§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on his Department's public expenditure plans, following publication of the White Paper setting out the Government's expenditure plans 1987–88 to 1989–90.
§ Mr. RidleyThe White Paper amplifies my Department's plans for expenditure in 1987–88 to 1989–90, announced in summary at the time of the autumn statement. It also contains a wealth of information about what we have achieved through our programmes in past years, and about our targets for the future.
Housing: £450 million extra for 1987–88
Gross capital provision for housing for 1987–88 is £3,661 million. This is £451 million more than previously planned, and £225 million more than expected outturn for 1986–87. Resources for Estate Action (the urban housing renewal unit) have been increased by 50 per cent. to £75 million. This will enable the unit to build on its success in developing, in conjunction with local authorities, innovative approaches to dealing with the problems of rundown estates. In 1986–87 the unit is supporting over 100 schemes, involving more than 55,000 dwellings, in 40 different authorities. In 1987–88 Estate Action expects to support 150 schemes, invloving over 82,000 dwellings.
The Housing Corporation's approved development plan for 1987–88 is £705 million, a £20 million increase over its gross provision this year. This will allow the corporation to approve some 22,000 new housing association houses for rent and for sale—a 21 per cent. increase over 1986–87. The additional £20 million is provided specifically for new schemes mixing 30 per cent. HAG and private finance. Together with a further £10 million from within the programme, mixed finance schemes should generate £100 million of new housing investment by housing associations.
Urban Development Corporation: new UDCs to be set up
At £126 million, provision for 1987–88 is increased by £40 million over previous plans. £15 million of this is provided to start up the proposed new UDCs—in Trafford Park, Teeside, Tyne and Wear and the Black Country in the west midlands.
The success of the London Docklands Development Corporation continues. £1.5 billion of private investment commitments have so far been attracted to the London Docklands Development Corporation's area: 300 companies have moved into docklands, 8,000 new jobs have been provided, and nearly 10,000 private homes have been commenced or completed since the establishment of the corporation in 1981. The increased public expenditure provision for UDCs will enable LDDC to boost the pace of regeneration still further.
188WOn Merseyside, the UDC expects to have reclaimed 146 hectares of land for housing, commercial and recreational use by March 1987, and to have achieved 946 permanent and 700 temporary new jobs. Priorities for next year include the completion of the Albert docks development and of the South docks infrastructure work.
Urban Programme and Derelict Land — continuing support
Our plans for 1987–88 include provision of £324 million for the urban programme and £81 million for the derelict land reclamation programme. These figures are respectively an increase of £7 million and £3 million over initial provision for the current year. The urban development grant programme will continue as part of the urban programme, and the new urban regeneration grant will be also available to support private-sector-led regeneration activity on difficult sites in urban areas.
New Towns
The primary objective of the corporations is to round off development of their towns. New investment on non-housing services is mainly directed at completing the physical infrastructure and facilitating the provision of employment opportunities with a maximum level of private investment. Receipts obtained by new town bodies (mainly from the sale of industrial and commercial assets) now exceed gross expenditure and are continuing to grow. The gross capital provision on other environmental services has been set at £36 million for 1987–88, with expected receipts of almost £150 million.
Heritage: A period of consolidation
At £114 million, provision for the heritage programmes in 1987–88 is £75 million over provision for the current year. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission receives an additional £2 million mainly to strengthen its cost-effective programme of repair grants to the private sector, including churches.
Nature Conservation: more resources
The Countryside Commission's grant-in-aid will rise from £17.7 million this year to £19.5 million in 1987–88, representing a 61 per cent. increase in real terms since 1979. This latest increase will enable the commission to press ahead with its programme for improving access to the countryside, providing conservation advice to farmers, landowners and voluntary groups and encouraging increased cost-effective activity in the voluntary sector. Targets for the expanded grant programme include the planting of 2 million trees and the establishment of five new groundwork trusts.
12. The Nature Conservancy Council's grant rises from £32 million this year to £36.5 million in 1987–88. This year the council will reach its target of re-notifying 80 per cent. of the sites of special scientific interest in Britain, and it has enabled me to designate Britain's first statutory marine nature reserve, on Lundy Island. Priorities for next year will be to protect more sites and to improve the council's research and monitoring capacity.
Water: Continued Improvements in Efficiency
Water authorities operating efficiency continues to improve without any detrimental effect on service standards. Under performance aims set by the Government, real terms operating costs have reduced by 6.2 per cent. since 1982–83. Further aims will be set for the three years to 1989–90.
The increased volume of investment achieved in the current year will be maintained in 1987–88 with further increases in 1988–89 and 1989–90. This will make for 189W continued improvements in services, water quality and environmental standards. In 1987–88 water charges will increase by under 6 per cent. on average. No authority should need to increase its charges by more than 7 per cent. Local Authority Capital Expenditure: £700 million extra for 1987–88
Gross provision for capital expenditure on the main local authority services is increased by about £700 million, from the previously planned level, to just under £5,000 million. Allocations total over £2,600 million. The prescribed proportions of capital receipts, which can be used to supplement allocations are maintained: spending power from this is estimated in the White Paper to increase to about £2,800 million next year.
I announced on 15 October that we will not be carrying out a major reform of the control of local authority capital expenditure in the present Session of Parliament. Instead we propose to consider the reform of the present system alongside the rest of the proposals in the Green Paper "Paying for Local Government".
Local authority current expenditure: £3.38 billion more
Local authority public expenditure provision relevant for Exchequer grants in 1987–88 is increased by £3.38 billion over previous provision. This includes £460 million which is dependent on the Government's requirements on pay structure and duties being met in a teachers' pay settlement.