§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he has taken to support those law centres whose funding may be affected by the abolition of the Greater London council and metropolitan counties.
§ Sir George YoungAfter abolition, the responsibility for making local authority grants to voluntary organisations, including law centres, will pass entirely to borough and district councils. The Government have made provision to enable local authorities collectively to fund countywide projects, and are making grant-aid available for a transitional period to help individual boroughs and districts take on grants for local groups.
Housing corporation—Approved development programme 1986–87 £ million* £ million* Net allocation (cash limit) 585 Receipts 100 Gross allocation 685 Memorandum of Authorisation: Programme heads Existing fair rent and hostel projects 1. Contracted expenditure (Block 1) 420 2. New tenders approved (Block 2) 101 3. New fair rent and shared housing projects (Block 3) 46 Other tenures 4. (a) Improvement for sale Committed expenditure 82 104 (b) Leasehold schemes for the elderly (c) Shared ownership New projects 22 (d) Home-ownership for tenants of charitable housing associations 5. Major repairs 10 6. Mini HAG (for short-life properties) 2 683 7. Right to buy mortgages 2 685 * All figures expressed in estimated 1986–87 outurn prices. Notes:
1. Included in blocks 2 and 3 (fair rent) and other tenures is an addional amount of £8.6 million provided by the Secretary of State to cover the cost of certain projects to be undertaken on Merseyside.
2. In addition to provision for low cost home ownership within the ADP a proportion of expenditure on committed and new projects is to be met by the use of index-linked private finance.
3. New fair rent and shared housing projects. The allocation of funds under this head will initiate projects to a total cost of some £430 million to be completed over the next three to four years.