§ Mr. John TownendTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the main purposes for which grants under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 are paid to local authorities.
§ Mr. Waddington[pursuant to the reply, 7 December 1989, c. 395]: I have today published my proposals for the improved administration of section 11 grant in the form of a draft circular to local authorities on which I am inviting comments. Copies have been placed in the Library.
The new arrangements are the outcome of the Government's consideration of the scrutiny report into the workings of the grant. Some £89 million section 11 grant was paid out in 1988–89 (the latest year for which figures are available); provision of £110 million has been secured for 1990–91.
283WOur ethnic minorities make a substantial contribution to this country. The Government are committed to equality of opportunity and good community relations. Barriers which prevent ethnic minorities from making their full contribution to the life of the country must be broken down. The reforms that we propose are designed to enable section 11 to make a major contribution to this objective. The grant has an important role in enabling people from the ethnic minorities to participate fully in the mainstream of British life. This is the Government's prime objective in the reforms proposed for the policy and administration of the grant in the light of the scrutiny report.
The scrutiny report shows that new legislation will be needed for any fundamental reform of section 11.
The Government agree that it is desirable to make the existing legislation more relevant to current needs, but believe that much can be done, in advance of any possible legislative change, to improve the way in which section 11 funding is administered. The main changes in funding arrangements set out in the draft circular are:
the emphasis of the grant in future will be put on practical projects working to identified needs, such as a lack of English language or low achievement in schools and local authorities will in future bid for funding for projects to be judged against such specific criteria;all projects will have to be regularly monitored and reviewed against recognisable performance targets;in advance of formal legislative change arrangements are being made for some section 11 funding to be redirected to innovative projects that tackle ethnic minority need, to be sponsored by the new training and enterprise councils (TECs), with task forces and city action teams in support;local authorities will be strongly encouraged to work with voluntary organisations and to identify a proportion of projects for the voluntary sector;new administrative arrangements would come into effect on 1 October 1991. Bids for funding will be invited on an annual basis to a fixed timetable.The new arrangements will allow for wider and more innovative proposals, but existing projects will still be able to continue if they are brought within the new criteria. To increase effectiveness, all projects, whether local authority or voluntary sector-based, will need to set clear objectives for achievement. For example, specific objectives for section 11 funding in education are:
to give school age children whose mother tongue is not English a command of English and to help them achieve at the same level as others in their age group in all areas of the curriculum;284W
Number of income support applicants Lone parents Disabled1 Pensioners Unemployed BRADFORD EAST Budgeting loans 1989 January 885 386 70 35 337 February 963 429 74 33 367 March 1,012 448 72 39 392 April 1,066 470 70 45 418 May 1,101 490 70 48 433 June 1,160 516 74 49 456 July 1,208 535 73 50 479 August 1,170 528 71 47 458 September 1,193 532 65 40 490 October 1,167 540 56 34 472 November 1,212 572 50 38 483 December 1,181 559 47 39 471 Crisis loans 1989 January 89 17 2 1 58 February 127 29 5 2 82 to strengthen ties between schools and the parents of ethnic minority pupils, where those ties are hard to establish because of parents' lack of English or because of cultural factors;to give ethnic minority adults, who have an inadequate command of English or who lack numeracy or literacy skills, sufficient knowledge and skills to compete for jobs and participate fully in the mainstream of national life.Some specific objectives in the area of employment, training and enterprise are:
to increase the awareness and take-up of the range of educational and employment opportunities by young people from ethnic minorities and to advise employers and community groups on the potential and training needs of such people;to secure better take-up by ethnic minorities of small business support services to promote the creation and growth of small firms and self-employment.The grant can help ethnic minorities in need in a number of ways by providing or aiding the provision of:
Services that cater for the particular problems faced by ethnic minority women and their children, for example, family and women's refuges and maternity social workers.Social workers able to give help to ethnic minorities who are isolated, speak and write little or no English and experience cultural barriers to full use of services of the elderly; advice on fostering and adoption and help in the case of mental and physical illness.The proposals in the circular will encourage the widest take-up in grant while at the same time ensuring that grant-seekers do not become wholly dependent on funding.