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Council Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

Volume 481: debated on Tuesday 28 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authority-owned dwellings underwent improvements to their (a) central heating and (b) insulation in each year since 1996-97; and how much was spent on each kind of work in each year. (230256)

The Department is not able to provide figures on central heating dating back to 1996-97. For local authorities, statistics on central heating and insulation works were first collected from 2001, initially through the Housing Investment Programme (HIP) and subsequently through the Business Plan Statistical Appendix (BPSA) from 2002. The following table displays the number of dwellings (and associated expenditure) receiving works each year, as reported by local authorities.

Local authority-owned dwellings and expenditure on central heating and insulation

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

Central heating

Number of dwellings

107,188

127,580

125,682

133,732

140,066

139,494

135,477

Expenditure (£ million)

221

261

279

326

380

426

426

Insulation

Number of dwellings

111,943

105,572

119,257

138,116

111,633

89,817

81,563

Expenditure (£ million)

62

58

54

59

44

35

33

Note: Improvement work includes works of a capital nature: installation, replacement or major repair. Sources: 1. Figures for 2002-07 from the Business Plan Statistical Appendix (BPSA). 2000 figures from the BPSA's predecessor—the Housing Investment Programme. 2. Figures include those authorities which have chosen to retain their housing stock and also Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMCs).