HL Deb 17 May 1973 vol 342 cc907-9
LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what amount of money has been, or is being, allocated from the European Social Fund towards the building of houses for special categories of workers in the United Kingdom.

THE EARL OF COWRIE

My Lords, the kinds of assistance available from the Social Fund are listed in Council Regulation 2397/1971. They include aid for people who have to move to secure employment, but money is not available from the Fund towards the cost of building houses for workers.

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for that Answer, but am I not right in saying that 282 million units of account have in fact already been allocated to various members of the Community; and since we shall now be paying into the Fund ought we not to share in the allocations made from the Fund? In the last two or three weeks the Commission has suggested that funds should be made available for providing accommodation for immigrants, and since we have a number of immigrants who have recently arrived in this country, ought there not to be an allocation from that quarter?

THE EARL OF GOWRIE

My Lords, subject to checking, I accept the figures given by the noble Lord. What I can say is that we are of course eligible for reimbursement from this Fund to which we contribute, but my point was that we are not eligible for it on the grounds of housing.

LORD BESWICK

But, my Lords, allocations have been made specifically for housing, and presumably these have been made on application by member countries. Why does not the United Kingdom, as a member country, make some application—or were the Government not aware that this Fund was available?

THE EARL OF GOWRIE

My Lords, my information is that the only allocations which are specifically available for housing are made under the Coal and Steel Community rules and that they are designed with Coal and Steel Community workers in mind. The Government already have these lending funds very much in mind and are pursuing applications along such lines.

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, I am sorry I did not quite grasp what the noble Earl said at the end of his supplementary answer. Is he now telling me that the United Kingdom Government have made an application? If so, why was that not said in the original Answer?

THE EARL OF GOWRIE

My Lords, the original Answer was directed towards the original Question, and the noble Lord, Lord Beswick, asked me what amount of money was allocated from the European Social Fund. I told the noble Lord that no moneys had been allocated from the Social Fund towards housing. There are, however, some moneys available from the Coal and Steel Community funds.