HC Deb 04 April 1973 vol 854 cc415-6
2. Mr. Lambie

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the amount of high-cost subsidy that will be given to Irvine Development Corporation during the present financial year.

The Under-Secretary of State for Development, Scottish Office (Mr. George Younger)

I have no evidence of any widening of the differential between Irvine New Town rents and average Scottish rents significant enough to justify the payment of high-cost subsidy to the development corporation.

Mr. Lambie

Is the Minister aware that the tenants of Irvine Development Corporation have been faced with further increases in rents under the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act? When will the Secretary of State for Scotland step in and take action —as he promised to do in Committee on that legislation last year —to protect the tenants of the new town corporation against further rent increases, since those rents are already well above the rent levels of normal local authority houses in the area?

Mr. Younger

The fact that they are above the normal local authority house rents reflects the fact that most of the houses concerned in Irvine are new, in a good environment and of modern quality. The object of the high-cost subsidy is to deal with the situation if there should be a significant widening of the differential between average rents in new towns and average rents in Scottish local authorities generally, and this has not happened.

Mr. Ewing

As the section in the 1972 Act deals also with SSHA houses, may I ask whether the hon. Gentleman has any evidence of a widening in the gap between the rents of SSHA houses and local authority houses? Does he envisage the need to pay high-cost subsidy to the SSHA in the future?

Mr. Younger

For the same reason, there is no evidence to show that there is a widening of the differential between SSHA tenants and Scottish housing tenants as a whole. The hon. Gentleman should not forget the effect of the rent rebate scheme here. For instance a married man with three children living in Irvine would have to have a household income of over £40 a week —£2,000 a year —before being called upon to pay the average rent of £230.