speciality food trade mission to Japan and South Korea in November. Our sparkling wine producers are already starting to exploit both markets and our attendance on this mission will help to boost our trade links further with this region.

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