§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 1 November to the hon. Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Thurnham),Official Report, column 3, about the transfer of council housing stock to registered housing associations, how much was spent (a) by each authority listed in preparing the transfer and (b) by local authorities where tenants have voted against transfer.
§ Sir George YoungSet up costs for the housing associations involved in the 23 transfers that have taken place so far have been met by grants from the local authorities as follows:
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£ million Breckland DC 2.50 Broadland DC 1.80 London Borough of Bromley 5.80 Chiltern DC 1.11 Christchurch DC 1.14 East Cambridgeshire DC 2.20 East Dorset DC 1.20 Hambleton DC 1.80 Medina DC 1.40 Mid Sussex DC 2.30 Newbury DC 1.40 North Bedfordshire DC 3.05 Rochester upon Medway DC 4.50 Ryedale DC 1.57 Sevenoaks DC 1.75 South Buckinghamshire DC 1.46 South Wight DC 1.20 Suffolk Coastal DC 2.05 Surrey Heath DC 1.70 Swale DC 1.57 Tonbridge and Mailing DC 2.24 Tunbridge Wells DC 2.80 West Dorset DC 1.80 These grants cover reasonable staff costs, consultancy fees for the legal, financial and other work involved and costs relating to tenant consultation. They do not cover costs which should be incurred by the purchaser post-transfer such as the provision of long-term office accommodation.
We have no comparable information on local authorities' own costs.