§ Mrs. Faithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give details of the latest loans from the European Coal and Steel Community to housing projects in the United Kingdom; and in which areas these loans will be used.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe United Kingdom's allocation under the first Manche of the ninth programme of these loans—which covers the period 1979–81—is some £3.8 million, divided between the coal—£2.55 million—and steel—£ 1.25 million—industries.
The European Commission has approved the following apportionment of the coal industry's allocation:
£ million a. mortgage assistance (via the Halifax Building Society) for National Coal Board (NCB) employees, primarily to assist miners moving to the new Selby colliery 1.00 b. NCB housing improvemnts in Nottinghamshire and North East England 0.25 c. National Union of Mineworkers' Housing Association in South Wales 0.60 d. local authority and housing association schemes. The Commission is still considering how to share out this sum. 0.70 2.55 The proposed schemes for the steel industry, in both public and private sectors, are for house purchase and modernisation schemes operated through the Halifax Building Society.