§ 2.43 p.m.
§ Lord Dean of BeswickMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will reaffirm the undertaking given by the Earl of Avon in the House of Lords on 21st January (col. 10) concerning the future of £5 billion capital receipts owned by local authorities.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Avon)My Lords, I gladly reaffirm the point that I made on 21st January. Local authorities retain the cash from the sales of capital assets. They can put the money on deposit, repay debt or offset borrowing. There are no proposals for removing this freedom. Moreover, under the capital control system they can in each year use a proportion of their receipts for new capital expenditure.
§ Lord Dean of BeswickMy Lords, is the noble Earl aware that I am extremely grateful for that reply, bearing in mind rumours that have been circulating in the so-called responsible press that the Government may be considering a moratorium on those capital receipts? May I ask the Minister whether he is aware that both local authority building departments and the private sector are of the strongest opinion that the cut from 40 per cent. to 30 per cent. and 20 per cent. in the money being made available to local authorities from these capital receipts will result in further unemployment in the building sector, which, as I think the Minister will agree, has already been ravaged by unemployment? The situation, if this is carried out, will further deteriorate. May I also ask the noble Earl whether, as a matter of urgency, he will go back to the Secretary of State and the Chancellor of the Exchequer and see whether they will reconsider their decision and restore the amount to 40 per cent. to prevent this further unemployment?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, I can take issue with the noble Lord about something which came up in the debate which he raised the other day: that is, quite simply, that the growth in the construction industry over the past four years has been steady and increasing. That does not, I admit, take us into 1985. The other point which was raised by the noble Lord is in fact being voted on next week in the House of Commons, and I believe we should leave it like that.
§ Lord Dean of BeswickMy Lords, I am sorry, but I do not think that the Minister has dealt with the question that I asked. He must be aware, since he has 1308 referred to the debate that we had a couple of weeks ago in this House, that certain of the building confederations have taken issue over the statistics that he used, and they have said that the figures were not accurate. In fact, the noble Earl was almost accused by the Federation of Civil Building Contractors of misleading noble Lords in that debate. I wish he would bear that in mind when answering my point. I put the following question: will the Government restore the money made available to the 40 per cent. figure? Will he answer that point and not the other one?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, I shall be happy to do so but the matter is being voted on next week in an order. Meanwhile, I have not actually made my response to the letter which I received from the federation.