City Challenge (Hansard, 7 June 1993)

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many, and what percentage of the total number of, city challenge board members are(a) business men, (b) local councillors and (c) representatives of community groups.

§ Mr. Baldry
Some appointments for the second round city challenge boards have yet to be finalised. From the information currently available, the membership of the 31 city challenge boards will be composed of 152 (29 per cent.) private sector, 143 (27 per cent.) local authority and 145 (27 per cent.) community members. Ninety-one (17 per cent.) will be from other agencies and interested organisations.

§ Mr.Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many city challenge authorities he has visited.

§ Mr. Baldry
The 31 city challenge partnerships receive regular visits from their sponsor Ministers as well as Ministers from this Department.

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money was(a) originally allocated, (b) allocated for the first year and (c) spent by each city challenge authority in the first year.

§ Mr. Baldry
Each round 1 city challenge partnership has received a total funding allocation of £7.5 million per annum for five years. Partnerships' expenditure limits were revised as appropriate during 1992–93 in order to offset predicted underspends, as they became known, against opportunities to expedite spend elsewhere. These in-year changes do not affect the overall sum allocated to each partnership, which remains at £37.5 million for the five years.
105W
Final expenditure limits and current best estimates of spend against expenditure limits in 1992–93 for all round 1 city challenge partnerships are as follows:

£ million

Authority Final City Challenge expenditure limit in 1992–93 Expenditure in 1992–93¹

Lewisham 7.87 7.82

Tower Hamlets 6.39 6.36

Nottingham 7.65 7.44

Wolverhampton 8.24 8.24

Bradford 7.43 7.42

Dearne Valley 7.10 7.10

Manchester 7.83 7.83

Liverpool 7.50 7.50

Wirral 7.50 7.48

Middlesbrough 7.49 7.48

Newcastle 7.50 7.50

¹ All figures for expenditure in 1992–93 are provisional. Final figures will not be available until after the receipt of authorities' 1992–93 final audited claims.

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress of Tower Hamlets' city challenge.

§ Mr. Baldry
The 1993–94 action plan for the Bethnal Green city challenge in Tower Hamlets is currently before us for consideration. It is expected that a decision will be issued soon.

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions he had concerning exit strategies for the first round city challenge authorities.

§ Mr. Baldry
The need for planned exit strategies was highlighted in the guidance given to the first round city challenge authorities on the preparation of their action plans. The development of exit strategies is monitored as part of the annual review.

£ million
Authority	Final City Challenge expenditure limit in 1992–93	Expenditure in 1992–93¹
Lewisham	7.87	7.82
Tower Hamlets	6.39	6.36
Nottingham	7.65	7.44
Wolverhampton	8.24	8.24
Bradford	7.43	7.42
Dearne Valley	7.10	7.10
Manchester	7.83	7.83
Liverpool	7.50	7.50
Wirral	7.50	7.48
Middlesbrough	7.49	7.48
Newcastle	7.50	7.50
¹ All figures for expenditure in 1992–93 are provisional. Final figures will not be available until after the receipt of authorities' 1992–93 final audited claims.