§ Mr. DobbinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will publish the outcome, by region, of the review of the General Needs Index for Housing Investment, indicating what percentage increase each region will receive in 2000–01; and if he will make a statement on the impact on(a) the constituency of Heywood and Middleton and (b) Rochdale Metropolitan Borough. [99861]
§ Mr. MullinThe Generalised Needs Index (GNI) used in the allocation of housing capital resources to local authorities reflects the relative need for housing capital expenditure in each local authority. The index was the subject of a review this year; details of the outcome of the review, which was conducted in conjunction with the Local Authority Associations, the National Housing Federation and the Housing Corporation, are available in196W the Library of the House. The regional shares of the revised index to be used in the allocation of 2000–01 resources are set out in the table, alongside the 1999–2000 index shares.
Region 2000–01 (percentage) 1999–2000 (percentage) Difference (+/-) North East 6.4 6.4 — Yorkshire and the Humber 9.9 10.1 -0.2 East Midlands 6.8 6.1 +0.7 Eastern 7.1 6.6 +0.5 London 30.0 30.5 -0.5 South East 8.8 8.4 +0.3 South West 5.6 5.8 -0.1 West Midlands 11.2 10.7 +0.6 North West 14.1 15.5 -1.4 England 100.0 100.0 — The index shares for the two years are not directly comparable because there were separate Capital Receipts Initiative and private sector renovation grant allocations for 1999–2000 which were allocated using different indices. These allocations are being combined with the main housing allocation from 2000–01 (the "single housing capital pot") to provide local authorities with more freedom in planning the composition of their capital programme.
The resources available for allocation for 2000–01 (just over £2 billion) are around 50 per cent. up on 1999–2000. The introduction of the single housing capital pot and the changes to the GNI mean that the regional increases vary between around 40 per cent. and 65 per cent. Allocations for individual local authorities, which are based 50 per cent. on the GNI and 50 per cent. on authorities' performance on housing, will be announced in the first half of December.
Rochdale's 2000–01 GNI share (0.46 per cent. of England) has fallen by slightly more (13 per cent.) than the region as a whole (down 9 per cent.); corresponding figures for parliamentary constituencies are not available. The main reasons for the fall in Rochdale's index share, like those for the region as a whole, are the updating of the private sector stock condition indicator from 1991 to 1996 English House Conditions Survey data (which shows a significant improvement in the general condition of occupied private sector stock and a reduction in the number of households eligible for a renovation grant); the extension of this indicator to cover dwellings that are in substantial disrepair as well as those which are unfit; the continuing reduction in the numbers of overcrowded and sharing households in the region; and the inclusion in the index of a measure based on homeless households in temporary accommodation.