§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the categories of financial grants made by his Department to bodies, voluntary and statutory, in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region in each of the last five years; and if he will indicate the total amount paid into each category in each respective year.
§ Mr. CroslandGrants made by my Department during this period included rate support grant, the transport and national parks supplementary grants, and grants for roads, transport, housing and a number of environmental services. They are detailed in both Annual Estimates and the Appropriation Accounts.
Local authorities and other statutory bodies in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region were eligible for these grants in exactly the same way as were similar bodies in the rest of the country, but it would entail disproportionate cost to ascertain the amounts paid in the region in each category in each of the last five years.
Grants were also made to a wide range of voluntary bodies for a variety of purposes. Many of these bodies could well have been active in Yorkshire and Humberside, but the grants were not generally payable in respect of activities in specified localities and it would not, therefore, be practicable to apportion the grants between regions. Grants to bodies such as the Sports Council and the Development Commission are similar in this respect.