§ 7. Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many meetings have been held under the chairmanship of the hon. Member for Ealing, Acton (Sir G. Young) of the inner city partnerships of Lambeth, Islington and Hackney; and what plans there are for future meetings.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Sir George Young)The first meeting of the Hackney partnership under my chairmanship will take place tomorrow. I hope to chair the Islington partnership in the autumn and the Lambeth partnership in December.
§ Mr. ProctorI thank my hon. Friend for that reply. However, is it not time that he realised that efforts spent on such meetings are counter-productive, a deflection from the excellent work that he does elsewhere in his Department, and not consistent with good race relations in London?
§ Sir George YoungGovernment policy is to reinforce the economic and social fabric of our inner cities, in which the ethnic groups have a crucial role to play. For that reason, under the auspices of the partnership committees, we support many projects which we believe can play a real role in revitalising the economy of our inner cities.