§ Lord Pearson of Rannochasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 30 June (WA 5), in respect of each of the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, the MAFF nine regional panels, the Citizen's Charter Panel of Advisers, the Northern Ireland Citizen's Charter Advisory Panel and the Agricultural Advisory Panel for Wales, when they were notified of the intention to terminate government grant, when the final grant payments were made, what grant provision was made to help meet their obligations for staff redundancies, and what arrangements Her Majesty's Government have made to avoid staff redundancies.
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe Scottish Historic Buildings Trust were informed on 29 May 1997 of the decision not to offer grant for 1997–98. I should explain that although the offer of grant made to the trust on 1 March 1996 had offered funding for both 1996–97 and 1997–98, the latter was an indicative sum which was subject to the trust meeting the conditions attached to the award. In the event, the trust failed to meet certain conditions and, in view of there being a history of non-compliance with the rules of the Special (Environmental) Grants Programme (SPEG), Ministers agreed that grant should not be offered for a further year. The decision was not a result of any policy change by the new Government.
With regard to the timing of the final grant payment, grant for the first half of the financial grant 1996–97 had been withdrawn because of the trust's non-compliance with the rules of the SPEG scheme. A restricted payment for the third and fourth quarters was made in March 1997 with the proviso that any additional grant, which might have been due to the trust because of a claimed higher pattern of expenditure in the second half of the year, would be considered when audited accounts were available for 1996–97 and an auditor's certificate had been provided in respect of the expenditure incurred in undertaking SPEG-related activities. A certificate is still awaited. No staff redundancies have been caused by this decision.
The remaining bodies were all advisory non-departmental public bodies consisting of boards of public appointees. They were funded directly from their respective sponsor departments' votes, and did not receive any grant or grant-in-aid. They were supported by civil servants from within their respective sponsor departments, and did not employ their own staff. In each case, board members were informed of the Government's intention to stand them down and wind up the body in advance of any public announcements.