§ 24. Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Health if the concession announced recently by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in respect to interest over 4¼ per cent. on loans from the Public Works Loan Board will involve any reduction of subsidy to local authorities making use of the concession.
§ Mr. BevanI regret that this Question could not be answered exhaustively without an unwarrantable amount of detailed research as to the purposes of all the loans concerned. But the bulk of them are either for services (such as housing under most of the Acts later than that of 1919) which are aided by grants not requiring reduction because of any diminution of the loans charges, or are for services which do not directly attract any subsidy from the Exchequer. Loans under the Housing Act of 1919 were expressly excluded from the reduction because the benefit of relief under that heading would have gone largely to the Exchequer.