§ 25. Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his plans for the transfer of local authority housing. [17026]
§ Mr. CurryTransfer is an excellent way of increasing investment in the local authority stock and the Government have therefore recently introduced a package of measures aimed at encouraging local authorities to transfer more of their stock to registered social landlords. We have also announced our intention to use the housing investment programme to encourage local authorities to consider how they can best use transfer to meet the need for investment in their stock and thus also make best use of the limited public funds available for housing.
596W
§ 28. Sir Colin ShepherdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his current estimate of the numbers of dwellings in local authority ownership which could be transferred to different ownership through large-scale voluntary transfer. [17029]
§ Mr. CurryWith the new package of measures announced by the Government last autumn to encourage stock transfer, we expect the level of transfer to increase significantly. Taken together with sales to individuals, we currently anticipate a reduction in local authority stock of just over 1 million homes or around 30 per cent. in the next 10 years.