§ Mr Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will ensure that the block capital allocation by his Department to the Sheffield family and social services department will be sufficient, after dealing with accumulated debt, to provide for a sheltered housing scheme, a home for the mentally infirm, and a day centre for the elderly.
§ Dr. VaughanA new system for providing loan approval for personal social services capital projects was introduced last year. Each authority now receives a block allocation of loan approval, based on its population and first priority need, which it may use in the key sector as it wishes. The requirement to obtain loan approval for individual projects and the building controls formerly exercised by my Department, have been abolished.
The total allocation has now been distributed and Sheffield has received an allocation, signficantly greater than it would have received on population alone, to meet the priority needs it notified to my Department. Should the authority now find it necessary to meet continuing or excess costs arising from projects started in previous years, it may do so from this year's allocation, from other sources of revenue, or may submit them as its first priority against next year's allocation. How block allocations are managed is a matter for each authority to decide.
I am writing to the authority on points of detail it has raised.