§ Mr. Richard Pageasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether further changes are being made to the cash limits set for his Department since those announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in Cmnd. 7604; and from what date the one block system of housing investment programme allocations will commence.
§ Mr. HeseltineIn my statement on the rate support grant settlement on 16 November 1979 I said that £10 million would be found through a reduction in other local authority programmes for which I am responsible. This has been achieved by a reduction of £10 million in the cash limit for 1979–80 on local housing investment—DOE/LA 2. This does not require any reduction in 1979–80 allocations to individual authorities.
I have also agreed to transfer £½ million of partnership resources from the urban programme to the Department of Health and Social Security to enable the Camden and Islington health authority to proceed with a number of important projects at Whittington hospital. The revised cash limit for the urban programme is £172.550 million.
In order to give local authorities maximum flexibility, I am arranging for the one block system of housing investment programme allocations to be introduced from 31 March, so that authorities enter 1980–81 with the new system already in place.—[Vol. 973, c. 854.]