§
Resolution reported,
That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to make further and better provision with respect to the clearance or improvement of unhealthy areas, the repair or demolition of insanitary houses and the housing of persons of the working classes, to amend the Housing Act, 1925, the Housing, etc., Act, 1923, the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924, and the other enactments relating to housing subsidies and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid (hereinafter referred to as 'the said Act'), it is expedient to authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament—
- (i) of annual contributions towards any expenses incurred by local authorities in connection with any action taken by them under the said Act for the clearance or improvement of unhealthy areas, or for the demolition of insanitary houses, or for the closing of parts of buildings and in connection with the provision and maintenance of the housing accommodation rendered necessary by any action so taken, but so, however, that such a contribution shall be payable during a period of forty years only, and shall not exceed an amount ascertained in the following manner, that is to say—
- (a) subject to the special provisions contained in the next succeeding paragraph the amount shall be, so far as regards persons displaced from houses in an agricultural parish, the sum of two pounds ten shillings, and so far as regards persons displaced from houses in a parish not being an agricultural parish the sum of two pounds five shillings, multiplied in either case by the number of persons of the working classes (being persons whose displacement is shown to the satisfaction of the Minister to have been rendered neces-
2319 sary by such action as aforesaid) for whom accommodation has, with the approval of the Minister, been rendered available in new houses; but - (b) if the Minister of Health certifies that it is necessary to provide rehousing accommodation in buildings of more than three storeys on the site of a clearance area, or on a site which has been, or is to be, acquired or appropriated for the purpose with the consent of the Minister, then, so far as regards displaced persons for whom such accommodation has, with the approval of the Minister, been rendered available, the amount shall be the sum of three pounds ten shillings, multiplied by the number of persons of the working classes (being persons whose displacement is shown to the satisfaction of the Minister to have been rendered necessary by such action aforesaid) for whom such accommodation has, with his approval, been rendered available;
- (ii) of annual contributions towards the provision, to meet the needs of aged persons, of houses of smaller dimensions than those specified in Sub-section (2) of Section one of the Housing, etc., Act, 1923, not exceeding, however, in the case of any such house, two-thirds of the contribution which might under that Act or under the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924, be made towards the provision of a house of the specified dimensions;
- (iii) of any additional sums which may become payable under the previous enactments relating to housing subsidies by reason of any provision of the said Act which—
- (a) amends Section five of the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924, in regard to the dates at which the Minister of Health and the Department of Health for Scotland are required by the said Section to review and, if they deem it expedient, revise the amount of the contributions payable by them in respect of the provision of houses;
- (b) substitutes, for the purposes of the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1924, an amended definition of 'agricultural parish' so far as regards houses for the provision of which proposals may be approved by the Minister of Health after the first day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty; or
- (c) provides that, as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty, the amount of an annual payment to be made to a local authority under Section seven of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919, Section eight of the Housing Act, 1921, or Section six of the Housing, etc., Act, 1923, may, instead of being determined on the basis of the estimated annual loss resulting from the carrying out of the scheme in respect of which the payment is to be made, be determined either on the basis of the actual loss so resulting, or on the basis of the estimated annual
2320 loss so resulting, or on the basis of actual income and expenditure as respects some items required to be brought into account and on the basis of estimated income or expenditure as respects other such items; - (iv) of any expenses incurred by the Minister of Health under the said Act in exercising any powers of a local authority, subject, however, to the recovery of those expenses from the local authority in the manner provided by the said Act."