§ 16. Dr. BerryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a further statement on the effects of the abolition of the urban programme on his inner city strategy.
§ Mr. HowardI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bristol, East (Ms. Corston) earlier today.
§ Dr. BerryWould the Secretary of State care to reconsider the reply that he gave to my hon. Friend? Can he confirm that urban programme funding for Bristol has been cut drastically in recent years? Does he accept that the Government's continual changing of policy towards inner city areas poses a problem for local authorities, which, like the one in Bristol, are trying to plan urban regeneration?
§ Mr. HowardIn deference to your rulings, Madam Speaker, I shall avoid repeating what I said earlier to the hon. Member for Bristol, East. On the question of changing the approach, we think that it is part of our responsibility constantly to look at how resources may be made available and may be made to work most effectively in dealing with the problems that arise in the inner cities. That is why we are determined to get away from the old process whereby money was made available to local authorities as a matter of routine, was taken by them as a 880 matter of routine and was spent by them as a matter of routine—a process that did not produce the results that should have been produced.