§ Mr. Budgenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in respect of section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966, if he will specify the instrument or other authority under which he operates the said section to cover both persons born in another Commonwealth country who have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom for up to 10 years and the children of such persons whether born in the United Kingdom or overseas; how he satisfies himself that the immigrants have languages and customs which differ from ihose of the community; what records he requires local authorities to keep in order to distinguish between persons resident in their area who are eligible for such grants and those not so eligible; and what steps he takes to ensure that persons who came to the United Kingdom from Pakistan since 1972 are excluded from consideration under section 11.
§ Mr. RaisonThe terms of section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 have always been considered to be sufficiently wide to cover the persons referred to by my hon. Friend. Local authorities, in giving assurances on new posts on which grant under section 11 is claimed, have to demonstrate that they are necessary in order to make special provision as a result of language or customs which differ from those of the community. In making claims for grant, local authorities are asked to provide information on their eligible population, but there is no requirement specifying what records are to be kept for this purpose. Local authorities are advised that, in putting forward evidence in support of claims, they should exclude Pakistanis who arrived in this country after Pakistan left the Commonwealth in January 1972.