In the meantime the terms of the grants had been improved from 30 per cent .sx to 75 per cent .sx of the wages bill of additional men taken on for the work , and a new form of grant had been introduced , applicable to schemes financed out of loans , by way of a contribution towards the loan repayment charges .sx A full account of the various forms and rates of grants operative during the term of the Committee is given in Appendix I of this Report .sx The terms of reference required that works should be approved for grant only in areas where the existence of serious unemployment was certified by the Ministry of Labour .sx The issue of this certificate was a condition precedent to grant until March , 1924 , when the Government decided that the use of the certificate should be discontinued although the extent of unemployment should nevertheless be regarded as one of the factors to be taken into account in deciding whether grant should be made or not .sx Up to September , 1921 , when grants on the " loan " basis were introduced , the Committee had regarded the engagement of additional wen through the Employment Exchanges as satisfactory evidence that works were sufficiently accelerated to qualify for grant .sx Thereafter , however , the Committee were empowered to approve schemes for grant only provided that the works involved would not otherwise have been proceeded with at the time .sx December , 1925 , to November , 1928 .sx - Towards the close of the year 1925 , it was becoming evident that Local Authorities were finding difficulty in submitting suitable schemes which would not be carried out in the normal course for some time , and among those .sx put forward were a number which the Committee thought might been undertaken in the near future without State assistance .sx There remained , however , some which were being adequately accelerated , and some which , while very desirable in the interest of public health and convenience , could not be carried out by the Authorities without financial assistance .sx In these circumstances , the Government decided in December , 1925 , that grants should be limited to schemes undertaken by Local Authorities in areas where unemployment was exceptional , and that works to be eligible for grant must clearly be those which would not normally have been put in hand for some considerable time ( ordinarily more than five years) .sx This decision met with a considerable degree of criticism , mainly from Authorities in thickly populated districts where unemployment was serious because of its volume , but measured by the percentage method , did not reach the qualifying minimum which was fixed at 15 per cent .sx of the adult male insured population .sx The decision was nevertheless maintained and its .sx effect was to restrict very severely the number of schemes which could be proved ; in fact , the scheme of grants might almost be said to have been in abeyance until November , 1928 , when an entirely fresh consideration was taken into account .sx November , 1928 , to July , 1929 .sx This consideration arose out of .sx the report of the Industrial Transference Board which had been appointed " to facilitate the transfer of workers , and in particular of miners , for whom opportunities of employment in their own district or occupation are no longer available " .sx As one means of giving effect to the recommendations of the Industrial Transference Board , the Government authorised the Committee to make grants to Local Authorities in the more prosperous areas , who were willing to undertake works of public utility and to employ not less than 50 per cent .sx of the men required for the works from depressed areas .sx As an inducement to such Local Authorities to support the Government in the development of the transfer policy , a substantial increase in the amount of grant for non-revenue producing schemes was offered , while in place of requiring at least 5 years acceleration as imposed in December , 1925 , the Committee were authorised , in considering " transfer " schemes , to revert to their former practice of approving grants , provided that the works were being undertaken " out of the normal course .sx " The new terms of grant payable in respect of non-revenue-producing schemes financed by way of loans to a Local Authority employing transferred men covered the whole of the loan repayment period up to 80 years and were equivalent to as much as 63 per cent .sx of the total cost of the scheme .sx The most favourable grant in force hitherto had covered only the first half , up to 15 years , of the loan repayment period and was equivalent to approximately 50 per cent .sx of the total cost , so that by the introduction of the new " transfer " terms the Government became for the first time , in certain cases , definitely the predominant contributor to the cost of the schemes .sx Another feature of the new offer was that , not only was the door thrown open to Local Authorities in the more prosperous areas , who had for some years been ineligible for assistance , but they became entitled to more favourable terms than those offered to Authorities in areas where unemployment was severe .sx This feature met with considerable criticism from less favoured districts , but it was considered that the more generous grants were justified because of the national advantage which would follow from the grants by the absorption in the more prosperous districts of men from depressed areas where industry was in a state of stagnation .sx At this time the average percentage of unemployment among adult males throughout the country was 14.4 , the corresponding percentage in depressed areas being between 20 per cent .sx and 30 per cent .sx In general , the grant proved to be a sufficient inducement to Local Authorities in suitable districts to accept the conditions , .sx and a substantial number of schemes was submitted for grant on " transfer " terms .sx July , 1929 , to July , 1930 .sx After the change of Government in June , 1929 , one of the earliest measures to receive Royal Assent was the Development ( Loan Guarantees and Grants ) Act , 1929 , which placed the Committee on a statutory basis , empowering the Minister of Labour to make grants , with the approval of the Treasury and on the recommendation of the Committee , to Local Authorities and statutory bodies not trading for profit .sx This Act also empowered the Treasury , after consultation with another Committee subsequently known as the Development ( Public Utility ) Advisory Committee to guarantee loans and to make grants for the purpose of assisting other bodies carrying on public utility undertakings under statutory powers .sx Under Section 6 of the Act , its duration was limited to a period of three years from the 31st August , 1929 .sx The week of the Unemployment Grants Committee came prominently under review by the Government and considerable pressure was brought to bear on all Local Authorities to put forward the maximum number of schemes of public works .sx In order to stimulate the submission of schemes , the Committee were forthwith authorised to approve the " transfer " grants , notwithstanding that the proportion of labour to be transferred would not reach 50 per cent .sx , while in areas where unemployment , though severe and prolonged , did not reach the standard adopted by the Committee from December , 1925 , onwards , grants might be approved on the non-trawler basis and three years substituted for five years as the minimum qualifying period of acceleration .sx The Committee had taken an average of 10 per cent .sx among adult males during the previous 12 months as the minimum unemployment figure required to enable a district to be regarded at any time as one suffering from exceptional unemployment .sx For the purpose of determining whether an area was suffering from severe and prolonged unemployment , an average of not less than 10 per cent .sx during the previous 12 months was adopted as the minimum .sx This modification admitted a substantial number of Local Authorities who had hitherto been ineligible for grants , but there still remained a considerable number of important Authorities in districts which were not considered suitable for the introduction of men from depressed areas , but in which at the same time the average unemployment figure did not reach the new qualifying minimum of 10 per cent .sx These Authorities consequently remained ineligible for grant on either the " transfer " or " non-transfer " basis , a situation which gave rise to considerable dissatisfaction among the Authorities thus debarred .sx The announcement of the Government's proposals resulted in the submission by Local Authorities of a very large number of schemes involving heavy capital expenditure , and between July , .sx 1929 , and June , 1930 , about 1,850 schemes were approved , involving capital expenditure estimated at about 37,000,000 .sx Nevertheless , the response was regarded as inadequate , and consequently in June , 1930 , the Prime Minister presided at a conference of Local .sx Authorities held at the Guildhall , London , to consider what further .sx measures could be taken in co-operation between the Government and the Local Authorities for dealing with the problem of unemployment .sx At this meeting , the Prime Minister announced that the Government were appealing to Local Authorities to consider that further works could be put in hand to provide the maximum amount of employment , particularly during the coming winter , and that certain modifications of the terms and conditions of grants had been decided upon , more favourable to Local Authorities than these hitherto in force .sx The terms announced are set out in Appendix I to this report , which shows the various rates of grant operative between December , 1920 , and January , 1932 .sx Following this meeting Ministers addressed meetings in a number of the chief provincial towns at which the new terms and conditions were explained to representatives of Local Authorities from the surrounding districts .sx July 1930 to March , 1931 .sx - The modifications then introduced provided that all Local Authorities should be eligible for the .sx maximum grants which had hitherto been applicable only to " transfer " schemes , that the employment of men from depressed areas should no longer be a condition of grant , and that the percentage of wages payable as grant in the case of schemes financed otherwise than out of loans should be increased in areas where unemployment among adult males had reached an average of 15 per cent .sx during the past 12 months .sx In addition , Parliament voted a sum of 500,000 for works in necessitous areas , to be .sx allocated to Local Authorities by the Ministry of Health to meet the full cost of specially selected schemes .sx Among the steps taken by the Government to obviate delay in .sx putting schemes into operation was the passage of the Public Works Facilities Act , which received Royal Assent in August , 1930 .sx The Act was involved in a number of cases with good results , and the fact that compulsory purchase powers could be obtained .sx under the Act strengthened the hands of Local Authorities in their negotiations with landowners .sx Grants were now made available to all Local Authorities .sx practically on uniform terms , the more favourable " wages " grant .sx available to those in areas in which unemployment was severe , and the special 100 per cent .sx grant for those in necessitous areas being so restricted as to constitute only a small fraction of the whole of the grants involved .sx Every effort was made to secure .sx the maximum possible result from the Government's new offer and there was an immediate response , particularly from Local Authorities who had for some years been ineligible for any form of grant .sx which the Committee could recommend .sx During the six months following the announcement of the new terms and conditions , schemes submitted to the Committee numbered 2,344 involving a total capital expenditure of approximately 32,500,000 .sx Although it was no longer a condition of grant that Authorities in the more prosperous districts should employ a proportion of men from depressed areas on grant-aided schemes , the offer of new terms and conditions included an appeal to such Authorities to co-operate with the Government in doing what they reasonably could to provide employment for men from depressed areas , particularly those men who had passed through the Ministry of Labour's Transfer Instructional Centres .sx In a substantial number of cases Authorities expressed themselves willing to take a proportion of such men if their schemes were approved for grant , and in fact it can fairly be said that in every way Local Authorities generally responded to the Government's appeal to the utmost extent of their ability .sx