§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any plans to reduce the level of support currently available to civil defence community volunteers; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenThe Government maintain their commitment to community volunteers and support such activity through civil defence grant aid, but expenditure incurred by local authorities on volunteer arrangements must be balanced against that on other statutory civil defence functions. It is the aim of a current review of community volunteer schemes to ensure that effective and realistic arrangements are in place.
Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will name the county councils and 19W district councils in England and Wales which do not conform to regulations in respect of emergency control centres in accordance with the Civil Defence (General Local Authority Functions) Regulations 1983.
§ Mr. John PattenStatistics in connection with the provision of local authority emergency centres were given in "A report on implementation of the Civil Defence (General Local Authority Functions) Regulations 1983 in England and Wales at October 1988" which was published in January 1989 and a copy of which is in the Library. Advances on the position shown in that report are now being considered in the light of more recent information provided by local authorities.