§ Mrs. GormanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what conditions are attached to grants from his Department to anti-racist organisations.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe Home Office runs a number of grant programmes which aim to improve community relations by seeking to reduce racial discrimination and racial disadvantage. Section 11 grant and the new ethnic minority grant seek to assist the access of ethnic minorities to mainstream services. Grants made from the reduction of racial disadvantage grant budget mainly help business support agencies under the ethnic minority business initiative and projects working to build the capacity of the ethnic minority voluntary sector. Some funding for anti-harassment and anti-racial attack schemes is also provided under the safer cities programme. In addition, the Commission for Racial Equality, which is grant aided by the Home Office, is empowered under section 44 of the Race Relations Act 1976 to give financial or other assistance to any organisation that it deems to be concerned with the promotion of equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups. Most race equality councils and a number of projects in various parts of the country are funded in this way.
Funding under these programmes is subject to a range of conditions, some of which relate specifically to a particular project or scheme and others which are common to many grant regimes. These include conditions on progress towards targets and objectives, the provision of reports and financial information, and requirements that grants must not be used for party political purposes or for purposes for which they were not intended.