SCHEMES FOR PAYMENTS TO ASSIST LOCAL AUTHORITY TENANTS TO OBTAIN OTHER ACCOMMODATION (Hansard, 26 October 1988)

§ Mr. Home Robertson
Amendment (a) would provide for schemes for payment to local authority tenants to help 389 them to obtain alternative accommodation. I stress that we in the Opposition have always supported the principle of help for first-time home buyers. Our record on that is in stark contrast to that of the Conservative party, which is shoving up mortgage rates for all that it is worth—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker
Order. It is difficult for hon. Members who are in the Chamber to hear what is being said. [Interruption.] Order. I ask hon. Members who are not listening to the debate to carry on their conversations elsewhere.

§ Mr. Home Robertson
When we have a Scottish Assembly in Scotland to debate Scottish affairs, we shall not have the problem of extraneous people hanging around cluttering up our debates.
We have no objection to the underlying principle of the scheme, but I should like to talk about some detailed points. I shall not spend time on amendments (a) and (b) because we are short of time. I shall concentrate on amendment (d), which would require the Secretary of State to fund such a scheme separately and directly.
We are becoming accustomed to the dishonest claims of Ministers in this Administration. I have no doubt that the Government will go around saying that local authorities should implement the scheme and blaming them if they do not. Expectations will be raised as a result of Government statements in connection with the amendment and, as usual, local authorities will be left to face the music.
Local authorities in Scotland have more than enough obligations already to be met from hopelessly inadequate resources and they might have good reasons for deciding not to implement the scheme. I am happy enough that such incentives should be set up, but it is the Government who are proposing the scheme and who will undoubtedly claim credit for it, so I respectfully suggest to the Minister that, just for once, the Government should put their money where their mouth is and accept amendment (d), which would ensure that the Scottish Office funds such schemes separately from the rest of local authority housing finance.

§ Mr. Doran
I am a wee bit less sanguine and quite a bit more concerned about the provision than my hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson). The debate that we have just had on the negative value of council houses could be equally applied to this debate. Perhaps the Minister will say a wee bit more about what is intended, because it appears that what is being established is a scheme that would require local authorities to pay from either the capital or revenue account those tenants who wish or who are encouraged to be removed from local authority houses. We need to know in what circumstances it is envisaged that schemes would be approved. For example, will schemes be approved for the sole purpose of transferring those houses to the private sector? We should like the Minister to answer such questions.
I am extremely concerned about subsection (5) of the new clause. A scheme will be made by a public authority, that is the local authority, and approved by a public official, that is the Secretary of State for Scotland, but subsection (5) seems to rule out any challenge to the operation of the scheme. That strikes me as intolerable, particularly when we are talking about substantial sums of public money.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
I have been asked whether there are resources for such schemes. Local authorities making payments to tenants will be required to find the resources from within their housing revenue account capital allocations for the year in which payments are made. The logic is simple. The payments are made, in effect, to release accommodation for letting as an alternative to new build. Such payments are therefore instead of direct capital expenditure. Local authorities have discretion on how to use capital consents issued to them under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
Among the factors taken into account in the allocation of resources will continue to be the levels of homelessness and the demand for accommodation locally, as shown, for example, by homelessness returns and the size of the local authority waiting lists. Payments made by authorities from their capital allocations will as usual be taken into account in the calculation of housing support grant.
Our reason for rejecting the amendment is that, while local authorities will not be given a specific allocation earmarked for the purpose of giving cash incentives to tenants, powers in the new clause will enable them to use the resources available more effectively in providing housing accommodation in their areas. For example, instead of building one new house, they might be able at the same cost to encourage tenants to vacate three to five houses, which could assist their provision for the homeless.
Let me further explain the positive approach. New clause 62 and the consequential drafting amendment to the title will give local authorities, with the consent of the Secretary of State, specific powers to make payments to their tenants to help them to obtain other accommodation. I hope and believe that the clause will be welcomed by the House, as it was in the other place. It is an enabling provision designed to allow local authorities to draw up schemes that will require the Secretary of State's approval, under which they will be able to offer payment to tenants to move out of their council houses. Such payments would be used, for example, as deposits on the purchase of houses in the private sector. That will leave council accommodation vacant, which will then be available for letting to, for example, homeless families or persons on the waiting list.
I stress that the new clause would not oblige local authorities to offer cash incentive payments; nor would it give tenants a right to a payment. I also stress that no tenants will be forced to move. Local authorities will be able to come to the Secretary of State seeking approval for schemes for making such payments. The nature and extent of cash incentive schemes will be for local authorities themselves to devise.

§ Mr. Home Robertson
As usual, the buck stops with the local authorities. The Minister has tried to develop a wonderfully circuitous argument to explain how such a scheme could be funded. The fact is that the Government are once again raising hopes among some people who will no doubt make approaches to their local authorities on the strength of publicity about the provision, but the Government are not prepared to put up the finances that will be necessary to implement it. It has done no harm to expose that. We are not opposed to the principle of such payments, but we feel that the Government should for 391 once be honest and pay for the schemes that they are dreaming up. Having made that point, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.