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Mr. Vaz : It is a great pity that the Secretary of State's visits to our cities and urban areas have not given him a proper and clear insight into the problems that they face.

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Why does he not have the courage to admit that the Government simply do not have a clear, coherent or credible policy for dealing with our cities and urban areas? Why has he failed to defend his Department's budget against the Treasury cuts for local government which were announced yesterday? By how much more is he increasing resources in real terms to our cities as a result of the city pride project? Is that initiative like everything else that he does on the subject--a cheap political gimmick and another municipal gameshow that insults the integrity and intelligence of those who seek to administer local government?

Mr. Gummer : The hon. Gentleman is a little out of date. He spent a lot of time, when we were discussing the setting up of the single unified budget for the great cities of England, telling us that there would not be the money for it. I am pleased to remind him that the £1.4 billion which I announced last year would be available is available this year. That is what we promised that we would deliver and what we have done. The hon. Gentleman first complains that I did not defend the budget ; then when I do defend it, he repeats that I did not. He must get the figures right.

The Government have done more than any previous Government for inner cities in Britain. We should be proud of what is happening in our cities. We are improving them through a series of mechanisms, which the Labour party fought tooth and nail. City challenge has been a great success and we shall continue to fight to improve our cities.

Since taking on the job, I have made the cities a priority and shown that we need to revitalise our cities all over the country. We should do that by dealing with the planning system properly and ensuring that the life of our cities enables people not only to live there but to work, take their leisure and shop there.

Urban Policy

9. Mr. O'Hara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on current Government urban policy.

12. Dr. Berry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on current Government urban policy.

Sir George Young : The Government will continue to support urban regeneration through a range of initiatives, including the single regeneration budget announced by my right hon. Friend on 4 November.

Mr. O'Hara : The Minister will be aware that Sefton may have been awarded city challenge resources, but Knowsley, which neighbours Sefton and has similar problems that are no less severe, was denied the resources, despite an excellent presentation. Will he recognise that the consolation prize of £1 million-worth of urban partnership funding can be seen locally only as a sop when it is accompanied by a rapid rundown in urban programme funding? The authority used to receive that funding at a level of £4.5 million per annum and used it to address strategically a wide range of economic, social and environmental problems. Will the Minister give a commitment to restore urban funding in my borough of Knowsley to such a level and in such a manner that it will be able once again to address its many problems coherently and will not be forced reluctantly to indulge in an annual game of urban funding bingo?

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Sir George Young : As the hon. Member knows, the urban programme is being phased out, but alternative opportunities are available to his constituency--for example, we are spending £10 million through estate action to remodel the Lickers Lane estate in Whiston. We are giving help to three local shopping parades--Liverpool road, Leathers lane and Hillside road. The hon. Gentleman's authority has received £20 million in urban programme resources over the past 10 years. Although it may not have been successful with city challenge, there has been a substantial investment in that part of the country by my Department in particular schemes, which I am sure has been of benefit to his constituents.

Dr. Berry : What plans does the Minister have for places like Bristol, where existing Government schemes are coming to an end? It has lost area task force money, it is losing the safer cities project money and it does not have the benefit of assisted area status. How will the proposed Minister for Bristol fit into the plans? Would not a better alternative be to fund properly a democratically elected local council?

Sir George Young : The hon. Gentleman mentions all the things that Bristol does not have, but forgets to mention Bristol development corporation, which has just spent £47 million building a spine road linking the M32 to the A4. It is building a new shopping centre and a new business centre, and is helping to regenerate the whole area around Temple Meads station. For the hon. Gentleman to criticise the failure to win a number of smaller prizes when the area has the real help of that development corporation is to look through the telescope the wrong way.

Mr. Bates : Can my right hon. Friend confirm that this year the county of Cleveland will benefit from £100 million from the Government for urban regeneration? Central to that will be the continued excellent work of Teesside development corporation, which has attracted 7,500 jobs since it was established. Does he agree that that success and investment would make Teesside an ideal location for the new headquarters for the Urban Regeneration Agency?

Sir George Young : My hon. Friend's note of optimism strikes a much more recognisable tone on behalf of his constituents than do some of the Opposition complaints. It is certainly true that the development corporations in the north-east are transforming prospects and providing a much broader base for the economy and more jobs. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the part that he plays in further pursuing the work of the development corporation in his constituency.

Homelessness

10. Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what further steps he is taking to combat homelessness.

Sir George Young : The figures announced yesterday will mean that more families can move into home ownership, releasing their present local authority or housing association home to homeless families and others in housing need. Some £30 million is being made available to local authorities to run cash incentive schemes ; and more Housing Corporation resources will be provided for its successful tenants' incentive scheme. That is good news

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for families in housing need, who will benefit from new lettings made available. It is good news for tenants and good news for the housing market.

The Housing Corporation estimates that, with the plans announced yesterday, we will comfortably exceed our target of 153,000 homes funded through the Housing Corporation over the first three years of this Parliament. We now estimate that about 53,000 homes will be completed next year, making a total of 173,000 over the three-year period.

Mr. Griffiths : Will the Minister join me in congratulating the Edinburgh churches and other organisations that are arranging a sleep-out for homeless people on Friday in which I will participate? Does he recognise that the vast majority of people who have homes and incomes are appalled by the plight of homeless people and by the fact that the Government have presided over such an alarming increase in the number of homeless people and done so little to help them? What concrete measures does he propose to ensure that young single homeless are properly accommodated?

Sir George Young : It is not the case that homelessness is increasing in England. For the past four quarters, acceptances by local authorities of those who are statutorily homeless has fallen. I hope that the hon. Gentleman welcomes that. Fewer and fewer of those accepted as homeless are in bed-and-breakfast accommodation. There has been a fall of 41 per cent. over the past 12 months in the number of families in bed and breakfast.

In terms of the single homeless, a substantial number of rough sleepers have been assisted by the Government's rough sleepers initiative in London, and the number sleeping rough on the streets has fallen from about 1,060 three years ago to about 360. I am determined to make further progress and to see that number fall yet further.

Mr. Hendry : I congratulate my right hon. Friend on those policies, which are bringing down homeless statistics for the first time since records began. Can he confirm that there are 800,000 empty properties, representing 13 empty homes for every family in temporary accommodation? The Government are right to target resources on bringing those homes back into use, and is not that exactly what my right hon. Friend is doing?

Sir George Young : My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the fact that there are 800,000 empty properties. He is also right to promote schemes to bring those properties back into action, such as, for example, the housing association as managing agent scheme. Everybody who wants to bring decent homes within the reach of more people should do all that he can to encourage such schemes to get off the ground so that those homes can generate income for their owners and provide decent shelter for those who might otherwise be in unsatisfactory accommodation.

Mr. Battle : Do not the Minister's replies demonstrate a shameful complacency? Everyone except the Government seems to agree that 300, 000 new homes are needed in the next three years. Is the Minister aware that today, more than 200 homes will be repossessed, more than 500 families will be registered as officially homeless, more than 60, 000 families are trapped in temporary accommodation and more than 8, 000 will sleep out, not only in London but in towns and cities throughout the country?

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Why, then, is the Minister backing a Budget that is hammering down on housing investment, cutting £500 million from housing associations and local councils and effectively, at a stroke, cutting out 10,000 new homes? Would it not be economic common sense to go for housing investment, to use the backlog of local councils' capital receipts to generate jobs in construction and manufacturing and to provide homes to rent that are desperately needed--or will the Minister now tell us that his Government have decided that in our society we shall be scarred by homelessness well into the next century?

Sir George Young : What really matters for those in housing need is not the number of new homes that housing associations built each year but the number of new lettings that housing associations provide. The Government are refocusing the resources of the housing associations into more cost-effective schemes, such as the tenants incentives scheme, shared ownership and do-it-yourself shared ownership. The number of completions next year, at 53,000, is roughly double the number of completions that were achieved in 1991-92. It is not the case that the Housing Corporation will not make a real impact. The Housing Corporation believes that, during the next three year, it will maintain the output that it envisaged completing at the beginning of the year.

Mr. Fabricant : Is my right hon. Friend aware that although Conservative Members welcome the reduction in the number of the homeless, Shelter claims that there are more than 2 million homeless people in England?

Sir George Young : A number of figures are bandied around in the housing world. The figure of 2 million homeless people which was produced by Shelter is one of the most absurd figures that I have seen in three years as Housing Minister. Shelter has included in the 2 million figure everyone who is on an assured shorthold. The assured shorthold is now the most common form of letting in the private rented sector. If one were to describe as homeless everyone who had an assured shorthold, one would include many hon. Members.

Air Quality Testing Stations

11. Dr. Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the Government intend to increase the number of air quality testing stations and by how many.

Mr. Gummer : My Department published consultation proposals on the development of air quality monitoring on 2 November. Decisions will be reached in the light of responses to that consultation.

Dr. Howells : Can the Secretary of State say why so few testing stations are currently operating and why, given the huge increase in asthma and the links between asthma and vehicle emissions, he does not have immediate plans to build new testing stations to have them operating wherever concentrations of population and traffic coincide?

Mr. Gummer : We have 42 continuous automatic stations. We are spending £4 million a year on that work. Anyone in the country can telephone his or her local number to find out the quality of the air in the place to which he or she wishes to go. That is especially valuable to those who have asthma problems. I have great sympathy with people who have such problems, as I am a former

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sufferer. I am, therefore, pleased that we shall have a report by the sub-group investigating that topic. I hope to have that report in 1994 and to consider it in conjunction with the work that we have already done. I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising an important matter, which I shall not forget.

Mr. Spring : My right hon. Friend will be aware that much air pollution comes from the motor car. What plans has my right hon. Friend in place to reduce pollution from that source?

Mr. Gummer : The reduction in pollution that has already occurred because of the move to leadless petrol is a remarkable achievement. That has been extremely helpful and has made a major difference. It is one of the biggest changes that has occurred. Cars now have to have catalytic converters. We are seeking to tighten those arrangements and have been doing so for some time.

The matter is also under review in the European Community. My hon. Friend will know that I visited the motor show to look at the latest developments and I very much hope that we can press motor producers to do more. With that in mind, I spoke to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and I am pleased to say that I have had considerable support from that organisation to do what we all want to do--reduce the effect of pollution in towns.

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Mr. Chris Smith : Far from being reduced, did not pollution from nitrogen dioxide in central London rise by 17 per cent. last year alone and is not the number of national monitoring stations for nitrogen dioxide in Britain seven compared with 200 in Germany? Given that one in every seven children suffers from asthma and that the number of sufferers has doubled in the past 10 years, is not the least we can do--and the first step we should take--to improve substantially the monitoring of nitrogen dioxide and air pollution so that we can take action to tackle the problem seriously?

Mr. Gummer : The hon. Gentleman's figures are wrong. Three times as many centres do that already. There are 21 stations monitoring nitrogen dioxide ; the hon. Gentleman said that there were seven. The figures we put forward are the facts ; the ones he put forward are his hopes. The hon. Gentleman is constantly trying to undermine what the Government are doing. What we are doing is very effective. I have said that I am not sure whether we are doing the job well enough. That is why I issued a consultation paper. I shall consider that consultation paper and act on the facts. If the hon. Gentleman were more willing to acquaint himself with the facts and seek our help on them, we would get much further.

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