§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Wells on 24 March,Official Report, column 192, whether he has yet received final returns of outturn on the DOE/LA 1 cash limit for 1987–88; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RidleyNo, but sufficient returns have now been received to confirm that the DOE/LA 1 cash limit for 1987–88 will have been underspent by at least £141.7 million; that is, 5 per cent. of the original cash limit. The cash limit for 1988–89 will, under the end-year flexibility arrangements, be increased by that amount.
The capital expenditure returns submitted by local authorities for 1988–89 do not suggest that the revised cash limit will be overspent. I and my colleagues responsible for services within the DOE/LA1 cash block will therefore now be making further capital allocations of £41.7 million for 1988–89. These are additional to the £100 million announced in my reply of 24 March.
The sum available for my Department's services from the £41.7 million is £24.1 million. I propose to direct £3 million of this to areas of poor quality private sector housing. The remaining £21.1 million will be for further direct help to the homeless. This will be the third tranche of additional resources in the last seven months, totalling over £74 million, and targeted to those local authorities with particular homelessness pressures. As before, we will expect authorities to use these extra resources to bring empty property back into use to house their homeless people, relieving the burdens of temporary accommodation.