PART III Assistance for Improvement of Dwellings

Standard grants and Minister's contributions to local authorities for provision of standard amenities

51 Amount of Minister's contributions under s. 13 of Act of 1959
(1) A contribution under section 13 of the Act of 1959 shall be a sum payable annually for the twenty financial years beginning with the year in which the works in respect of which it is made are completed, equal to three-eighths of the annual loan charges referable to the amount specified in the following provisions of this section.
The said amount shall, subject to this section, be the cost shown to have been incurred in executing the works in respect of which the contribution is made.
(2) If any of the works are not exclusively for the purpose of providing one or more of the standard amenities, only so much of the cost of carrying out those works as is, in the opinion of the Minister, attributable to the provision of the standard amenity or standard amenities shall be taken into account under the foregoing subsection.
(3) Subject to this section, there shall be a limit on the amount of such a contribution determined in accordance with the following Table, and the limit shall depend on the number of items in the following Table which will be provided by the works and shall be the total of the amounts specified in column 2 of that Table for those items or £700, whichever is the less.

TABLE
List of amenities	Amount allowed towards limit
A fixed bath or shower in a bathroom or elsewhere.	£50 or, if the bathroom is being provided by the building of a new structure or the conversion of outbuildings attached to the dwelling (or to the building of which the dwelling forms part) and the Minister is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable to provide the bathroom in any other way, such higher amount, not being more than the part of the cost of executing the works which is attributable to the provision of the fixed bath or shower, as the Minister may determine.
A wash-hand basin	£10
A hot and cold water supply at a fixed bath or shower.	£70
A hot and cold water supply at a wash-hand basin.	£30
A hot and cold water supply at a sink.	£50
A water closet	£80 or if the works comprise the installation of a septic tank and the Minister is satisfied that the connection of the water closet with main drainage is not possible or reasonably practicable, such higher amount, not being more than the part of the cost of executing the works which is attributable to the provision of the water closet, as the Minister may determine.
Facilities for storing food	£20
If the works comprise, in connection with all or any of the amenities provided, the bringing of a piped supply of cold water into the dwelling for the first time.	Such amount, if any, not being more than the part of the cost of executing the works which is attributable to the bringing of the piped supply into the dwelling, as the Minister may determine.
(4) In determining the limit the amount specified for any item in the Table shall not be brought in more than once, and no account shall be taken of any amenity provided by the works if, at the time when the works were begun, the dwelling was provided with an amenity of that kind unless part of the cost incurred in executing the works is attributable to interference with or replacement of that amenity and the Minister is satisfied that it would not have been reasonably practicable to avoid the interference or replacement.
(5) References in this section to the cost incurred in executing or carrying out works shall, where the local authority employ a person who is not one of their officers as an architect, engineer, surveyor, land agent or other person in an advisory or supervisory capacity in connection with the works, include the cost of his employment for that purpose.
(6) The Minister may by order contained in a statutory instrument vary the provisions of subsections (3) and (4) of this section in any respect and any such statutory instrument shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(7) The Minister may by order contained in a statutory instrument reduce, as respects applications approved after such date as may be specified in the order, the proportion of the said annual loan charges, but not below one-third.
An order under this subsection—
(a) shall not be made unless a draft thereof has been approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament;
(b) shall not specify a date earlier than the date of the laying of the draft;
and before laying such a draft the Minister shall consult with such associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned and with any local authority with whom consultation appear to him to be desirable.
(8) An order under this section—
(a) may contain such transitional or other supplemental provisions as appear to the Minister to be expedient, and
(b) may be varied or revoked by subsequent order.
(9) Section 29(3) of the Act of 1959 (which defines the annual loan charges referable to any amount) shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that Act.
(10) The provisions of this section shall have effect as respects any application made under section 13 of the Act of 1959 after the coming into force of this section, and in substitution for the provisions of section 14 of the Act of 1959.
(11) This section shall not apply to Scotland.