§ Mr. GWYNNEasked the Minister of Health what is the aggregate of the different Government grants to local authorities and the cost of the Government Departments set up to administer them?
§ Mr. BALDWINExact figures for the total Government grants to local authorities, including receipts from local taxation licence duties, are not available for a later year than 1916–17 for which particulars are given in Part I of the Ministry of Health Report for 1919–20, but on the basis of the Civil Service Estimates for the current financial year, it is estimated that, including grants from the Local Taxation Account and the Road Improvement Fund and the proceeds of Local Licence Duties, the total for the year for England and Wales will be about £70,000,000. My hon. Friend may care also to refer to the Return of the Total Expenditure under certain Acts of Parliament recently presented (House of Commons Paper 160). The Civil Service Estimates give figures of the cost of the various Government Departments concerned in the administration of grants, but in most cases such administration is only a part, sometimes an insignificant part, of the functions of the Department. An allocation of expenditure between the administration of grants and other activities is not possible.