My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Iain Wright) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

The Government are today announcing the allocation of an additional £11.5 million to the disabled facilities grant programme for 2007-08. The programme has proved to be highly successful with funding to local authorities more than doubling from £57 million in 1997 to £138 million now. These additional funds for the current year will help assist local authorities in meeting existing demand for the provision of adaptations. A table detailing the additional funds provided to individual authorities has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Local authorities must provide some of the finance for disabled facilities grant from their own resources, which brings total public sector spending on this programme to in excess of £200 million per annum.

The disabled facilities grant programme helps approximately 35,000 disabled and older people each year to live as comfortably and independently as possible in their homes through the provision of adaptations. The disabled facilities grant programme provides mandatory grants for housing adaptations available to both disabled and older people, including improving access to a home and to the basic facilities within a home such as the provision of ramps, door widening and stair-lifts.

I will be making a further statement on the future funding of disabled facilities grant and announcing a package of changes to improve delivery of the programme shortly as part of the cross departmental review of disabled facilities grant.