HC Deb 27 February 1980 vol 979 cc1338-40
9. Mr. Straw

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the housing investment programme allocations for 1980–81 for (a) England, (b) the North-West and (c) Blackburn; and what the corresponding allocations were for 1979–80, expressed on the same price basis as for 1980–81.

17. Mr. Edwin Wainwright

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now give the date when he will be announcing the housing investment programme allocation for 1980–81.

Mr. Stanley

Housing investment programme allocations for 1980–81 were announced on 21 February. Such comparisons are usually made at public expenditure survey prices. At 1979 survey prices, the 1980–81 figures sought are for England, £1,601 million; for the North-West region, £226 million; and for Blackburn, £6 million.

The corresponding allocations, at 1979 survey prices, for 1979–80 were for England, £2,351 million; for the North-West region, £308 million, and for Blackburn, £8.7 million.

Mr. Straw

Will the Minister explain why a detailed written question was required from my right hon. Friend, the Member for Manchester, Ardwick (Mr. Kaufman) to force out from the Secretary of State an admission that next year's housing investment programme allocations involve a massive 33.4 per cent. cut—£955 million—and not the £540 million, which the Secretary of State put forward in his statement? Is the Minister aware that many opposition Members feel misled and deceived by the Secretary of State's statement last Thursday?

Mr. Stanley

If the hon. Gentleman consults the January 1979 White Paper, produced by the previous Government, he will know that the comparisons made are between out-turn in one year and future provisions in a subsequent year. That was precisely the basis on which my right hon. Friend made his announcement. In no way was he misleading the House.

Mr. Wainwright

Does the Minister realise that the Government's housing policy means that many new houses that should be built will not be built this year and that modernisation of houses will not take place in the numbers required? This will greatly affect the whole country and especially the South Yorkshire area where I live. Will he confirm that £2.10 is to go on each council house rent? Furthermore—

Hon. Members

"One Question".

Mr. Speaker

Order. So far as I can understand, it is one complicated question.

Mr. Wainwright

Has the Minister taken note of the Tory-controlled local councils that are objecting to the Government's policy on this issue?

Mr. Stanley

The allocations made for this year reflect the fundamental determination to bring the public expenditure that this country can afford into line with what the nation is producing. That is the essential background to the allocations that we have made.

Mr. Heddle

Will not my hon. Friend agree that by pursuing the Government's policy of selling council houses, he is re-cycling money at present locked up in bricks and mortar, to provide homes for those in need?

Mr. Stanley

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. It is strange that Opposition Members are at one moment complaining that they have not sufficient money and the next refusing to sell council houses which they know perfectly well add to their allocation.

Mr. Douglas-Mann

Will the Minister say what changes in assumptions have been made about the extent of housing need in the public sector since the housing policy review was published? This assessed housing need in that sector as 290,000 households requiring houses per year with 170,000 houses becoming available for re-lets, leaving 120,000 needed? Is it correct, according to the figures published last week, that the shortfall will be at least 85,000 families without housing?

Mr. Stanley

The basic change in the assumption made since the previous Government's Green Paper was published is that we believe the private, as well as the public, sector can make a contribution towards rented accommodation.

Mr. Michael Morris

Is it not a fact that the production of public sector housing has been declining steadily over the last three years? Is that not a legacy from the previous Labour Government?

Mr. Stanley

My hon. Friend is entirely right. Opposition Members will want to recall that over the last five years they succeeded in halving capital expenditure on housing in real terms.

Mr. Kaufman

Will not the Minister and his entire Front Bench abandon the deliberate, disreputable policy of fiddling the figures of housing expenditure? Why did they pretend, last week, that it was a cut of 21 per cent. when the Minister admits in his answer to me that the cut is £967 million in local authority housing allocation? That is a 33.4 per cent. cut.

Mr. Stanley

The right hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that, on the basis of the comparison that he makes, he is taking into account the allocations made by the previous Administration. Those allocations would have been underspent by hundreds of millions of pounds.