§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the current amount of section 11 funding made available by his Department to the Greater London area; [57909]
654W(2) if he will make a statement on his Department's future policy towards section 11 funding for the Greater London area. [57763]
§ Mr. George HowarthAllocations of Home Office section 11 grant for the 1998–99 financial year to local authorities, grant maintained schools and further education colleges in the Greater London area amount to £34.496 million. Nationally, over 97 per cent. of section 11 grant is currently paid to education projects. It has been decided that, from April 1999, responsibility for such funding should rest with the Department for Education and Employment. A further announcement will be made shortly about the administrative arrangements. The Home Office intends to operate a new grant programme to fund projects in fields other than education. The Department is currently consulting interested parties about the design of this new programme, and a further announcement will be made in due course.