§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many charitable organisations still have to be informed of their grant allocations for the year 1984–85.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 18 June 1984, c. 63]: As my hon. Friend indicated in reply to the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 4 June, at column 39, the volume of applications made it necessary for us to look carefully at the overall pattern of grants to ensure sensible priorities.
Following completion of this study, voluntary bodies which have applied for new and renewed grants will be notified as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we have sought to help where necessary by making the interim payments listed in response to another question by the hon. Member today.
I am glad to say that our current basic provision of £11 million for the general scheme of grants to voluntary organisations in 1984–85 represents an increase of over 10 per cent. on the original provision for 1983–84, and thus a further clear increase in real terms.