§ The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill)I am today confirming funding of £473.4 million for 2004–05 and 2005–06 for the eight Arm's Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) set up under Round 1 of the ALMO programme. The ALMOs in Ashfield, Derby, Hounslow, Kirklees, Rochdale, Stockton-on-Tees, Westminster and Wigan have made excellent progress. Tenants are benefiting from improvements to their homes and an enhanced housing management service. All the Round 1 ALMOs have achieved ratings of at least two stars from the Housing Inspectorate, with three (Ashfield, Derby and Westminster) achieving three stars.
Following a detailed assessment of the ALMOs' costs and their other sources of income, and taking account of the need to maximise efficiency, I have approved the allocations for 2004–06 shown in the table below. This will keep the ALMOs on track to achieve the decent homes target.
Round 1 ALMO Number of tenanted units (2001) ALMO allocation 2002–04 ALMO allocation 2004–06 Ashfield 8,288 £24.0m £22.1m Derby 15,424 £31.1m £66.0m Hounslow 14,801 £35.0m £64.7m Kirklees 28,269 £62.5m £87.3m Rochdale 17,227 £24.2m £82.1m Stockton 14,060 £44.5m £18.5m Westminster 13,500 £20.3m £53.7m Wigan 26,446 £58.3m £79.0m TOTAL 137,619 £299.9m £473.4m