§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of the outstanding grant applications in Bradford under the victim support scheme; when a decision is to be taken on each application; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacleanI understand from the national office of Victim Support that the Bradford victim support scheme made an application to the local funding panel earlier this month for a third salary grant but that the panel has not yet considered it.
The Government greatly appreciate the excellent work done by local victim support schemes and provide substantial funding for this purpose. Home Office grant to Victim Support this year will amount to £8.4 million. This is 15 per cent. more than last year's grant to the organisation, which itself was 28 per cent. more than the previous year's.
The grant is paid to Victim Support's national office and is allocated to local schemes and branches by the Victim Support local funding panel. This is independent of both local schemes and the Home Office. The panel considers applications from local schemes in accordance with criteria agreed annually between the Home Office and Victim Support.