HC Deb 13 March 1986 vol 93 cc559-60W
Mr. Terry Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to allocated additional funds to approved voluntary organisations in cases where district councils have declined to make up the difference between their provisional allocations and their final allocations.

Sir George Young

No.

Mr. Terry Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to restore the amount of transitional grant to voluntary organisations in Greater Manchester to the level provisionally allocated in November 1985.

Sir George Young

No. The final allocations were based on the detailed bids made by authorities in Greater Manchester. The provisional allocations issued last year were purely illustrative.

Mr. Terry Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment why final funding falls short of 75 per cent. of operating budgets for voluntary organisations in Greater Manchester for 1986–87.

Sir George Young

Local authorities are expected to fund voluntary bodies out of their own resources, as supplemented by rate support grant. Transitional grant is temporary additional assistance directed at local, not countrywide, projects taken on by individual districts. Six of the 10 Greater Manchester authorities got allocations which fully matched their bids for eligible projects. Final funding of voluntary projects in Greater Manchester depends entirely on the decisions of local authorities.