§ Lord AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Secretary of State for the Environment will issue a circular to local authorities advising them to lend money under the option mortgage scheme to retired owner-occupiers in receipt of supplementary benefit on an interest-only basis for the purpose of installing the standard amenities.
§ Baroness BIRKThe Department of the Environment has already drawn the attention of local authorities to their powers to make interest-only on maturity mortgages, and to the usefulness of those powers in assisting people of limited means such as retired owner-occupiers, in Circulars dated 10th April 1974 and 26th November 1974. In addition, the Department has given particulars of the help available towards the cost of installing standard amenities in the booklet entitledYour Guide to House Renovation 531WA Grants, which has received wide distribution. Although these loans and grants are made at the local authorities' discretion, in the Department's experience they are usually ready to give sympathetic consideration to applications from those in straitened circumstances.