asked the Minister for the Environment when an applicant (details supplied) will receive payment of the £600 home improvement grant as there has been prolonged delay due originally to the omission of internal painting, long since completed and notified, and why his Department did not know where the file was when telephone inquiries were made recently.
Written Answers. - Home Improvement Grant.
285.
A notification that all necessary work in this case had been completed was received by my Department in mid-January last. The house was inspected last week and arrangements are being made to pay the grant very shortly.
With regard to the alleged uncertainty about the location of the file when a phone inquiry was made recently about the case, I would point out to the Deputy that last year over 50,000 grant applications were submitted to my Department from all parts of the country—or more than three times the total number of applications made in 1977. Files in connection with these applications are constantly in circulation, both within the Department and between the Department and its outdoor inspectors. In the circumstances it will be appreciated that difficulties could occur in dealing with telephone inquiries about the exact location at the time of an individual file.