§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether immediate steps will be taken by Her Majesty's Government to provide Edinburgh district council with £5.6 million of funds in respect of housing as soon as the district council comes within the Secretary of State's guidelines relating to the rate fund contribution and adopts accepted budgeting procedures.
§ Mr. AncramI have still to study the details of Edinburgh district council's decision but, as I made clear in my written answer on 20 May 1985, at columns291–2, once the council has revised its budget to bring the estimated rate fund contribution for 1985–86 down to the limit set by my right hon. Friend, the gross housing revenue account (HRA) capital allocation for this year, as abated for overspend in 1984–85, will be increased by £5.638 million from £11.440 million to £17.078 million.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland when steps will be taken to allocate the £3 million as yet unallocated for defective housing in Scotland; approximately what percentage of this sum will be available for defective housing in Edinburgh; and when the authority will be informed of the precise allocation.
§ Mr. AncramMy officials will be writing shortly to the appropriate local authorities requesting details of numbers of applications received under the provisions of the Housing Defects Act and estimated expenditure in the current financial year. When this information is available, supplementary allocations will be issued. It is not possible at this stage to estimate the supplementary allocation which a particular authority will require.