§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to ensure that voluntary organisations do not receive from his Department's funds more than the sum total of proceeds produced by voluntary endeavour; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. KingVoluntary organisations are grant aided to the extent necessary to enable them to meet Departmental requirements. Some grant schemes require the Department's funding to be matched by an equal sum from other sources. For local authority support through the urban programme, there is no such matching requirement because local voluntary groups in deprived areas cannot generally be expected to raise substantial funds of their own. In many of these cases there is a personal contribution in the form of unpaid effort. This cannot be readily assessed in financial terms. But I accept my bon. Friend's point that Government support for voluntary organisations should, wherever possible, be used to encourage self-help and for pump-priming.