§ Mr. Tony Lloydasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will explain the precise reasons for his decision to cut urban aid programme funding for the Moss Side information technology centre 6502; and what assessment he has made of the impact of his decision on the viability of the centre.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerThe exceptional extension of urban programme assistance towards running costs for a further period of three years should allow the centre to continue to operate.
§ Mr. Tony Lloydasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will give details of all moneys given to each information technology centre, and of moneys for which each of them is still eligible under the urban aid programme;
(2) if he will indicate what criteria are used in determining the level of support for each information technology centre under the urban programme.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerThe criteria for support of urban programme projects are set out in the ministerial guidelines for the urban programme, a copy of which was placed in the Library of the House on 9 May 1985. The precise level of support for each ITEC depends, among other things, on the amount of funding obtained from other sources, and the priority given to the project by the local authority concerned.
Details of the moneys made available to individual ITECs for each year under the urban programme are not readily available, but in 1984–85 they received a total of about £600,000.