HC Deb 14 April 1989 vol 150 cc762-3W
Mr. Tony Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimates have been made by his Department for the availability of resources for local authorities' housing capital programmes including non-prescribed capital receipts under both the current and the proposed capital finance regime proposed by the Local Government and Housing Bill 1989 in the years 1987–88, 1988–89 and 1989–90, tabulated by non-metropolitan authorities, metropolitan authorities, inner London boroughs and outer London boroughs.

Mrs.Virginia Bottomley

The table shows housing capital allocations for the years requested. It also shows the prescribed proportion of housing capital receipts and the amount, for each class of authority, by which cash-backed housing capital receipts in aggregate exceed the prescribed proportion of housing capital receips for 1987–88. Information on the availability of capital receipts by class of authority for 1988–89 and 1989–90 is not available.

The capital finance regime proposed in the Local Government and Housing Bill will apply to 1990–91 and subsequent financial years. Provision for housing capital expenditure in 1990–91 and 1991–92 was made in table 9.1 of the "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1989–90 to 1991–92 Chapters 9 and 10" (Cm. 609).

Mr. Tony Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to what extent the utilisation of non-prescribed capital receipts currently used by local authorities to fund part of their housing capital programme will be taken into account when assessing the level of Exchequer subsidy to housing revenue accounts for 1990–91 and in subsequent years.

Mr. Trippier

An allowance will be made in the calculation of housing revenue account subsidy for local authorities' revenue expenditure on maintenance. We believe that, under the present system, some authorities also use some of their capital receipts on what would normally count as items of revenue spending, and we shall be consulting the local authority associations on whether to reflect this in the subsidy calculation under the new system, and if so, to what extent.