§ Mr. Tony Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the percentage of applications to his Department's small grants scheme which are successful; what are, by broad categories, the reasons for refusal of these applications refused; and if he will give the percentage of the total budget which was taken up for 1982–83, 1983–84 and 1984–85.
§ Mr. John PattenThe Department's small grants committee considered 383 applications during 1980–84, of these 50 (13 per cent.) were judged by the committee to316W be of adequate scientific merit and were funded. Details are published in the Department's annual handbook of research and development. Applications which do not meet appropriate scientific standards are rejected. Finance for the small grants scheme is subsumed within the health and personal social services research and development budget managed by the chief scientist. There is no separate cash limit for the scheme and all proposals, deemed by the committee to be acceptable on scientific grounds in the period referred to, have been funded.