§ 23. Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the assistance being given by Her Majesty's Government to local housing authorities concerned with the repair and replacement of defective houses.
§ Mr. John PattenGross provision for local authority capital spending in 1986–87 has been increased by £200 million to £2,532 million, to help authorities give increasing priority to tackling the repair and renovation-work needed to their stock. In addition a new indicator, based on the results of the Department's stock condition inquiry, was introduced into the generalised needs index used to distribute housing resources for 1986–87. Particular account has also been taken of the difficulties some authorities are facing in meeting obligations under the Housing Defects Act by modifying the defective dwellings indicator within the GNI and also by distributing £30 million outside the GNI to those regions containing authorities likely to experience the greatest difficulties.