Written question asked by Grant Shapps (Conservative) on Friday, 20 March 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 24 March 2009. It was answered by Iain Wright (Labour) on Thursday, 26 March 2009 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Local Government Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what formula is used to calculate social housing grant payments to local authorities; and what changes have been made to that formula in each of the last three years.

Answer: We have announced that local authorities will be invited to bid for social housing grant in future, alongside arm's length management organisations, registered social landlords and private developers. The Homes and Communities Agency allocates grant through a competitive bidding process in which all schemes are assessed against a single set of criteria. The criteria are set out in a prospectus published by the agency; a new prospectus is issued for each bidding period and sets out the criteria for that period. The criteria for 2008-09 are set out in the prospectus for the 2008-11 Affordable Housing Programme, and the criteria for the previous period are set out in the prospectus for the Affordable Housing Programme for 2006-08. The current prospectus is available on the Homes and Communities Agency website. The previous prospectus is available on the website of the Housing Corporation, the now closed body which was formerly responsible for running the affordable housing programme.

Secondary information