To ask Her Majesty's Government how much borrowing by local authorities will be permitted for the provision of newly built or acquired social housing for letting in 2009–10 and subsequent years up to 2012. [HL1613]

Under the prudential system, local authorities are free to borrow for any kind of capital spending without government permission, provided that they and their auditors are satisfied that they can afford to service the debt.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total number of new homes built in 2008; what was the number built in the Eastern region; and how this is broken down on a county basis in the Eastern region. [HL1627]

The table below shows the number of house building completions in England and in the east of England broken down by county and unitary authority in the 2008 calendar year.

Source: Local authority P2 quarterly house building and National House-Building Council returns submitted to CLG.

The regional and national totals include imputation for missing local authority returns. The county and unitary authority figures are as reported by local authorities and the National House-Building Council; no figure is given where a county or unitary authority has one or more missing (local authority) quarterly returns as the full level of housebuilding activity in the local area is not known.