§ Mr. Welshasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) in how many instances, to date, have building societies in Scotland relaxed their normal criteria in granting mortgages to applicants sponsored by local authorities under the £7 million lending scheme;
(2) of those prospective house purchasers sponsored by local authorities in Scotland under the building societies' £7 million lending scheme, how many have so far been granted mortgages; and what has been the average sum advanced.
§ Mr. William RossI have been asked to reply.
The details requested are not available: returns regarding the operation of the scheme have yet to be submitted. The scheme is, however, under way in a number of areas in Scotland. Building societies are allocating funds on the basis of individual loan applications and it has not yet been necessary to devise any block allocation for particular local authority areas. The lending criteria being applied are set out in SDD Circular No. 112/1975, a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Welshasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the basis of calculation for the directive issued to building societies in England and Scotland to provide £100 million and £7 million, respectively, for lending to prospective house purchasers sponsored by local authorities; and what representations he has received from Scottish building societies regarding the disparity in the sums allocated.
§ Mr. William RossI have been asked to reply.
There was no directive to the building societies and there have been no representations. The Government secured the agreement of the Building Societies' Association to a special scheme to supplement 318W local authority lending in 1975–76, following the limit which had to be imposed on that lending. The sum of £7 million which the societies have agreed to make available in Scotland reflects the amount by which it proved necessary to reduce the level of lending for house purchase by the Scottish local authorities, in view of the current need to limit the public sector borrowing requirement. Similar considerations led to the agreement on a sum of £100 million for lending in England.