HC Deb 01 July 1993 vol 227 cc572-3W
Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the total specific capital grant and credit approvals for housing purposes to each local authority in England for 1992–93 and 1993–94 and the receipts taken into account for the 1993–94 figures.

Mr. Baldry

A table setting out information on allocations of specified capital grant, which forms part of the annual housing investment programme (HIP) allocations, for each local authority in England has been placed in the Library of the House.

There are two types of credit approval—basic credit approvals and supplementary credit approvals.

Basic credit approvals can be used to support capital expenditure in any local authority service, and are not allocated to individual services. I refer the hon. Member to the documents "Basic Credit Approvals 1992–93" and "Basic Credit Approvals 1993–94" for information on basic credit approvals and receipts taken into account. Both documents are available in the Library.

Supplementary credit approvals provide additional authority for local authority borrowing. As indicated in the answer by the then Secretary of State for the Environment to the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Shaw) on 5 March, Official Report, column 333, information on supplementary credit approvals issued by the Department in the years 1990–91, 1991–92 and 1992–93, including those relating to housing capital expenditure, will be placed in the Library of the House shortly.

Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish for each year since 1978 the number of local authority housing units built by each authority(a) in total, (b) for sheltered housing and (c) for general need; and what he forecasts the situation to be for the current year and each of the next five years.

Sir George Young

Estimates of the total numbers of local authority house-building completions within each local authority area in England are in the following publications:

  • Year and Publication title and issues:
  • 1978
  • "Local Housing Statistics" Issue No. 49.
  • 1979
  • "Local Housing Statistics" Issue No. 59.
  • 1980–84
  • "Housebuilding in England by Local Authority Areas 1980 to 1989".
  • 1985–1990
  • "Local Housing Statistics" Issue No. 103.
  • 1991–1992
  • "Local Housing Statistics" Issue No. 105.

The Department collects information about special types of housing for the elderly, including sheltered dwellings—referred to as "dwellings with a warden" before 1986—and about dwellings for chronically sick and disabled people.

Figures for individual local authorities are shown in certain issues of "Local Housing Statistics". Annual data for each year from 1982 to 1991 are in issues Nos. 66, 70, 74, 78, 82, 86, 90, 94, 99 and 102 respectively. Combined figures for July 1980 to December 1981 for dwellings built for the elderly and also for August 1970 to December 1981 for dwellings built for the chronically sick and disabled are in issue No. 66. Data were not collected before July 1980 on dwellings specially built for the elderly.

The Department does not prepare forecasts of housebuilding activity.