§ Mr. Gwilym JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what level of funding he is providing to Tai Cymru in 1990–91; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI am delighted to announce that I shall be providing for an increase of over £27 million in the funds made available to Tai Cymru in the next financial year. This is an improvement of over 40 per cent. and will result in a major advance in the activities of housing associations within the Principality. The gross programme for Tai Cymru increases to over £102 million.
Tai Cymru has been established only since April 1989. It has made an excellent start. I want to see its work develop strongly so that housing associations can provide many more homes for people in housing need in Wales, both now and for the future.
The increase in provision is planned to rise further over the period to 1992–93. I shall be reviewing the allocations year by year in the light of Tai Cymru's overall performance, and that of housing associations generally—not least in developing further partnership arrangements with local authorities. But already I expect that as early as 1991–92, and just three years after Tai Cymru's inception, net provision will have increased to nearly double that provided for housing associations in 1988–89.