§ Mr. GouldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each local authority the voluntary organisations in receipt of funds from his Department; and if he will make a statement concerning his policy towards the funding of such groups.
§ Mr. Chris PattenI refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer of 5 June to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms. Walley)—Official Report, column 481—in which I provided a complete list of organisations and persons in receipt of direct grants from my Department in 1989–90 and the size of each grant. Many of those organisations are national rather than local. For local organisations information broken down by local authority area is not readily available.
My policy towards the funding of voluntary groups follows the line set out by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary, on 4 April 1990, Official Report, column 639, when he announced publication of the report of the efficiency scrutiny of Government funding of the voluntary sector.