HC Deb 24 July 1985 vol 83 cc537-9W
Mr. Irving

asked the Prime Minister (1) what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government with regard to the provision and promotion of community service;

(2) what has been the total value of Government funds allocated for the provision of community service in each of the last five years; and if she will give a departmental breakdown of the allocation of such funds in each year;

(3) if she will list in the Official Report the different types of community service in which each Government Department is currently involved; whether there are any plans to extend Government activity in these areas; and if she will make a statement.

1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 50,024 69,500 92,350 90,000 99,400
Defence 1,361,000 2,004,000 2,637,000 2,361,000 2,643,990
Education and Science* 12,400,000 11,454,000 12,381,000 11,175,000 14,317,606
Employment† 18,147,000 21,391,000 23,207,000 26,380,000 27,720,000
Energy — — 91,000 134,000 91,000
Environment
Direct Grants 679,464 682,914 762,560 975,666 1,219,888
Urban Programme‡ 13,500,000 22,000,000 27,000,000 37,500,000 46,500,000
FCO including ODA║ FCO 448,557 FCO 523,694 FCO 584,411
ODA 4,797,000 ODA 5,709,000 ODA 6,393,486
5,245,557 6,232,694 6,977,897 9,030,548 11,519,597
Health and Social Security 10,089,772 12,247,052 13,775,245 15,462,000 23,122,709
Home Office 10,875,216 14,466,315 15,396,295 15,800,136 16,890,250
Lord Chancellor's Department 399,885 469,302 528,673 583,000 604,160
Northern Ireland Department 11,564,476 16,884,666 20,397,823 9,480,597 12,091,327
Scottish Office
Direct Grantsr¶ 3,531,415 4,740,515 5,515,032 6,499,630 6,823,494
Urban Programme 544,361 1,007,000 3,188,897 4,897,000 6,750,000
Trade and Industry• 2,514,500 4,563,856 5,444,000 6,260,322 6,221,000
Transport 370,180 423,217 451,000 440,000 509,000
Welsh Office
Direct Grants 1,679,397 1,929,053 2,447,789 3,280,396 3,821,203
Urban Programme 170,261 243,562 690,000 861,613 1,325,000
Total 93,122,508 120,808,646 140,983,541 151,211,808 182,269,624
* The 1979–80 figure for Department of Education and Science grants to voluntary organisations included £3,736,000 of grants paid to certain adult education bodies, in later years, excluded from the figures as not being, strictly speaking voluntary organisations. Responsibility for grants to village halls and community centres amounting to £2,067,000 transferred to local government in 1980–81.
† Does not include estimated payments made by the Manpower Services Commission to voluntary bodies for work under its training and other programme, that is:

1982–83 1983–84
Youth opportunities programme/Youth training scheme 86,700,000 81,000,000
Community enterprise programme/Community programme 51,130,000 200,000,000
Voluntary projects programme 980,000 4,300,000
138,810,000 285,300,000
‡ The urban programme total includes contributions from Department of Education and Science, Department of Health and Social Security, and Department of Transport.
║ Overseas Development Administration total grants to British voluntary organisations only.
¶ Scottish Office 1982–83 and 1983–84 figures are estimates only.

The Prime Minister

The Government's policy is to encourage and promote the provision of a wide range of opportunities for service to the community; and several Government Departments make funds available for this purpose. Because the concept of "community service" is such a wide one, it is not possible to provide a definitive list of every type of community service for which support is provided from Government funds. Nor can grant paid to support or encourage community service be separately identified in the available information relating to grants paid by Government Departments to voluntary organisations. But it is a characteristic of voluntary organisations that they exist to serve the needs of the community, and some indication of the increasing support which the Government have given to the development of community service can therefore be taken from those figures. Information relating to the five year period 1979–80 to 1983–84 is provided in the table. Figures for 1984–85 are not yet available, but they are likely to show a further increase. Within available resources, the Government will continue to look for ways of enabling more people to provide a service to the wider community.

• Department of Trade and Industry made grants totalling £1,306,000 in 1983–84 to English regional development organisations for promotional activities in the United Kingdom and overseas to attract investment projects into their areas. Although these grants were included in previous years they have now been omitted on the grounds that the bodies concerned are not appropriately described as voluntary organisations.