§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the implications for contingency planning of the level of civil defence grants in the next financial year. [162301]
§ Mr. AlexanderThe Civil Defence Grant is a contribution towards the cost of local authorities' civil protection work. The aggregate of civil defence grants to be made for the financial year 2004–05 is £19,038,000, which will be distributed according to a formula agreed with the Local Government Association.
The grant will make funds available for the preparation of emergency plans, liaison with the emergency services in preparing for major incidents and other civil protection work.
The Civil Defence Grant is just one small part of what the Government spends on resilience. There are a large number of other statutory bodies involved in local civil protection work including the Police Service, the Fire Service, the Ambulance Service and the Environment Agency. They are funded accordingly for this work.