While I recognise that a general house improvement grant scheme would help to promote the conservation and improvement of the housing stock, I am also conscious of the cost of the previous scheme and the fact that the construction industry is operating at a very high level of demand. Available resources are being concentrated on the social housing programmes and the range of measures set out in the Government's "Action on House Prices" in response to the issues raised by increases in house prices.
A range of targeted measures to assist in the improvement of housing conditions are currently available, as follows: disabled persons and essential repairs grants; the Task Force on Special Housing Aid for the Elderly; the scheme of improvement works in lieu of local authority housing, and local authority house improvement loans.
I am, in the context of the Government's Action Programme for the Millennium, examining possible options to extend the range of measures currently available to assist low income households in securing necessary improvement works to their housing. Pending completion of this examination and decisions arising from it, I do not propose to comment on the possible outcome.