§ 22. Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement on the recent ministerial visit to Liverpool to discuss education in inner city areas.
§ Mr. OakesI represented the Department of Education and Science at the first meeting of the Liverpool Inner City Partnership Committee held on 4th November and chaired by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment. I consider the meeting to have been a useful one, with a good measure of agreement reached between those attending. The purpose of the meeting was to launch the partnership of local and central Government which has the aim of making a substantial improvement in the conditions of life of the people of inner Liverpool. It was recognised that education has an important part to play in this, and additional resources amounting to £645,000 have already been allocated to improving older schools as part of the first stage of the inner city programme announced by the Chancellor in March. I hope that in subsequent years the partnership will include in its programme further measures to help education in inner Liverpool.