§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will review Scottish Development Department guidance to housing associations on the rehabilitation of tenement property to take account of modern building standards; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what plans he has to increase the overall resource allocation to housing associations through the Housing Corporation to take account of the developing programme in Glasgow; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what plans he has to increase the current level of cost limits so that proposed new housing association projects can be processed by the Housing Corporation without the need for scrutiny by the Scottish Development Department; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Hugh D. BrownMy right hon. Friend sees no reason to review the guidance that has been given about standards since it is clearly right that housing associations should be expected to achieve the same standards as private owners must achieve for their houses after grant-aided improvement. Public expenditure plans already include a substantial allocation for investment by housing associations and there are no proposals to change 127W that allocation. The level of the cost limits for improvement by housing associations was raised in a circular dated 28th April from the Scottish Development Department.