§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total expenditure provided in direct grant from central Government to local authorities for council house replacement since the introduction of the right to buy.
§ Sir George Young[holding answer 26 October 1993]: The provision of new social housing is now mainly the responsibility of housing associations, with local authorities increasingly concentrating on the management of their existing stock and on their broad enabling role. Central Government support to local authorities for these activities is provided through credit approvals. The amounts provided since 1981–82 are given in the table below. The figures for 1990–91 and subsequent years are not directly comparable with those for earlier years because of the revisions to the capital finance system introduced in April 1990. Local authorities can supplement these resources with spending from usable capital receipts and from revenue.
Local authority credit approval allocations1 Numbers 1981–82 1,795 1982–83 2,192 1983–84 2,233 1984–85 1,852 1985–86 1,605 1986–87 1,459 1987–88 1,400 1988–89 1,331 1989–90 1,095 1990–91 1,561 1991–92 1,705 1992–93 1,538 1993–94 1,375 1 Allocations for the years up to and including 1989–90 are final allocations, i.e. the initial allocation plus any increases made in-year. The allocation figures for 1990–91 and subsequent years are the credit approval provision figures for those years.