§ Mr. Tierneyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage cut in housing expenditure by local authorities in 1976–77 will result from his announcement of 7th January.
§ Mr. FreesonThe suggestion that there have been across the board 33 per cent. cuts is entirely untrue. There is no question of an overall cut in the level of total provision for municipalisation, improvement and lending for house purchase as it was announced after the Budget announcements of 1975 as a result either of my right hon. Friend's announcement or of any failure to make the usual adjustment for prices. In real terms provisions for municipalisation and for local authority improvement are each increased by about 22 per cent.; and provision for612W local authority lending for house purchase is correspondingly reduced by about 28 per cent.