§ Mr. Joseph Deanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what effect his statement on public sector housing on 21 February will have on people receiving rent rebate and social security payments; and whether there will be an increase in their numbers.
§ Mr. StanleyPeople who receive rent rebates will on average receive additional rebates of 36p per week for the second half of the financial year if the supplementary rent guideline of 60p a week announced on 21 February is adopted, and there is likely to be a small increase in the number of recipients. People receiving supplementary benefit will not be affected.
§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will state, in terms of outturn prices comparable with the £2,862 million housing investment programme original allocation for 1979–80 for local authorities, the £2,199 million allocation for local authorities for 1980–81; and if he will state the percentage reduction, in such properly comparable terms, between the 1979–80 original allocation for local authorities and the allocation he announced on 21 February for 1980–81 for local authorities.
§ Mr. StanleyAt the present best estimates of outturn prices for 1979–80, the allocation to local authorities for housing investment programmes in 1980–81 is £1,905 million. In real terms, the HIP allocations for 1980–81 are 33.4 per cent. lower than the provisional allocations for 1979–80 made by the last Government in November 1978.