HC Deb 10 April 1941 vol 370 cc1691-3
60. Mr. Banfield

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement as to the position of the local authority, of which he has been told, under the War Damage Act, as to the passing on of the premiums in the form of increased rents to tenants of houses built under the various Housing Acts?

in thinking that it contains only four figures.

Sir R. Acland

Then I do not think that the Minister has looked at my Question, which only asks for four figures.

Mr. Deputy-Speaker

rose—

Sir R. Acland

On a point of Order, Mr. Deputy-Speaker. The Minister said he would do something with my permission. That presumes that I will give permission. I am only asking for four figures, and I do not give the Minister permission to circulate them in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Captain Crookshank

If the House will tolerate it, I will certainly read them out.

Mr. Deputy-Speaker

I think really, in view of the fact that there is a large number of Questions on the Paper, it is not necessary. I agree that very often long answers to Questions are partly responsible for not getting through a larger number of Questions.

Following is the table:

The effect of the Budget proposals in the Income Tax and Surtax spheres is to increase the yield of Income Tax by£151,000,000 in the current year and £253,000,000 in a full year. These sums would be contributed by the various ranges of income approximately as follow:

Captain Crookshank

As my right hon. Friend explained in reply to the Question by my hon. Friend on Tuesday, the War Damage Act provides that contributions shall be treated for all purposes as outgoings of a capital nature, and therefore they cannot be included in the housing revenue accounts of local authorities. Consequently it is not possible for a local authority to obtain the money for con- tributions by increasing the rents of their houses. My right hon. Friend is passing on the correspondence sent to him by the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health, who has undertaken to communicate with the local authority concerned.