§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what definition of affordability for housing association rents he uses in making decisions on the level of housing association grants.
§ Sir George YoungThe Government do not define affordability. In setting grant levels each year, I make. a judgment based on various factors. In this I am assisted by a Housing Corporation model which enables us to calculate an affordability ratio representing the average model rent, at certain levels of cost and grant, as a proportion of earned income after tax, excluding housing benefit. The affordability ratio resulting from the grant144W rates set has remained unchanged since 1989–90 at around 35 per cent. of a working housing association household's net income before housing benefit.
The model, however, is only a mechanism to test the impact of changes in grant rates. It is for housing associations to consider what rents are affordable taking account of all local circumstances. Outturn rents show that there is a considerable gap between the rents implied by the model and actual Sellafield rents on the ground.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State? for the Environment what requests he has received from the European Commission on the application by British Nuclear Fuels to construct a mixed oxide nuclear fuels fabrication plant at Sellafield in regard to its requirement to be covered by a full environmental impact assessment under the 1985 EC directive.