§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many mandatory house improvement grants have been made available in the areas covered by the five district councils on Merseyside during the past financial year; how many applications were received; how many homes remain in the pipeline awaiting renewal; when he expects to make an announcement concerning the targeting of house improvement grants into designated renewal areas; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungInformation on the number of mandatory renovation grants made available by the five Merseyside district councils during 1993–94 is provided to my Department through local authority quarterly monitoring returns. The number of returns received to date and the number of grants approved is shown in the table.
1993–94 Number of returns Grants approved Knowsley 2 97 Liverpool 2 361 Sefton — — St. Helens 3 158 Wirral 3 143 My Department does not hold statistics of renovation grant applications made to authorities or of applications still under consideration. The Government will announce their conclusions on the future of private sector housing renewal programmes following last year' consultations in due course.