HL Deb 31 March 1977 vol 381 cc1098-100WA
Lord GORDON-WALKER

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many traffic wardens, cadets and other civilians employed by the police there were in Great Britain on 31st December, 1976 and how many there were in 1937, 1947, 1957 and 1967.

The MINISTER of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Harris of Greenwich)

The figures are: Social Fund; what sums each has received; whether, and if so to what extent, these were offset by the reduction or withdrawal of Government grants; and which voluntary bodies are known to have refrained from applying for European Social Fund grants because of the policy of Her Majesty's Government; and

What is their policy regarding the United Kingdom's allocation from the European Social Fund; what proportion is given to voluntary bodies and whether part or all of such sums are offset by reductions in Government grants which they could otherwise expect; and which members of the EEC use such grants as an opportunity to cut Government expenditure instead of to expand work in the voluntary social field.

Lord WALLACE of COSLANY

There is no set United Kingdom allocation from the European Social Fund. Individual applications for assistance are made to the EEC Commission in respect of eligible activities. Applications for such assistance have been submitted from six voluntary organisations in the United Kingdom. The Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for the Disabled, Inter-Action Trust Ltd., CESN (Committee for Educationally Subnormal School Leavers in mid-Glamorgan) the Rhymney Valley Committee for the development of an Industrial Training Unit for Educationally Sub-Normal School Leavers in the Rhymney Valley Area, the Appeal Committee for the Industrial Training Unit for Slow Learners in Merthyr Tydfil, and ESNIC (a committee for the development of a centre for the Work Experience and Training of ESN school leavers in the Cynon Valley). The Commission have decided on only the first of these applications. An allocation of £224,006 was made to the Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for the Disabled for the period 1st January 1976 to 31st December 1978. No payment has yet been made against that allocation.

It is Her Majesty's Government's policy to pass on to voluntary organisations any payments of assistance from the Fund made in respect of applications by such organisations. It is no part of that policy to use such grants as an opportunity to cut Government expenditure. I regret that I do not have information about the practice in other Member States.

In the case of eligible activities carried out by voluntary organisations, the Social Fund may pay a sum equal to the contribution of a public authority in the Member State. The Commission would, however, not make an allocation if by so doing grants from it and from such a public authority, taken together, would exceed 100 per cent. of the cost of the project. A voluntary body could have no reason for refraining from applying to the Fund because of Government policy on payments of grants from the Fund.