§ 10. Mr. Manuelasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how often each of the rent tribunals in Scotland has met during the past year; and what is the number of cases each has dealt with.
Commander GalbraithAs the answer involves a table of figures, I shall, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. ManuelCan the Joint Under-Secretary say whether a number of these rent tribunals have not met during the past year?
§ Mr. WheatleyIs the Joint Under-Secretary of State satisfied that the people of Scotland are sufficiently aware of their right of recourse to these tribunals? Will he recommend to local authorities the giving of greater publicity to the rights of individuals to have recourse to these tribunals?
§ Mr. ManuelAs the hon. and gallant Gentleman has the figures before him, could he state the number of rent tribunals which have not met during the past year?
§ The following are the figures:
§ The number of meetings of each rent tribunal in Scotland during the year ended 30th September, 1952, and the number of cases referred to each tribunal during that period was as follows:
| Tribunal | Meetings | Cases referred |
| City of Aberdeen | 6 | 28 |
| City of Dundee | 1 | — |
| City of Edinburgh | 13 | 26 |
| City of Glasgow | 35 | 207 |
| Counties of Aberdeen and Kincardine | 2 | 4 |
| Angus | 1 | 1 |
| North Argyll | — | — |
| South Argyll and Bute | 2 | 1 |
| North Ayrshire | 4 | 8 |
| South Ayrshire | 1 | 2 |
| Counties of Banff and Moray | 1 | 1 |
| Counties of Berwick, Roxburgh and Selkirk | — | — |
| Caithness | — | — |
| Counties of Clackmannan and Stirling | 2 | 5 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 2 | 6 |
| Dunbartonshire | 4 | 10 |
| Fife (Dunfermline Area) | — | 2 |
| Fife (Central and East Area) | 6 | 15 |
| Harris and Lewis | — | — |
| Counties of Inverness and Nairn | 4 | 3 |
| Lanarkshire | 6 | 7 |
| Lothians and Peebles | 2 | 3 |
| Orkney | — | — |
| Counties of Perth and Kinross | 4 | 6 |
| East Renfrewshire | 6 | 19 |
| West Renfrewshire | 2 | 4 |
| Ross and Cromarty | — | — |
| Sutherland | 1 | 1 |
| Zetland | — | — |
| 105 | 359 |
§ 11. Mr. Manuelasked the Secretary of State for Scotland the average annual cost of operating a rent tribunal in Scotland.
Commander GalbraithThe total fees and expenses of members of the 29 tribunals in Scotland for the year ended 31st March, 1952, was £1,123. To this must be added an allocation of expenses incurred by the Department of Health and local authorities in servicing the tribunals, which it is estimated would bring the total expenditure up to about £2,900, or an average of £100 per tribunal.
§ Mr. ManuelThe Joint Under-Secretary of State has indicated that the average expenditure for a rent tribunal is £100. Is he aware that the work must 243 be much better performed in England? As the expenditure per rent tribunal was, on last year's basis, £2,000 in England, they must be dealing with many more cases. Is the Joint Under-Secretary further aware that the estimated expenditure under the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill is estimated as being, for Scotland, on an average, £44 16s. 6d. per rent tribunal, and for England an average of £1,764?
Is the Joint Under-Secretary further aware that this is solely because there is not enough publicity about what protection sub-let tenants can obtain in Scotland? Will he take steps to see that he brings up the standard in Scotland to the same level as that in England so that we can get that exploitation avoided?
Commander GalbraithIn reply to the first part of the hon. Member's supplementary question, the answer is, "No, Sir" because the figures are in no way comparable. In regard to publicity, I hope that the hon. Gentleman's Question will give further publicity to the matter.