§ Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what provision he has made for early redemption penalties and setting-up costs of successor organisations to be paid if transfer of Birmingham City's housing stock takes place; and if he will estimate the cost of central Government subsidy towards them; [21717]
(2) what the outstanding debt is on Birmingham city council's housing revenue account that he will write off if stock transfer goes ahead; and what was the annual cost of debt financing charges in the last three years. [21597]
§ Ms KeebleThe Department's assumptions for housing revenue subsidy purposes of Birmingham city council's debt financing charges in the last three financial years have been as follows:
£ 1998–99 248,033 1999–2000 253,651 2000–01 264,672 If stock transfer were to go ahead the Department would make a payment equal to Birmingham's housing-related debt less any of its receipt from the transferred stock that remained once set-up costs and early debt redemption premiums had been deducted. That figure cannot yet be calculated.
The Department makes no provision for set-up costs or early debt redemption premiums; these are met by the local authority from the transfer receipt.