§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the impact on public finances of money invested in housing refurbishment by (a) an arms length management organisation and(b) a council housing department. [135909]
§ Keith HillIn 2002–03 local authorities invested around £2.5 billion in investment and maintenance of housing from their own resources and funds provided by Central Government.
The resource provided for Arms Length Management Organisations (ALM0s) is additional to the resource that the local authority receives through mainstream housing funding.
The Sustainable Communities Plan published in February announced that for 2003–04 to 2005–06, about £2 billion of additional investment is being made available to councils who set up acceptable arms length arrangements which deliver services which are rated as excellent (3*) or good (2*) by the Housing Inspectorate. This is in addition to the support given in 2002–03 of about £56 million.