§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the amounts spent by(a) local authorities and (b) other organisations preparing bids for urban programme funding for 1993–94.
§ Mr. Robin SquireIt is not our practice to make such estimates. The work will have informed authorities? consideration of what projects to put forward for support from the urban partnership fund; and what to support from their own usable capital receipts.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library copies of all letters and other material sent out by his Department during 1992 dealing with bids for urban programme funding for 1993–94.
§ Mr. Robin SquireNo. This material could be assembled only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will break down the extra spending power that he forecasts the urban programme authorities will have as a result of the relaxation of the rules governing the use of capital receipts, by authority;
(2) if he will make a statement on how he calculated the figure of £500 million as the extra amount that the urban programme authorities would raise as a result of the relaxation of the rules regarding capital receipts.
§ Mr. Robin SquireWe estimate that authorities will have £1.75 billion of extra usable capital receipts as a result 765W of the relaxation in receipts rules based on authorities forecasts of their receipts in 1992–93. Historically, the urban authorities have had about 30 per cent. of the national total of usable receipts. If this proportion applied to the extra usable receipts, it would provide the urban authorities with about £0.5 billion of extra usable receipts. We have not made any estimates of these receipts at the level of individual local authorities. Local authorities have provided their own forecasts of the receipts they expect to receive during 1992–93 and this information is in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of private sector funding given to schemes supported by the urban programme in the current and last three years.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe information is available for three years only, as follows:
Private sector funding of urban programme projects Year £ million 1990–91 35.4 1991–92 22.2 1992–93 42.4 Source: Local authority annual urban programme submissions.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of jobs that have been created and preserved by the urban programme since its inception.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe urban programme has created and preserved 230,990 jobs between 1985–86, the first year for which information is available, and 1991–92.
Source: Local authority annual reports and annual urban programme submissions.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received(a) in favour of an (b) against his decision not to consider bids for urban programme funding for 1993–94.
§ Mr. Robin SquireMy Department will be supporting in 1993–94 substantial urban programme—UP—commitments amounting to £156 million and considering bids for support for new projects from the £20 million uncommitted UP resources which form the urban partnership fund.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much of the urban programme funding planned for 1992–93 related to on-going commitments; and how much was to be made available for new bids.
§ Mr. Robin SquireWe expect around two-thirds of the urban programme resources allocated to local authorities in any year to relate to continuing commitments, with the balance for new projects.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of state for the Environment how many schemes supported by the urban programme he has visited.
§ Mr. Robin SquireDepartment of the Environment Ministers visit the urban priority authorities on a regular basis and have been pleased to see a wide range of schemes supported by the urban programme.
766W
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will state the planned urban block expenditure for 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1995–96 by his Department, together with the figures in real terms, allowing for projected inflation, and the percentage increase/decrease each year.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe planned urban block expenditure figures for 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1995–96 are shown in the table; these incorporate the autumn statement changes, including the increase of over £90 million in the resources planned for 1993–94.
The planned expenditure figures, converted into real terms using latest GDP deflator figures, are in the table, along with the percentage year on year increase/decrease:
£ million 1 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 Urban Block planned expenditure 1,017 955 820 806 Planned expenditure expressed in real term figures 1,017 929 773 739 Percentage increase/decrease — -8.6 -16.7 -4.4 1Provision based on winter supplementary estimates.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total EC funding received by schemes supported by the urban programme in the current and last three years.
§ Mr. Robin SquireEuropean Community funding of local authorities? urban programme schemes is as follows:
Year £ million (rounded) 1990–91 9 1991–92 26 1 1992–93 11 Source: UP claim forms from local authorities.
Note: Figures for 1989–90 are not available.
1 To date.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many(a) jobs, (b) training places and (c) schemes are currently supported by the urban programme in each of the urban programme authorities; and what was the allocation for 1992–93 for each of the authorities.
§ Mr. Robin SquireI refer the hon. Gentleman to my reply to his question on Wednesday 13 January,Official Report, column 656. It is not our policy to publish output data for each individual authority under the urban programme.