Vol. 525 No. 3
274 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will increase funding through his Department for the special housing aid for the elderly scheme; and the number of houses estimated that will have works and renovations carried out to them in 2000 and 2001 under this scheme. [24916/00]
I allocated record funding of £8 million to the task force on special housing aid for the elderly this year, an increase of 33% on the 1999 allocation and almost double the allocation made in 1997. Further increases in funding for the task force will be considered in the light of available resources, and the level of activity in 2001 will reflect the provision made.
The task force carried out works to 1,717 houses in the first six months of this year, an increase of 25% on the same period in 1999, and I expect that, by the end of the year, works will have been carried out to over 3,500 houses.
