§ Mr. Byersasked the Minister of Health the number of rural district councils which in the past year have qualified for the additional assistance in connection with new housing under Sections 3 (2) and (7) of the Housing (Miscellaneous and Financial Provisions) Act, 1946; what were the qualifying conditions as regards average rates under Section 7 (1) (a) and the average rents applied in such cases under Section 3 (1) (b) and the average rate burden for housing purposes applied in respect of rural district councils which were granted assistance.
§ Mr. BevanSince the beginning of 1948, only one rural district council has made application and secured approval under Section 3 (2) of the Act of 1946: the average rent of working class houses in the district was 4s.; the total burden on the rates for housing if the application had not been granted was estimated as equivalent to a rate of eighteen pence in the pound.
As regards Section 7 of the 1946 Act, the introduction of Exchequer Equalisation Grants under the Local Government Act of 1948 has altered the position, and for the time being I am exercising my discretion under Section 7 to defer decision on all applications. Since the beginning of 1948 there have been four applications under the Section from Rural 310W District Councils. The qualifying condition under Section 7 (1) (a) was an average general rate of 17s. 7½d. for the three years ending March, 1947, or 19s. 3¾d. for the three years ending March, 1948, according to the year of application. The qualifying condition under Section 7 (1) (b) was a housing rate of 4.511 pence in the year ending March, 1944, or 4.452 pence in the year ending March, 1945, according to the year of application.