§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide details of the assumptions, 78W including the number of council house sales, behind his assumption for capital receipts for (a) 1982–83 and (b) 1983–84.
§ Mr. HeseltineI will answer this question shortly.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) to what extent local authorities can use the financial element of their capital receipts to service any additional borrowing following upon his most recent announcement that £1 billion in capital allocations is to be made more widely available to local authorities;
(2) whether he will set out the mechanisms by which local authorities can use capital receipts.
§ Mr. KingIn resource terms, local authorities may use capital receipts, or such proportion thereof as may be prescribed, to justify expenditure in excess of their capital expenditure allocations. In addition, they may in general use the cash from their capital receipts for any, or any combination, of the following purposes:
- (a) to repay existing debt;
- (b) to finance investment within the expenditure limits permitted by block capital expenditure allocations and any supplementary allocations which may be en, thus obviating the need for new borrowing;
- (c) to finance investment over and above these limits, permitted by the capital receipts themselves;
- (d) for any other purpose to which the Secretary of State may consent.
The position is not affected by my right hon. Friend's statement of 27 October.