§ Ms. LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the planned expenditure on the urban programme in 1993–94; how much of this is to be diverted to city challenge; what plans there are to make city challenge available to all urban programme authorities; and what assessment he has made of the reduction in the number of jobs to be created resulting from the change in the urban programme funding.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe answer is
(a) A total of £ 176 million is to be made available to urban programme authorities in 199–94; (b) None. City challenge resources for next year are additional to the £176 million; (c) All 57 urban programme authorities were invited to compete in round 2 of city challenge. The future of city challenge will be considered in the light of next year's review of urban needs and progress in the areas successful in the first two competitions; (d) Taking city challenge together with the urban programme, resources will rise from £319 million in 1992–93 to £408 million in 1993–94. I would therefore expect to see a corresponding increase in the number of jobs created as a result of this expenditure.