§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what grants have been allocated by his Department to Wolverhampton borough council during the last four years for housing improvement projects; and what spending constraints have been imposed on the council during the same period.
§ Sir George YoungThe Department does not allocate grants to local authorities for housing improvements. They are given by local authorities as part of their capital expenditure programmes on housing. Each year the Secretary of State determines for individual authorities a housing investment programme allocation for capital expenditure on housing. Authorities may spend up to the allocation specified and supplement it by using the prescribed proportion of capital receipts. The Secretary of State does not specify how the available resources should be spent; it is for each authority to determine its own priorities within its housing strategy as a whole.
Allocations and expenditure by Wolverhampton borough council over the last four financial years are as follows: 423W
Financial year HIP allocation *Expenditure Expenditure on home improvement grants £ million £ million £ million 1982–83 16.649 16.603 3.635 1983–84 14.603 22.392 4.862 1984–85 12.211 25.938 4–731 1985–86 9.958 †15.239 †4.300 * Includes use of capital receipts.
† Estimate.