§ 10. Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much his Department gave in grants to voluntary organisations in 1978–79 and in the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. NewtonIn 1978–79 my Department spent £4,445,000 on grants to some 180 organisations under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968. Comparable figures for 1981–82 are £8,881,000—a real increase of 33 per cent.—on grants to over 250 organisations. I will circulate the detailed list of these 1981–82 grants in the Official Report.
§ Mr. PawseyI thank my hon. Friend for that full and comprehensive reply. It shows that the Government are indeed caring and compassionate and that my hon. Friend is a caring and compassionate Minister. Will he tell the House what safeguards exist and what monitoring there is to ensure that we are receiving value for money?
§ Mr. NewtonI am grateful to my hon. Friend for his remarks.
§ Mr. RookerThe hon. Gentleman is embarrassed.
§ Mr. NewtonI can tell the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) that I am not at all embarrassed. I want to share the congratulations with my other compassionate and caring friends on the Front Bench, many of whom made the decisions for which I am now being given the credit.
The answer to my hon. Friend's question is that we go into these matters carefully beforehand, keep an eye on what is being done with the money, and ask the organisations to make sure that we are kept informed of their accounts and other arrangements.
§ Mr. MarksDoes the Minister accept that the Government's failure to support local authorities has meant that they cannot assist voluntary organisations, as they have done in the past, and that, because of the real fall in wages throughout the country, individuals cannot help in the same way? Does he further accept that the voluntary organisations, because of unemployment and all the other disasters that have taken place under this Government, have far too much to do?
§ Mr. NewtonI do not accept any of those comments. The latest figure for local authority help to voluntary organisations relates to 1980–81, when it was £22 million. That represented a real increase of 19 per cent. over the previous year. In answer to the other parts of the hon. Gentleman's question, my impression is that voluntary organisations are getting a great deal of support and are enjoying doing more work of this kind. The Inland Revenue is receiving an increasing number of applications for covenants, and more money is going to charities from individuals.
§ Mr. SquireIs my hon. Friend aware how welcome was the announcement yesterday of the £20,000 grant to the Child Poverty Action Group, which, in its assistance to hon. Members on both sides of the House on matters of child benefit and family support, has set a standard that many other voluntary groups would do well to emulate?
§ Mr. NewtonI should make it clear to my hon. Friend that the grant is specifically for the citizens' rights office of the CPAG, not for its campaigning work. I think that that will be understood on both sides of the House.
§ Mr. William HamiltonIt is not understood.
§ Mr. NewtonThat was made clear. I should have been deeply embarrassed if we had not been able to make the grant, because the first thing that I found on my file when I took office was a letter from me to my predecessor urging that we should make the grant.
§ Mr. Carter-JonesIs the Minister being honest with the House? Will he tell us how much money is being taken from voluntary organisations in VAT? Does it not more than offset the grant?
§ Mr. NewtonAll hon. Members are familiar with the problem of VAT and are aware of the extensive discussions on the problem that have taken place between charities and my right hon. and hon. Friends in the Treasury. We are sorry that we have not been able to find a solution, but successive packages and measures to help charities in the last two Budgets and Finance Bills are bringing significant additional help.
§ Following is the information:
| Grants to Voluntary Bodies 1981–82 Provisional Outturn | |
| £ | |
| Action on Smoking and Health | 90,012 |
| Advocacy Alliance | 4,000 |
| Age Concern | 286,000 |
| Alcohol Education Centre | 65,814 |
| Alcoholic Hostels | 300,179 |
| Alcoholic Recovery Project | 4,000 |
| Alcoholism Community Centres for Education Prevention and Treatment | 38,225 |
| Alzheimer's Disease Society | 2,250 |
| Aquarius Resource Centre | 10,500 |
| Apex Trust | 24,343 |
| Association Aide a Toute Detresse | 24,400 |
| Association for all Speech Impaired Children | 10,000 |
| Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus | 30,000 |
| Association of Breast-feeding Mothers | 1,500 |
| Association of Residential Communities | 8,000 |
| Asthma Society | 2,000 |
| Back Pain Association | 17,000 |
| Bethnal Green Intermediate Education Centre | 32,000 |
| Birmingham Settlement | 7,000 |
| Blenheim Street Agency | 7,600 |
| Bobath Centre | 3,000 |
| Breakthrough Trust | 75,000 |
| Bristol Council for Voluntary Service | 800 |
| British Association for Adoption and Fostering | 246,000 |
| British Association for Counselling | 1,200 |
| British Association of the Hard of Hearing | 18,600 |
| British Association of Immediate Care | 20,000 |
| British Deaf Association | 20,000 |
| British Diabetic Association | 1,500 |
| British Epilepsy Association | 22,000 |
| British Institute of Mental Handicap | 24,500 |
| British Red Cross-Cosmetic Camouflage | 1,260 |
| British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society | 4,500 |
| Brook Advisory Centres | 30,000 |
| Calibre | 7,000 |
| Campaign for Single Homeless People | 22,000 |
| Campaign for the Mentally Handicapped | 14,000 |
| Care | 12,500 |
| Catholic Marriage Advisory Council | 23,000 |
| Centre for Policy on Ageing | 44,800 |
| Centre on Environment for the Handicapped | 19,500 |
| Chest Heart and Stroke Association | 5,000 |
| Child Accident Prevention Trust | 29,040 |
| Child Poverty Action Group | 900 |
| Children's Legal Centre | 10,500 |
| Church of England Childrens Society | 35,000 |
| City Roads Crisis Intervention | 66,500 |
| Clock Tower Association | 10,500 |
| Coeliac Society | 10,000 |
| Coke Hole Trust | 8,000 |
| £ | |
| Combat Huntington's Chorea | 15,000 |
| Community Drugs Project | 5,300 |
| Community Service Volunteers | 47,396 |
| Contact | 22,400 |
| Contact a Family | 3,000 |
| Cope | 73,950 |
| Coronary Prevention Group | 3,000 |
| Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People | 10,000 |
| Coventry Day Centre | 5,000 |
| Cranstoun Hostel | 9,750 |
| Crossroads Care Attendant Schemes Ltd. | 25,000 |
| Cruse | 56,000 |
| Cyrenians | 66,400 |
| Disability Alliance | 5,000 |
| Disabled Drivers Association | 3,500 |
| Disabled Living Foundation | 242,000 |
| Disablement Income Group | 11,000 |
| Downs Children's Association | 4,500 |
| Dr. Barnardo's | 65,000 |
| Elizabeth Fitzroy Trust | 12,500 |
| Employment Fellowship | 38,000 |
| European Dialysis and Transplant Association | 10,000 |
| Family Forum | 22,749 |
| Family Holiday Association | 2,500 |
| Family Planning Association | 124,500 |
| Family Rights Group | 5,000 |
| Family Service Units | 128,000 |
| Family Tree | 8,750 |
| Family Welfare Association | 112,680 |
| Federation of Alcoholic Rehabilitation Establishments | 77,400 |
| Fire Precautions (in voluntary residential homes) | 138,428 |
| Fluoridation Society | 14,000 |
| Gingerbread | 48,000 |
| Hampshire Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders | 5,000 |
| Handcrafts Advisory Association for the Disabled | 9,300 |
| Handicapped Adventure Playground Association | 6,500 |
| Headway Association | 5,000 |
| Holiday Care Service | 5,000 |
| Home Farm Trust | 12,500 |
| Home Start Consultancy | 14,000 |
| Horticultural Therapy | 5,000 |
| Hungerford Day Centre for Drug Addicts | 12,700 |
| Ileostomy Association of Great Britain | 2,250 |
| Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence | 115,710 |
| International Hospital Federation | 35,000 |
| International Social Service | 27,500 |
| International Voluntary Service | 20,831 |
| Invalid Children's Aid Association | 44,000 |
| Invalids At Home Trust | 2,200 |
| Joint Committee on Mobility for the Disabled | 600 |
| Kent Council on Alcoholism | 900 |
| L'Arche Ltd. | 22,500 |
| La Leche League of Great Britain | 375 |
| Leicester Council for Voluntary Service | 14,000 |
| Leonard Cheshire Foundation | 20,000 |
| Liverpool Alcoholism Services | 18,000 |
| London Voluntary Service Council | 11,750 |
| London Youth Advisory Council | 4,400 |
| Makaton Vocabulary Development Project | 2,000 |
| Mastectomy Association | 6,000 |
| Maternity Alliance | 10,000 |
| Medical Council on Alcoholism | 64,600 |
| Mencap | 209,750 |
| Mental After Care Association | 50,000 |
| Mental Health Film Council | 3,200 |
| Motability | 299,069 |
| Motor Neurone Disease Association | 3,000 |
| Muscular Dystrophy Group | 20,000 |
| National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society | 2,500 |
| National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders | 92,310 |
| National Association for the Childless | 13,000 |
| National Association for the Deaf/Blind, Rubella Handicapped | 5,000 |
| £ | |
| National Association for Maternal and Child Welfare | 5,000 |
| National Association for Mental Health | 400,000 |
| National Association for Patient Participation in General Practice | 2,000 |
| National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital | 45,000 |
| National Association of Leagues of Hospital Friends | 11,750 |
| National Association of Victims Support Schemes | 7,350 |
| National Association of Voluntary Hostels | 4,100 |
| National Association of Youth Clubs | 33,467 |
| National Childbirth Trust | 15,000 |
| National Childminding Association | 25,000 |
| National Children's Bureau | 156,745 |
| National Children's Home | 7,500 |
| National Council for One-parent Families | 110,000 |
| National Council for the Single Woman and Her Dependents | 8,000 |
| National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations | 20,417 |
| National Council for Voluntary Organisations | 178,167 |
| National Council on Alcoholism | 252,000 |
| National Eczema Society | 9,250 |
| National Elfrida Rathbone Society | 11,000 |
| National Federation of Kidney Patients | 2,134 |
| National Federation of the Blind of the United Kingdom | 1,000 |
| National Foster Care Association | 63,450 |
| National Library for the Blind | 9,500 |
| National Listening Library | 16,000 |
| National Marriage Guidance Council | 20,000 |
| National Playbus Association | 14,500 |
| National Schizophrenia Fellowship | 76,000 |
| National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children | 225,000 |
| National Tape Magazine for the Blind | 400 |
| National Youth Bureau | 52,000 |
| Network for the Handicapped | 1,000 |
| Norfolk Children's Projects | 30,000 |
| Norfolk Council on Alcoholism | 25,000 |
| Northern Regional Association for the Blind | 38,478 |
| One-to-One | 9,000 |
| Opus | 4,500 |
| Outset | 14,250 |
| Overseas Doctors Association | 7,000 |
| Parent to Parent Information on Adoption Services | 2,250 |
| Parents for Children | 34,000 |
| Partially Sighted Society | 12,000 |
| Peter Bedford Project | 5,800 |
| Physically Handicapped and Able Bodied | 35,000 |
| Plymouth Night Shelter | 15,650 |
| Possum Users Association | 14,750 |
| Pre-School Playgroups Association | 300,000 |
| Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for the Disabled | 10,000 |
| Rainer Foundation | 65,375 |
| Rape Counselling and Research Project | 10,000 |
| Richmond Fellowship | 70,000 |
| Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation | 270,000 |
| Royal National Institute for the Blind | 355,000 |
| Royal National Institute for the Deaf | 14,000 |
| Royal School for the Blind | 114,000 |
| Salvation Army | 2,573 |
| Samaritans | 80,000 |
| Save the Children Fund | 269,625 |
| Sexual and Personal Relationships of the Disabled | 30,000 |
| Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa Sailing Barge | 25,000 |
| Shape | 5,750 |
| Sheffield Family Service Units | 14,000 |
| Short Stay Young Homeless Limited | 3,000 |
| Social Work Training Grants | 65,375 |
| Society of St. Dismas | 6,980 |
| Southern and Western Regional Association for the Blind | 53,312 |
| Spastics Society | 141,738 |
| Spinal Injuries Association | 15,000 |
| Standing Conference on Drug Abuse | 53,800 |
| St. Albans Diocesan Council for Social Responsibility | 14,725 |
| £ | |
| St. John Ambulance | 36,000 |
| Stonham Housing Association | 10,000 |
| Sue Ryder Foundation | 2,000 |
| Talking Newspapers Association of the United Kingdom | 750 |
| The Patients Association | 5,000 |
| Toy Libraries Association | 41,000 |
| Turning Point | 68,000 |
| Venture 12 Project | 19,992 |
| Voluntary Council for Handicapped Children | 22,000 |
| Voluntary Organisations Liaison Committee for Under-Fives | 5,400 |
| Volunteer Centre | 13,660 |
| Westminster Pastoral Foundation | 60,000 |
| Widows Advisory Trust | 11,000 |
| Winged Fellowship Trust | 6,300 |
| Womens Aid Federation (England) | 96,000 |
| Womens Health Concern | 3,000 |
| Womens National Cancer Control Campaign | 67,900 |
| Miscellaneous | 25,930 |
| 8,881,164 |