§ Mr. Powleyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide details of the allocation to local authorities for housing investment programme for 1985–86.
§ Mr. John PattenThe allocations for 1985–86 were announced on 20 December 1984. My right hon. Friend announced on 20 November 1985 that gross provision for capital expenditure by local authorities on housing in 1986–87 is £2,532 million, and the total available for allocations to local authorities is £1,465 million. In setting the allocation total, account was taken of the need to bring actual expenditure into line with provision, of spending power from capital receipts and of the increasing use local authorities are making of other opportunities for capital expenditure. The gross provision figure includes £26 million, and the allocation total includes £23½ million, for the homes insulation scheme. This is expected fully to meet total demand, though my right hon. Friend will bear in mind Energy Efficiency Year in considering any applications from individual authorities for additional allocations.
256WFrom the allocation total, a sum of £50 million has been reserved for the first time for projects identified by local authorities in conjunction with the urban housing renewal unit of my Department. The unit has been set up to help local authorities to develop imaginative options for tackling the problems of their rundown, difficult-to-let estates. A reserve of £2½ million is also being established from which further allocations for the homes insulation scheme can be made in accordance with demand. The total available for initial allocations is therefore £1,412.5 million, of which, as in the current year, £21 million is for the homes insulation scheme. Each local authority is today being informed of its own allocation for 1986–87. Copies of the letter to authorities and the schedule of initial allocations have been placed in the Library and the Vote Office.
The methodology for distributing the allocations has been modified this year in order to place greater emphasis on the needs for expenditure in renovating the local authority housing stock, the incidence of homelessness, the housing needs of the inner cities, and the obligations of local authorities under the Housing Defects Act 1984. and £30 million will be chanelled direct to those regions, such as the south-west and the south-east, in which certain authorities are expected to have particularly large obligations under the Housing Defects Act. A detailed description of the methodology has been placed in the Library.