§ 23. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government in what metropolitan boroughs residential accommodation in requisitioned premises is reserved for tenants nominated by the Ministry of Health; how many houses or flats have been reserved in this way; and what qualifications make tenants eligible for this preferential treatment.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanMy arrangement with the local authorities in 59 requisitioned properties used as "half-way houses" in Paddington, Camberwell, Kensington, St. Marylebone, Stoke Newington and Westminster. The families nominated must be on the waiting list of a local housing authority and have become homeless through no fault of their own.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that these somewhat secret privileges became public knowledge only when the Kensington Borough Council explained that Mr. Pavel Kuznetsov occupied one of its requisitioned flats, and is it right that foreign diplomats should get property of this kind where the rents are subsidised either out of rates or taxes?
§ Mr. MacmillanThat raises broad issues. I suppose it is right that if there are to be foreign diplomats, and the staffs of those diplomats, they should have somewhere where they can live. At any 2022 rate, it is not I who housed Mr. Kuznetsov. He was housed in March. 1950, by my predecessor.