§ Sir Fergus MontgomeryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is now able to publish draft capital finance regulations relating to the measures under the Government's private finance initiative which he announced on 31 October 1994.
§ Mr. CurryWe have today issued for consultation to the local authority associations and to local authorities the draft of regulations which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment proposes to make under part IV of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. We have asked for comments to be submitted by 13 February 1995. I have arranged for copies of the draft order, together with an explanatory guide, to be placed in the Library of the House.
The regulations provide:
—for two major relaxations in the rules governing local authority leasing of non-housing property, extending the revenue treatment of leases from three years to 10 years and enabling capital finance cover to be transferred from one lease to another on surrender or assignment;—that notional receipts from disposals of assets to companies in return for shares will no longer require set aside; and—that the reserved part of capital receipts from disposals of shares will be reduced from 75 per cent. to 50 per cent. if they were acquired before 10 March 1988 or acquired for the purposes of economic development, or if they are in a company connected with waste disposal or the provision of entertainment facilities.