§ Mr. HansonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he intends to make an announcement about the distribution to local authorities of capital resources for housing for 1998–99. [21374]
§ Ms ArmstrongWe are committed to providing good quality homes for everyone and today I am pleased to announce a package of funding that will help local authorities provide new homes with registered social landlords, improve the housing stock and help reinvigorate communities.
Councils will receive Housing Investment Programme allocations totalling nearly £770 million for 1998–99. There is £544 million for general purpose allocations, or housing "Annual Capital Guidelines", £166 million for private sector renewal and £59 million for disabled facilities grants.
In addition to Housing Investment Programme allocations, councils will receive allocations under the Capital Receipts Initiative of nearly £570 million. These have been allocated two-thirds in accordance with 160W assessed need and one third in accordance with the total of eligible set-aside receipts generated by each authority between 1 April 1990 and 31 March 1997. These much needed resources will begin to redress years of under-investment in housing.
We have made changes in the way that the HIP resources are allocated by moving away from a fully competitive system to a system which places greater emphasis on need. The HIP allocation has therefore been made half on the basis of need and half on the basis of Ministerial discretion, which takes into account the assessment of each authority's efficiency and effectiveness in meeting housing need in their area.
In addition we are releasing, for the first time, the Government's assessment of all authorities' performance relative to other authorities in the same region. Four factors are assessed: housing strategies, programme delivery, housing management and tenant involvement. Each authority has then been placed in one of four performance bands. Publishing performance bands will encourage authorities to improve their performance, particularly those which are below average.
I am depositing tables in the Library of the House showing each authority's performance band, Annual Capital Guideline, allocations for private sector renewal and disabled facilities grant and allocation under the Capital Receipts Initiative for 1998–99.