HC Deb 31 October 1996 vol 284 cc192-3W
Mr. Liddington

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans there are for the sale of the Housing Corporation's loan portfolios to the private sector to proceed. [2294]

Mr. Gummer

My right hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Urban Regeneration announced on 28 November 1995 the Government's decision in principle to sell the loans provided to housing associations by the Housing Corporation, Scottish Homes and Housing for Wales. We subsequently appointed N M Rothschild and Sons Ltd. as the Government's financial advisers for the project and asked them to evaluate the options for selling these loans to the private sector.

On the basis of Rothchild's advice, my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales and I have decided to proceed with the sale of the loans, subject to receiving satisfactory final bids at the conclusion of negotiations. We have asked Rothchilds to make the necessary arrangements for the next stage.

Due to the different nature of the loans provided by Scottish Homes, separate arrangements will be adopted for the Scottish portfolio. These will take longer than those for the English and Welsh portfolios.

Housing associations have been most successful in securing private resources to finance social housing projects. The sale of the loans portfolios will be the logical conclusion of our policy of withdrawing from a lending activity which can clearly be funded directly by the private sector. There has already been considerable interest from the private sector in acquiring the portfolios, and I expect a successful conclusion to the sale process.

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