To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to move debt from highly indebted local authorities to those with no debt as part of his plans for a redistribution of housing debt. (289546)

On 21 July my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing published a consultation paper setting out proposals to replace the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system with a devolved system of responsibility and funding for council housing. This would end the need to redistribute income between council landlords each year, in exchange for a one-off adjustment of housing debt. Under the proposals, some authorities would be provided with funds to pay off debt and others would take on more housing debt, putting all councils in a position to sustain their stock in future from their own income. The consultation paper, ‘Reform of council housing finance’, is published on my Department's website at:

www.communities.gov.uk