§ Mr. Hancockasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now formally notify Portsmouth city council of its entitlement to submit a bid for urban aid; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George Young[pursuant to his answer, 25 February 1986, c. 490]: Portsmouth was not among the local authorities invited to bid for new approvals under the 674W traditional urban programme in 1986–87. The bidding round closed in November 1985. The list of invited authorities will be revised for 1987–88. The practice of inviting selected authorities to bid was introduced in order to underline the Department's intention to concentrate resources on the most needy areas, and to reduce the fruitless work involved in the preparation and assessment of bids which were unlikely to succeed.