§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what grants were made to Ealing borough council for (a) home improvement purposes and 283W (b) council house improvements and maintenance in 1974 and each subsequent year up to the latest year for which figures are available; what is the projection for 1985–86; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungExchequer contributions towards expenditure on home improvement grants paid to Ealing boroughcouncil from 1978–79 onwards were:
Figures in £000's £ million 1978–79 242.4 1979–80 299.2 1980–81 359.7 1981–82 487.4 1982–83* 819.0 1983–84* 1,314.0 1984–85* 1,878.0 * Subject to adjustment when audited final claims are received. Figures in respect of earlier years are not readily available to the Department. The amount which will be paid for 1985–86 will depend in part on their continuing entitlement to contribution on loan charges already incurred but also on the level of expenditure on grants in 1985–86, which is for Ealing to decide within the resources available to them.
Council house improvement and maintenance are not specifically grant-aided through the housing subsidy system. These costs are taken into account in the calculation of an authority's entitlement to housing subsidies. But the size of the Exchequer subsidy depends each year on the entire subsidy calculation, which takes account not only of the total reckonable expenditure incurred by the authority in the provision of council housing, but also the extent to which the authority could reasonably be expected to meet all or part of these costs from local resources.