§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will announce the selection o contractors to manage the next wave of safer cities projects.
§ Sir Paul BeresfordI am pleased to announce that, following a tender competition, contractors have been selected to manage the 20 new safer cities projects which my right hon. Friend the then Minister for Housing, Inner Cities and Construction announced on 15 July 1994.
After careful evaluation of the tenders, three organisations have been chosen to run the projects: Crime Concern, the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders and the Society of Voluntary Associates. All three organisations have significant experience in crime prevention, project management, and working with voluntary agencies.
Crime Concern will manage projects in Bolton, Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, Portsmouth, Southwark and Westminster.
NACRO will manage projects in Bournemouth, Brighton, Easington, Great Grimsby, Merseyside, Norwich, Oxford, Sandwell, Scunthorpe, Wansbeck and York.
SOVA will manage projects in Camden, Lincoln and Newham.
We expect preliminary work to begin December, and projects will start to come on stream early in the new year.