Disabled Facilities Grant

Mr. Drew
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) if she will take steps to implement the proposal that disabled facilities grants should be available to improve access to back gardens and other outside areas;

(2) what estimate she has made of the potential cost to (a) central government and (b) local government of rebranding the disabled facilities grant as accessible homes grant.

Mr. Iain Wright
On 13 August 2007 my Department published a summary of responses to the disabled facilities grant (DFG) consultation on the Government's proposal to improve programme delivery.

(http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/disabled-prgramme).

We are currently working on a package of changes to improve the programme and help raise the quality of support provided through DFG, to be announced later this year.

Mr. Drew
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she expects to make a statement on the level of disabled facilities grant funding available for 2008-09.

Mr. Iain Wright
The Department intends to announce the 2008-09 disabled facilities grant allocations in early 2008.