§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on his policy regarding applications for local authorities for the writing off of housing revenue account debts and the source of finance for any approvals of such applications. [107922]
§ Mr. MullinWhere the capital receipt which a local authority receives for the transfer of its entire housing stock is less than the debt attributed to the stock, the Government are prepared to make a one-off payment to assist the authority to repay the outstanding Public Works Loan Board debt principal. In such cases the local authority will be required to repay its attributable housing debt shortly after the transfer is completed. These new arrangements were announced to the House on 16 December 1999,Official Report, column 250W, by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning following consultation with local authorities and others last year.
Under these arrangements local authorities are required to meet from the capital receipt or their existing resources any premiums arising from the early repayment of debt. An authority with overhanging debt applying for a place on the housing transfer programme must, in addition to meeting the other published criteria, demonstrate that it can pay the premiums arising from the early repayment of debt before they can be allocated a place on the housing transfer programme.
A copy of a guidance note setting out the detailed arrangements was placed in the Libraries of the House and the Vote Office.