Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent discussions he has had with the Building Societies Association to persuade it to make block loans to local authorities so that local authorities can relend the money to their own mortgagees at reasonable rates of interest.
§ Mr. FreesonThis question has been raised during a number of wider discussions I have had with the BSA. Some building societies are prepared to refinance individual existing local authority mortgages. Block loans direct to authorities for on-lending would count as public expenditure.