The Viscount of Oxfuirdasked Her Majesty's Government:
When the transfer of ministerial responsibility for volunteering, the voluntary sector and charity matters from the Home Office to the Department of National Heritage will take place.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of National Heritage (Lord Inglewood)My right honourable friend the Prime Minister announced on 1st April in another place (House of CommonsHansard, OR, WA, col 1) that these responsibilities would be transferred to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for National Heritage from my right honourable and learned friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department as soon as the necessary financial and other arrangements could be made. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State has agreed with my right honourable and learned friend that she will take over ministerial responsibility from 1st May 1996. At the same date the staff who currently perform these functions in the Home Office will transfer to the Department of National Heritage.
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State has decided that, following the transfer, my honourable friend the Minister of State will become responsible for the work of the National Lottery 147WA Charities Board alongside his existing responsibility for Lottery matters; and I shall become responsible for work on the voluntary sector, volunteering, charities, and community development.
The Department of National Heritage will be seeking parliamentary authority in the summer supplementary estimates to enable it to make payments of grants and for the transfer of resources currently in the Home Office. Until such time as approval is given, the Home Office will remain accountable for the actual physical payment of these grants.