HC Deb 16 November 1973 vol 864 cc280-1W
Mr. Willey

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the capital projects to make provision for the mentally ill and mentally handicapped for which he has refused to grant loan sanction.

Sir K. Joseph

Procedures for approval of local authority health and social services projects in England for loan sanction purposes involve, except for very small schemes, three stages—provisional approval of the project, approval in principle of an outline specification, and final approval after an acceptable tender has been received. I issue each year lists of projects provisionally approved for the three following years. Inclusion of a project in one of these lists means that I expect to be able to give final approval for it during the year specified if it has by then reached final approval stage and an acceptable tender is received. I am having prepared a list of the projects for the mentally ill and the mentally handicapped proposed by local authorities for 1973–74 to which I was unable to give provisional approval earlier this year, and I shall send this to the right hon. Gentleman.

Local authorities have recently submitted programmes for the next three years, and revised lists of schemes provisionally approved for 1974–75 to 1976–77 will be issued in due course.