HC Deb 12 November 1980 vol 992 cc454-6
4. Mr. Foulkes

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps is he taking to protect housing for the elderly and disabled, in the light of the recent moratorium on all further local authority capital expenditure on housing.

Mr. Heseltine

I am considering the future operation of the moratorium in the light of figures provided by local authorities and will make an announcement in due course. I have already clarified the position on adaptations for the benefit of the disabled.

Mr. Foulkes

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the survey that was carried out by Age Concern, which showed that 28 per cent. of those aged over 75 would like sheltered housing? Does he accept that the present amount of sheltered housing is completely inadequate? Does he further accept that the number of old people is rising rapidly? Given the cuts that he has imposed on the Housing Corporation and the fact that local authorities have slashed their programmes, does he accept that his moratorium will make the position even worse?

Mr. Heseltine

The hon. Gentleman will realise that the moratorium is not designed to secure cuts in the existing budgets, but to ensure that we do not exceed the cash limits for housing. I sympathise with the view—that has been very much part of our approach—that there is a need to concentrate more of our available resources on such groups.

Mr. Marlow

Does the moratorium on capital expenditure in public housing extend to capital expenditure on other public buildings, such as leisure centres and civic centres, which local authorities may wish to put up? If not, does the Secretary of State have any plans in that direction?

Mr. Heseltine

The moratorium does not extend to other capital programmes, because they are under a different heading, and do not come within the controls of the HIP allocation system. Next year there will be a different capital controls discipline, as provided in the Local Government, Planning and Land (No. 2) Bill. That means that there will be an overall one-block approach to capital expenditure, which will have the effect suggested by my hon. Friend.

Mr. John Home Robertson

Does the Secretary of State remember the promise that he gave to the House on 6 August, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Scotland, about the protection of old people's accommodation? Given that not a single old person's house in Glasgow, Edinburgh or the Borders region has been protected, does he consider that that promise has been fulfilled?

Mr. Heseltine

I have every faith in my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland fulfilling any promises that I make on his behalf.

Mr. Best

Although I bitterly regret the moratorium, may I ask my right hon. Friend to remind the hon. Member for South Ayrshire (Mr. Foulkes) that in 1976 the previous Labour Government imposed a moratorium for precisely the same reasons and that they imposed cuts of £140 million in the same year on future years' housing allocations?

Mr. Heseltine

My hon. Friend will remember how unfair it is to try to remind the Labour Party of any of the things that it did when it was in government.

Mr. Frank Allaun

Does not the Secretary of State see something cruel in having more than 1 million families on the waiting list at a time when unemployment in building and related trades has risen to 300,000, with worse to come?

Mr. Heseltine

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that one third of the people on waiting lists are already housed in local authority houses.