INNER URBAN AREAS BILL (Hansard, 25 July 1978)

§ Baroness YOUNG

My Lords, may I say that it is very gratifying to us on this side of the House that all the Amendments to the Inner Urban Areas Bill, with the exception of one, have been agreed in another place. I think that this reflects the view of the whole House about the importance of this Bill. But before we accept the Reason, given on the Order Paper, for not accepting the Amendment about giving grants to voluntary organisations, I wonder whether the noble Baroness can give us any further explanation. It has been ruled a Money Resolution by the Speaker in another place, and that I must accept. Nevertheless, it seems, on 796 looking again at the Financial Memorandum to the Bill, that this is a very difficult ruling to accept. The Amendment did not impose a duty at all. It opened the possibility of giving grants to voluntary organisations in the inner cities. It seems, on reading the Explanatory and Financial Memorandum that goes with the Bill, that most of the clauses in the Bill— are discretionary and the precise expenditure that will arise cannot therefore be calculated. No one was asking for extra expenditure, but what we were asking for was value for money; and most people who have had experience of voluntary organisations believe that giving money to them is often better value than giving it to a statutory authority, whether it be central or local government, to manage. I therefore think that it raises quite an important matter of principle, and for those of us who are concerned with voluntary organisations it is very disappointing that the Government have not seen fit, if they are unable to accept the Amendment as drafted, to bring forward an Amendment which would have achieved the same objectives, but would not have been subject to the same difficulty.

I say this in the knowledge that when this matter was discussed in the House at Report stage the noble Baroness, Lady Birk, said at col. 616, in reference to the Amendment by my noble friend Lord Sandford: I hope that the noble Lord does not intend to press it, but if he does, I do not intend to put myself or my noble friends into a position in which we appear to be opposing the interests of the voluntary sector. Therefore if he wishes to divide the House, I shall abstain, and ask my noble friends, if they feel that way, to do the same thing."—[Official Report, 30/6/78.] In fact, the Government did not vote against the Amendment, but abstained for reasons which I am sure are perfectly understandable to us on this side of the House. I should therefore be grateful to the noble Baroness, if she could give us an explanation of the Government's attitude in another place.