Distributed to
All registered social landlords (excluding co-ownership societies) and local authorities.

Summary
Provides a brief account of the context and principal contents of the above Determination, and outlines the present priorities. A copy of the Determination is attached.

This circular replaces P3 - 19/89.

1 Introduction

1.1 This circular notifies registered social landlords and local authorities of the changes to the promotion functions of the Housing Corporation and the powers to give grants to facilitate the performance of registered social landlords. The above Determination, made by the Housing Corporation with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Environment, enables the Corporation to give grants under Section 87 of the Housing Associations Act 1985.

2 The Housing Associations Act 1985

2.1 The general functions of the Housing Corporation, as set out in Section 75 of the Housing Associations Act 1985, have been amended by Schedule 3 paragraph 5 of the Housing Act 1996. These functions are now:

2.2 Since the Housing Corporation no longer has the function of directly promoting and assisting the development of registered housing associations, Section 87 of the Housing Associations Act 1985 has also been amended by Schedule 3 paragraph 7 of the Housing Act 1996. This now says the Corporation may give financial assistance to any person to facilitate the proper performance of the functions of registered social landlords or co-operative housing associations.

2.3 To reflect this emphasis on performance and the development of good practice for registered social landlords, the name of the grant has been changed from Promotional and Advisory Grant to Innovation and Good Practice Grant.

3 The Determination

3.1 The Determination is a general Determination setting out the principles in respect of eligibility for, application for, calculations of, payment of, and recovery of Innovation and Good Practice Grant.

3.2 The main purpose of the Determination is to enable the Corporation to exercise the powers to pay grant to assist activities which facilitate the proper performance of the functions of registered social landlords or co-operative housing associations, where the activities would not take place or would not be effective if the grant was not given.

3.3 The Housing Corporation has set out the detailed criteria for grants and the information required for applications. This information is available from the Corporation's Regional Offices and Headquarters.

4 Programmes and Priorities

4.1 The Housing Corporation has published the programmes and priorities it proposes to support, and will review them annually as necessary after consulting an Advisory Group with representatives of a range external bodies. For 1996/97 the categories of project the Corporation is supporting are: