To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what finance has been made available to local authorities in London to assist the needs of Kurdish asylum seekers in the past two years.

The Department has to date made payments of £790,174 to London boroughs on the basis of initial claims under the terms of the scheme of special financial assistance established in January 1990 for London local authorities which incurred in 1989–90 extra expenditure directly as a result of the influx of Turkish asylum seekers into the United Kingdom in April, May and June 1989. Final audited claims are due to be submitted to the Department by 31 December 1990. The housing investment programme allocations made to the London authorities for 1990–91 took account of the housing capital needs related to the arrival of refugees, including Turkish asylum seekers.