§ Mrs. Shirley Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will raise the rateable value limits for improvement grants from their present levels of £225 outside London and £400 within London.
§ Mr. StanleyI refer the right hon. Member to the answer which I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Bodmin (Mr. Hicks) on 26 January.—[Vol. 35, c.888.]
§ Mrs. Shirley Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will extend the coverage of improvement grants to include energy conservation measures such as cavity wall and loft insulation.
§ Sir George YoungGrants for the first-time provision of loft insulation are already available under the homes insulation scheme. In other circumstances, additional loft insulation may be eligible for an improvement grant at the discretion of the local authority as part of an overall improvement scheme. Cavity wall insulation would not generally be eligible for grant. There are at present no plans to change these arrangements.