To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of surplus homes in the North West region which remain to be demolished before restrictions on the number of homes which may be built by local authorities in Cumbria may be removed. (129866)

The existing RSS, which was set out on 31 March 2003, allows for 1,170 dwellings (net of clearance replacement) to be built in Cumbria per year. The total figure for housing in the NW region is 12,790 per year reflecting household growth and the need to support regeneration at that time. The RSS is currently being revised.

Long-term out-migration trends from the core urban areas have been reversed. To reflect this, to cater for increased household projections, to take account of ambitions for economic growth, and to address affordability issues, the draft RSS is proposing an increase of almost 80 per cent. to 22,844—and this is in addition to houses built to replace any demolished.

The draft new RSS allows for 1,850 dwellings a year in Cumbria. We await their report and will prepare Proposed Changes to the document in the light of this. We anticipate that the Final RSS will be published at the end of this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department and its predecessor allocated for (a) major repairs allowance, (b) housing revenue account subsidy, (c) regional housing executive allocations for council housing, (d) regional housing executive allocations for registered social landlord housing, (e) Approved Development Programme for Housing Corporation, (f) arm's length management organisations, (g) private finance initiatives and (h) stock transfer in (i) England, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) Birmingham in each year since 1997-98. (129907)

The data has been compiled in a series of tables and is lodged in the Library of the House.

The different funding streams referred to in the tables have different financial bases. They relate to the permission to borrow, grants and allowances, this affects how they can be presented with some past figures being allocations but some are actual spend.

(a) Major repairs allowance represents the estimated long-term average amount of capital spending required to maintain a local authority's housing stock in its current condition. The figures are an allowance within the HRA subsidy system.

(b) Housing revenue account subsidy refers to the entitlement local authorities receive from Government to support their housing programmes. 2005-06 is the latest year for which audited figures are available. The figures provided in the table are the annual subsidy entitlement.

(c) Supported capital expenditure is the level of borrowing for capital purposes that is supported by the Government through Housing Revenue Account Subsidy. This value is based on the Regional Housing Boards' allocations.

(d/e) Regional Housing Board recommendations for investment in affordable housing is distributed via the Housing Corporation's Affordable Housing Programme as a grant (formerly the Approved Development Programme). It provides investment to Registered Social Landlords and other developers for the provision of homes for social rent and low cost home ownership.

(f) Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) allowance represents revenue support payable to local authorities to finance borrowing for ALMO purposes.

(g) Housing PFI subsidy payments support the capital costs of PFI projects. HRA subsidy payments are made via the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy System, and payments for General Fund schemes via the General Fund.

(h) Stock transfers can involve two types of expenditure. Payments to the Public Works Loan Board to clear Overhanging Debt held by LAs attributable to transferred housing, and gap funding payments which are grants to some RSLs who receive negative value transferred housing.