§ 124. Mr. James Hillasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which local authorities have taken advantage of the £170,000 made available by the Government for housing aid centres to help areas of special need.
§ Mr. SharplesThere is no fixed prior allocation of funds for this purpose. Housing authorities are free to set up or assist housing aid centres, and those whose areas have special social needs may include such projects among those for which they seek urban programme grant. Thirty-eight authorities in England have so far received approvals for such grant, in respect of a total of 43 projects. Seventeen of these approvals were of capital expenditure amounting in total to £200,000; the other 26 approvals related to non-capital commitments amounting in total to £92,000 annually.
Following are the details:
129W
HOUSING AID CENTER PROJECTS APPROVED UNDER THE URBAN PROGRAMME January, 1971 Capital Non-capital (per annum for 5 years unless otherwise stated) £ £ LONDON Hackney 25,000 Hammersmith 19,250 Haringey 5,000 Lambeth 5,000 Southwark 6,800 Tower Hamlets 5,000* OTHERS Birkenhead 5,000 Blackburn 2,000 Gateshead 600 Leeds 10,350 Liverpool 4,500 Manchester 6,500 Newcastle-on-Tyne 6,800† Norwich 10,000 Nottingham 10,000 Salford 40,000 Sheffield 2,000 Slough 3,626 Stockport 2,000 Totals £127,600 £41,826 Grand Total £169,426
Approvals given in August, 1971 Capital £ Non-capital (per annum for 5 years unless otherwise stated)£ London Brent 4,000 Camden 10,000 Greenwich 2,500 Islington 6,200 Lewisham 5,000 Greater London Council 2,000 OTHERS Barrow 1,000 Birmingham 4,000 Bradford 3,000 Bristol 2,500 Coventry 2,500 Newcastle-on-Tyne 2,000 Portsmouth 1,500 Southampton 2,000 Stockport 1,500 Slough 1,000 Total £50,700 Approvals given in October, 1971 ALL AREAS Barnsley 10,000 Barrow 10,000 Doncaster 10,000 Kingston-on-Hull 10,000 Liverpool 6,000 Newcastle-on-Tyne 10,000 Pontefract 5,000 Teesside 10,700 Total £71,700 In addition, grant-aid under the Urban Programme has been given to a number of local authorities for the purpose of employing additional staff to deal with housing problems arising in their areas. All approved projects attract 75 per cent. Exchequer grant.
* One year only.
† Includes Family Advice centre.