HC Deb 28 February 1978 vol 945 cc117-8W
Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Urban Deprivation Unit and the Race Relations and Legislation Unit were established; what money has been expended on each of these organisations since their inception; what staffs and officers were employed in their operations; and to what extent these are now to be reduced in view of the reduction of immigration to a mere trickle.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

The Urban Deprivation Unit was established in 1973 to co-ordinate interdepartmental effort on urban deprivation and other related urban problems. Following the transfer in June 1977 of responsibility for the urban programme to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, the unit is being terminated and is expected to close in the summer. The maximum number of staff employed in the Unit at any one time was 24.

The Race Relations Legislation Unit was established in 1975 to prepare proposals for legislation on race relations, and was wound up in June 1977 on the coming into force of the Race Relations Act 1976. The maximum number of staff employed in the unit at any one time was nine.

In neither case is it possible to separate readily the cost of the unit from other headquarters expenditure.