§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to ensure that local authorities spend their housing investment programme allocations; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. StanleyMy right hon. Friends and I have already urged local authorities on several occasions to make full use of their investment allocations and their capital receipts. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister wrote to the local authority associations to this effect on 2 November 1982. In an attempt to reduce the prospective underspend on housing in 1982–83, authorities were told that they could increase their expenditure on home improvement grants without limit and were invited to 137W apply for additional capital allocations for other forms of housing investment. Additional allocations totalling up to £180 million were made to 232 local authorities. To avoid a further underspend this year authorities have been given a firm base on which to plan their forward housing programmes with the assurance that their HIP allocations in 1984–85 will be at least 80 per cent. of those they received for 1983–84, if authorities can justify that level of expenditure.