§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the consultation paper on proposed rural exemptions from the purchase grant scheme for housing association tenants was subject to an environmental appraisal using the guidance contained in "Policy Appraisal and the Environment"; if he will publish the appraisal; what alternative courses of action from those set out in the paper were considered in the environmental appraisal; how the paper was modified by the results of the appraisal; and what procedures have been put in place by his Department to monitor the environmental impacts arising from the implementation of the paper. [29499]
§ Mr. ClappisonThe new purchase grant scheme will extend the chance of home ownership to more housing associations tenants, allowing them to buy their own home at a discount. The consultation paper on proposed rural exemptions contains proposals to exclude small rural settlements with a population of 3,000 or fewer from the scheme. Housing association tenants living in those settlements would not have the right to buy their homes. As such exclusions will not have any environmental consequences, an environmental appraisal was not appropriate.