Written question asked by Austin Mitchell (Labour) on Friday, 6 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 January 2006. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Friday, 10 March 2006 on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Council Housing

Question: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will respond to the Audit Commission's report on financing council housing, with particular reference to (a) ending negative subsidy on individual local authority housing revenue accounts, (b) specific support for authorities with high debt levels and (c) conducting a review of the housing subsidy system.

Answer: The Commission's report was useful in bringing together a number of issues that had been raised in the past, not least in the ‘blue skies' consultation that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (then Department of Environment, Transport and Regions) ran in 2002. The Housing Revenue Accounts (HRA) subsidy system is always under review and Ministers and officials will continue to take into consideration the policy issues the report raises, just as they take into consideration advice from other stakeholders.

Secondary information