§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will 557W make a statement on further progress in the provision of housing for disabled people since the reply to the hon. Member for Eccles on 14th April 1976.
§ Mr. FreesonIn the 15 months since the beginning of 1976, there have been some 12,000 proposals, 3,050 starts and 269 completions of mobility homes—ordinary housing designed to be convenient for disabled people not confined to wheelchairs. In the same period, housing authorities and housing associations in England have notified my Department that over 1,000 wheelchair homes have been started and over 750 completed, bringing the total completed since the passing of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 to over 2,000. These statistics now appear annually in the publication "Housing and Construction Statistics", and we intend later this year to begin annual publication of local statistics.
The number of housing authorities which have made no proposals for building for disabled people at all has been reduced from 80 to 55, and, of these, 13 authorities make provision through adaptations of existing housing.
I am encouraged by this continuing progress in the provision of housing especially suitable for disabled people. But, as we made clear in our Green Paper on housing policy, very much more remains to be done.
I maintain my commitment to seeing that the housing needs of disabled people are met and, in conjunction with my colleagues, shall look for ways of ensuring that the momentum of provision is maintained. In particular, I am asking the regional offices of my Department to continue to make provision for disabled people an integral part of their programme discussions with authorities.