22. Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSasked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that the Thedwastre District Council have spent £1,500 on a scheme of public utility on the strength of Circulars 245 and 251 of the Ministry of Health; that the work was inspected by an inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, who expressed his approval, advising the continuance of the works and certain improvements, adding considerably to the cost; that this inspector assured the clerk and surveyor of the Thedwastre Rural District Council that a grant would be made; that the Unemployment Grants Committee have now refused to make the grant, with the result that a very heavy additional burden will be thrown upon the rates of this purely agricultural district; and that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries were requested by the Unemployment Grants Committee to investigate and report upon these relief works; and whether the decision of the Unemployment Grants Committee to withhold the grant will be reconsidered in view of the expenditure having been undertaken on the faith of promises given by the Government?
The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Sir Arthur Boscawen)My right hon. Friend has asked me to take this question. Certain proposals in respect of which the Council has applied to the Unemployment Grants Committee for a grant were referred by that committee to the Ministry as "the appropriate Government Department" to decide whether the works could be regarded as "suitable works of public utility." The Ministry's inspector reported that the proposals were sound, but he did not advise as to the continuance of the works, nor did he give any assurance to the clerk or the surveyor of the rural district council that a grant 989 would be made. In the light of his report a certificate was sent by the Ministry to the Unemployment Grants Committee to the effect that the proposed works were suitable works of public utility. The decision as to making a grant rested solely with the Committee, who, I understand, were obliged to refuse a grant on account of the exhaustion of the funds at their disposal. I may add that all the works referred to in the hon. and gallant Member's question were apparently started some time before an application for financial assistance was submitted to the Unemployment Grants Committee and at no stage was any undertaking given that a grant would be forthcoming.
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSDoes the right hon. Gentleman deny that this inspector encouraged greater expenditure and more elaborate work, and did he not give the Council to understand that they would get a grant? May I ask the Minister of Labour, to whom the question on the Paper is addressed, whether he considers it satisfactory that his Department should have encouraged local authorities to go in for these schemes, virtually promising them a grant which the Department did not materialise; and is he aware that this district is already rated at 23s. in the £, and that his failure to redeem his promise will put another 1s. on the rates?
Sir A. BOSCAWENWith regard to the question addressed to me, I understand that the inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture never gave any kind of idea that a grant would be made. His duty was solely to certify whether the works were of public utility or not.