§ Mr. Maplesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what assistance he will be able to give local authorities towards the funding of voluntary organisations affected by abolition; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungIn order to stimulate local authority funding of voluntary bodies, the Government are making transitional grant available on £20 million a year worth of voluntary projects taken on by boroughs and districts from the GLC/MCCs.
There has been an encouraging response from local authorities, which justifies the Government's confidence that its measures to safeguard voluntary bodies after abolition will be effective. Provisional bids have been made by all but one of the authorities concerned. This demonstrates their willingness to take on these increased responsibilities, aided by the substantial support which the transitional grant scheme will provide.
We are writing today to the authorities in response to the initial bids setting out in more detail how the allocations of transitional grant will be made. We wish to direct the grants towards those local projects which make the most effective contribution towards tackling the social needs of the areas concerned. Political campaigning groups, police monitoring groups, and groups which do not benefit local people will not get support.
I am placing a copy of the letter in the Library.