§ Mr. Kilfedderasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals he has for bringing the subsidy paid to house purchasers more into line with the amount of the subsidy paid in respect of housing put up by the Housing Executive.
§ Mr. ConcannonIt is not possible to make realistic comparisons between the 60-year subsidy paid by the Government to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in respect of the provision of new houses for rent and the assistance to private housing including the private enterprise subsidy paid by district councils to encourage the building of houses for sale. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of 359W State is, however, considering what further steps could be taken in the present difficult economic circumstances to encourage the building of more houses for sale, especially for families seeking to buy a house for the first time.
§ Mr. Kilfedderasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what action he proposes to ensure that the house building programme is not held up through inadequate building society funds or a shortage of skilled manpower;
(2) what plans he has to help provide mortgages to would-be house purchasers to whom building societies would not normally grant a mortgage because of low or uncertain income, or because they are unable to find a deposit.
§ Mr. ConcannonI announced as an emergency measure on 19th November 1975 that the amount of money available to the Housing Executive under its home loans scheme had been increased to enable the Executive to lend around £600,000 a month to people who were unable to obtain loans from building societies. I am continuing my discussions with the Building Societies Association about the volume of building society lending in Northern Ireland. The Construction Industry Advisory Council and its standing committee on manpower, education and training have both advised me that there are unlikely to be any major problems.