HC Deb 25 March 1946 vol 421 cc158-61

Resolution reported: That for the purposes of any Act of the present Session (hereinafter referred to as ' the new Act ') to make fresh provision for the making of contributions out of the Exchequer and by local authorities in respect of housing accommodation provided for the working classes in Scotland and for the making of payments and advances to the housing association approved for the purposes of Section two of the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1938; to amend Part II of the Housing (Agricultural Population) (Scotland) Act, 1938; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid, it is expedient— A. To authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses of the Secretary of State in making to a local authority—

  1. (1) in respect of each new house provided by them in accordance with proposals approved by him under the new Act or under the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1938, by way of housing accommodation for the working classes and completed after the seventh day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-four, an annual contribution for sixty years of the following amount, that is to say, twenty-one pounds ten shillings for a house of three apartments or less, twenty-three pounds for a house of four apartments, and twenty-five pounds ten shillings for a house of five or more apartments, and for each part of a hostel deemed to be a new house eleven pounds;
  2. (2) where, by reason of the costliness of providing housing accommodation in a redevelopment area, or in tenements on a central site, or the purchase of, or the payment of compensation in respect of the demolition of, houses or other premises which are neither unfit for human habitation nor injurious or dangerous to health and which are included in or adjoin or are surrounded by a clearance area, the total annual expenditure likely to be incurred by the local authority in providing housing accommodation is substantially greater than the aggregate of the annual contributions which may be made as aforesaid and the corresponding contributions payable by the local authority, an additional annual contribution for sixty years not exceeding twenty pounds in respect of each house provided by way of such housing accommodation;
  3. (3) in respect of a house in a tenement which, as to the whole or any part thereof, is at least four storeys high and which has a lift installed therein, an additional annual contribution for sixty years of seven pounds;
  4. (4) where the total annual expenditure of a local authority in providing housing accommodation is likely to be substantially greater than the aggregate aforesaid by reason of the remoteness of the sites of any houses from centres of supply of building labour and material and the impracticability of obtaining for such houses higher rents than are ordinarily payable by persons employed in agriculture or fishing or by persons in the like economic condition, an additional annual contribution for sixty years of such amount in respect of such of the houses as may be sanctioned by the Treasury;
  5. (5) such contributions as may become payable by reason of any provision of the new Act amending the provisions of Subsections (2) and (3) of Section forty-seven of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1945, and authorising the pay- 160 ment in respect of any house provided on land acquired under that Act of the like contributions as would be payable under the new Act if the house had been provided on land acquired under the Housing (Scotland) Acts, 1925 to 1944.
B. To authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses of the Secretary of State in making to a local authority in respect of each new house provided by them in accordance with proposals approved by him under the new Act or under the Housing (Agricultural Population) (Scotland) Act 1938, by way of housing accommodation for the agricultural population and completed after the seventh day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-four, an annual contribution for sixty years of such amount not being less than twenty-one pounds ten shillings or more than thirty-five pounds as he may, with the sanction of the Treasury, determine, or, where he is satisfied that the expenditure of the local authority in respect of any house is by reason of the remoteness of the site thereof from centres of supply of building labour and material, substantially greater than the equivalent of forty-one pounds ten shillings per annum for sixty years, of such greater amount as he may with the sanction of the Treasury determine. C. To authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses of the Secretary of State in making to a local authority—
  1. (1) in respect of a house or accommodation deemed to be a new house, the cost of which is enhanced by expenses attributable to the acquisition of rights of support or otherwise attributable to measures taken for securing protection against the consequences of a subsidence of the site, an additional annual contribution for sixty years not exceeding two pounds;
  2. (2) in respect of any house or accommodation deemed to be a new house which has been provided by the local authority in accordance with proposals approved by the Secretary of State on or after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and forty for the purposes of the Housing (Agricultural Population) (Scotland) Act, 1938, or the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1938, contributions not exceeding the contributions payable under the new Act in respect of a house completed after the seventh day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-four.
 D. To authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses of the Secretary of State attributable to any provisions of the new Act—
  1. (1) relating to the provision of housing accommodation in government war buildings;
  2. (2) increasing to two hundred and forty pounds in the case of a three apartment house and to three hundred pounds in the case of a house of more than three apartments the maximum amount of the assistance which may be given under section four of the Housing (Agricultural Population) (Scotland) Act, 1938;
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  3. (3) enabling the Secretary of State to make contributions in respect of houses which have become vested in local authorities;
  4. (4) enabling the Secretary of State to make payments to the housing association approved for the purposes of section two of the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1938, in respect of houses provided by them; and
  5. (5) providing for contributions by the Secretary of State in respect of houses constructed otherwise than by traditional methods.
 E. To authorise the issue of money out of the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of enabling the Secretary of State to make advances to the housing association approved for the purpose of section two of the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1938, and to authorise the Treasury for -the purpose of providing such sums to raise money in any milliner in which they are authorised to raise money under the National Loans Act, 1939. F. To authorise the payment into the Exchequer of all sums received by the Secretary of State under the new Act and any sums received by him by way of interest on or repayment of any loan made out of moneys issued to him by the Treasury under the new Act, and to provide that any sums received by the Secretary of State by way of interest on or repayment of any such loan and paid into the Exchequer shall be issued out of the Consolidated Fund and be applied, in so far as they represent principal, in redemption or repayment of debt, or, in so far as they represent interest, in payment of interest otherwise payable out of the permanent annual charge for the National Debt.

Resolution agreed to.