§ Mr. David Marshallasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the latest available annual figure for urban aid to ethnic minorities in the Strathclyde region; whether a consequence of circular 991 will be that no more urban aid will be given for that purpose; and if he will now consider making special provision such as is made in England under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1976.
§ Mr. Allan StewartIn 1982–83 provision for expenditure on ethnic minority projects was as follows:
£ Strathclyde regional council Interpreting services 27,500 Assessment of need for interpreting 6,600 Education for ethnic minorities 515,300 Glasgow district council Library provision 43,400 Survey of ethnic minority housing 2,000 Total (all current expenditure) 594,800 In addition, approval was recently given to Glasgow district council for a further three projects to benefit ethnic minorities to start in 1983–84 at a total capital cost of £15,000 and involving current expenditure of £23,332.
Regarding the relationship between grant under Scottish Education Department circular 991 and the urban 32W programme, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mr. Craigen) on 23 December 1982.—[Vol. 34, c. 658.] This does not mean, however, that the "education for ethnic minorities" project cannot in principle be considered for extended urban programme funding after its initial three years.
I do not intend to introduce a grants scheme in terms of section 11 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 because:
- (i) the numbers and concentrations of Commonwealth immigrants in Scotland do not justify a specific grant scheme; needs can reasonably be met by re-ordering of priorities within local authorities' budgets;
- (ii) the cost of any new specific grant scheme would have to be met within the total available for aggregate grant, at the expense of the resources distributed by means of rate support grant. In principle I agree with the general preference of local authorities for general support through the RSG mechanism rather than the introduction of additional specific grant schemes which restrict local discretion;
- (iii) the section 11 scheme in England has been used mainly for teachers' salaries. The Scottish Education Department's circular 991 scheme expressly allows authorities to deploy some of the extra teachers supported by grant to schools with high ethnic minority rolls;
- (iv) the Scottish urban programme already assists projects to meet the needs of ethnic minorities in deprived urban areas—especially voluntary sector projects.