§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the refusal of section 64 funding for the Access Committee for England. [40230]
§ Mr. BoatengThe decision not to renew Government funding of the central administrative costs of the Access Committee for England (ACE) from April this year was reached only after very careful consideration, and was taken jointly by Ministers from the Department for Education and Employment, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Department of Health. The decision followed a recent inter-Departmental review which concluded that future funding of ACE by the Government should be for specific projects, and not towards their central administrative costs. This is in accordance with the policy of time-limiting grants for central administrative costs, of which voluntary organisations in receipt of Government funding under both this and the previous Government have been aware for some years.