To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the amount of expenditure by his Department to tackle inner-city decay for each year since 1988; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 31 January 1991]: My Department supports a wide range of programmes within the Government's current initiatives for the inner cities. Resources for these programmes totalled some £1.3 billion in 1988–89 and £1.4 billion in 1989–90; expenditure during 1990–91 is expected to exceed £1.5 billion.