HC Deb 13 June 1984 vol 61 cc902-4
7. Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he is giving to local authorities regarding the need to sustain their housing improvement and repair grant programmes.

The Minister for Housing and Construction (Mr. Ian Gow)

We are enouraging local authorities to maintain a high level of investment in the repair and improvement of the housing stock. But it is their responsibility to make decisions about local housing needs and priorities.

Mr. Latham

As Ministers have rightly pointed out that substantial sums are still available for this purpose in this financial year, what advice or assistance can my hon. Friend give to the significant number of local authorities which have discontinued giving grants?

Mr. Gow

It is up to each local authority to determine its own priorities. For the total allocation of money for improvement grants, I remind my hon. Friend that in 1982–83 the total amount spent was £430 million. When the figures for the past financial year become available, I expect that the figure will be almost double—in marked contrast to the sum of £90 million, which was the figure for the last year of the previous Labour Government.

Mrs. Renée Short

Does the Minister agree that what local housing authorities most need now is a planned programme for several years of maintenance, repair and renewal of old housing stock, for which they need resources? Is he prepared to provide those resources so that local authorities can carry out such a programme?

Mr. Gow

I shall bear in mind what the hon. Lady said when we make our allocations under the housing investment programme for next year.

Mr. Heddle

Did my hon. Friend read with alarm in The Times of yesterday the decision of Glasgow city council to demolish, in the Gorbals, 756 flats that were built 12 years ago for £8 million, rather than enter into an agreement with a firm of building contractors to revivify them on an improvement for sale basis?

Mr. Gow

I saw that report, but the matter falls within the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Mr. Allan Roberts

Will the Minister admit that local authorities cannot sustain house improvements and renovation programmes if the Government introduce a moratorium on local authority capital expenditure? Do the Government plan to introduce that moratorium? If they do, will it include a moratorium on improvement and repair grants? Have not the Government already attacked needy owner occupiers by cutting back the moneys for improvement grants?

Mr. Gow

The hon. Gentleman's question is wholly hypothetical.

Mr. Stanbrook

I welcome the steps that the Government are taking to assist owners of defective housing in the public sector, but will my hon. Friend bear in mind that thousands of houses which were purchased in the private sector have been deemed defective, but for which Government proposals provide no remedy? Is he aware that more than 80 of my constituents live in houses which they are unable to sell because building societies will not advance money on them? How can the Government assist those people?

Mr. Gow

I fully understand my hon. Friend's point, about which he has also written to me. The Government believe that they have a particular responsibility for houses that originate in the public sector. It would be a major departure to say that the Government should accept similar responsibility for houses that have always been in the private sector.

Mr. Cartwright

Is the Minister aware that in the London borough of Greenwich 2,500 people expressed interest in repair grants, 400 people are on the approved waiting list and the council says that it has resources in the current financial year to make only 30 grants? Does he think it reasonable to raise expectations, if the resources are not made available?

Mr. Gow

I have raised no false expectations. The borough must determine its own priorities according to its perception of its needs. I hope that the borough will continue to give proper priority to improvement grants.

Dr. Hampson

Does my hon. Friend intend to increase the flow of improvement grants and urban development grants to the private sector to offset a drop in the level of its renovation activities, especially in inner cities, resulting from the imposition of VAT on its activities? Has he pointed out to the Chancellor of the Exchequer that many hon. Members believe that it makes little sense to impose a tax that results in less private investment and causes increased public investment?

Mr. Gow

We are reviewing our improvement grant policy to make certain that grants are available for the properties and the people in the greatest need. My hon. Friend will know that VAT has always been payable on building repairs and maintenance, which account for a substantial proportion of improvement grants.

Mr. John Fraser

Does the Minister recognise that although last year improvement and repair grants were at a record level, because of the 90 per cent. grant, this year the cut in the level of grant to 75 per cent., the discontinuance of grant because of financial pressures by many local authorities, the existence of rate penalties, the forthcoming rate-capping and the imposition of 15 per cent. VAT on house alterations, including damp-proof coursing, are likely to cause a disastrous slump in housing improvement and repairs, to the great detriment of our housing stock, much of which is in the hands of rather poor owner-occupiers? Will he at least ask the Chancellor to give with one hand what he has taken away with the other from the improvement grant sector?

Mr. Gow

There is a certain impudence in the hon. Gentleman's question, since in the last year of the Labour Government, which he adorned, only £90 million was made available to the entire improvement grant sector.