HC Deb 01 April 1963 vol 675 cc100-1
Mr. Corfield

I beg to move, in page 156, line 20, at the end to insert: (c) in relation to the Greater London Council, as if Greater London were a county and the Greater London Council were the council of that county. The Amendment merely fulfils an undertaking given in Committee to apply the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act to the City.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr. Corfield

I beg to move, in line 36, at the end to add: 15. In the application to the Greater London Council or a London borough council of section 1 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Housing Act, 1961—

  1. (a) the financial year 1965–66 shall be—
    1. (i) the relevant financial year in relation to any dwelling completed in that year, and
    2. (ii) the earliest financial year which may be determined by the Minister under paragraph 5 (2) of that Schedule;
  2. (b) where that year is the relevant financial year, the references in paragraph 6 (1) (a) and (b) of that schedule to houses within the local authority's Housing Revenue Account for the last year preceding the relevant financial year or, as the case may be, for the relevant financial year shall be construed as references to houses within the local authority's Housing Revenue Account on 1st April, 1965, or, as the case may be, on 31st March, 1966.
This is a technical Amendment of a transitional nature which deals with the calculation of housing subsidy under the 1961 Act. The Committee will recall that under that Act the rate of subsidy paid to local authorities for houses built for approved needs is calculated by reference to the housing revenue account of the preceding financial year. Clearly, in setting up completely new authorities there will be no previous financial year for this provision to bite upon. The effect of the Amendment is to make the subsidy calculable on the basis of the current year.

In the second part of the Amendment the proposal is that the gross value of the authority's houses, instead of being based on an average of the two preceding years as it is under the 1961 Act, which clearly cannot apply here, should be based on an average of the values at the beginning and the end of the first year.

Amendment agreed to.

Schedule, as amended, agreed to.

Bill reported, with Amendments; as amended (in the Standing Committee and on recommittal), considered.