§ Mr. GapesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to allow local authorities to use money from accumulated capital receipts from sale of council properties for purchase and renovation of empty properties.
§ Mr. BaldryMy right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his autumn statement a significant relaxation of the rules governing the use of local authorities of capital receipts. Authorities are thus able to spend 100 per cent. of almost all capital receipts received between 13 November 1992 and 31 December 1993. This represents a substantial increase in authorities' spending power.
The Government have no plans to allow authorities to spend accumulated receipts. These receipts are available to redeem debt and thus to reduce the cost of that debt. Also, many authorities have used these resources in this way, rather than accumulating the receipts, and they should not be disadvantaged for having followed Government policy.
§ Mr. GapesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many empty privately-owned properties there were in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. BaldryEstimates of empty private dwellings reported by English local authorities in their annual housing investment programme (HIP1) returns are as follows:
124W
Year Empty private properties (thousands) 1979 485 1980 504 1981 503 1982 539 1983 541 1984 548 1985 545 1986 552 1987 570
Year Empty private properties (thousands) 1988 580 1989 589 1990 587 1991 638 1992 706
§ Mr. GapesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authority properties were sold in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. BaldryDetails of sales and transfers of local authority dwellings in England in the years 1979 to 1991 are given in the table.
To owner occupiers To housing associations1 Other sales and transfers1 1979 40,533 — — 1980 79,641 — — 1981 94,237 — — 1982 186,746 — — 1983 129,568 — 3,045 1984 97,684 — — 1985 86,858 — — 1986 82,775 272 297 1987 93,086 678 5,658 1988 137,596 8,176 123 1989 148,039 13,765 247 1990 99,176 30,420 8,029 19912 54,959 20,120 3 1 Includes block transfers to housing associations and the private sector. Transfers to housing action trusts are excluded. 2 Provisional.
§ Mr. FraserTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of housing associations he expects to be engaged on grant-aided development programmes in 1994–95 and 1995–96.
§ Mr. BaldryThese are matters which will be determined by the nature of bids put forward by housing associations themselves and by the detailed criteria applied by the Housing Corporation in assessing those bids. The corporation's decisions on allocations for 1994–95 will not be finalised until the early part of 1994.