§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements have been made between the Government and the Building Societies Association for the continuation in 1982–83 of the support lending scheme for mortgages; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. StanleyThe Building Societies Association will be making £350 million available for mortgages under the support lending scheme in 1982–83. The scheme is also38W table. The figures show the total public expenditure by region on grants to be made by local authorities to householders in respect of the conversion of appliances in new smoke control areas. This expenditure by local authorities must be met from within their capital expenditure allocations. However, approximately 55 per cent. will be reimbursed to the authorities by Exchequer grant.
going to be extended to two additional categories of mortgagor—those buying their council houses or flats as sitting tenants whether under the right to buy or under voluntary arrangements, and those buying dwellings that local authorities or housing associations have improved for sale. This will apply for the rest of 1981–82 as well as for 1982–83. The changes will help increase the use that local authorities may be able to make of private mortgage finance, thus generating capital receipts which may be used to increase their housing investment programmes allocations.
I shall be issuing a revision of the guidance given to local authorities on priority categories of borrower to reflect these changes. I will also be reminding authorities that the support lending scheme can be used for loans for improvement and repair as well as for loans for house purchase. The revised guidance applies to direct mortgage lending by authorities themselves as well as to nominations for building society mortgages under the support lending scheme.