§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will express in constant prices the housing allocations for each region in England for (a) 1978–79 and (b) 19798–80 and if he will also express in constant prices the total housing allocations for England as announced in the January 1978 public expenditure White Paper and as announced on 30th November 1978.
§ Mr. Armstrong:All figures given for allocations in the information set out below are on the price base of the latest Expenditure White Paper Cmnd. 7439—that is, 1978 survey prices—and have been revalued to that price base where necessary:
Region £m. Allocations 1978–79 £m. Allocations Region 1979–80 Northern 154 159 Yorkshire and Humberside 189 191 North West 289 299 East Midlands 177 164 West Midlands 242 245 Eastern 168 155 South East 200 203 Greater London 788 814 South West 118 111 2,325 2,341 The public expenditure White Papers give information for Great Britain as a whole. Cmnd. 7049 included provision for housing allocations for England of £2,325 million for 1978–79 and £2,376 million for 1979–80.
The new White Paper, Cmnd. 7439, includes provision for £2,285 million for 1979–80 as compared with the amount allocated of £2,341 million on 30th November 1978. The over-allocation is designed to encourage local authorities to take up in full the resources available.