§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will increase the grant limit for repairs to Airey houses to cover the recent imposition of value added tax on such repairs.
§ Mr. GowI am considering whether the eligible expense limits should be adjusted in the light of information which has been sought from the local authorities on costs of repair under the Airey scheme (DOE circular 6/83).
502Wlocal authority possession and (c) of former private houses modernised; what has been the capital expenditure on the purchase of private property, the cumulative figures for each year; and what has been the capital expenditure on modernisation of private houses and the cumulative figures for each year for each of the same boroughs.
§ Sir George YoungInformation is not available centrally on the numbers of formerly private dwellings which are in local authorities' possession, or on the numbers of acquired dwellings subsequently improved and the cost of such work. For 1976–77 to 1978–79, costs of initial works on acquired dwellings were given in the boroughs' 1979 HIP returns, copies of which are available in the Library.
The available information on dwellings acquired by the Inner London boroughs and the aggregate acquisition expenditure is as follows.