§ 6. Mr. Parkinasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the number of houses purchased under the provisions of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act in each of the London boroughs during each year since 1949.
§ Mr. H. BrookeSeparate figures for each London borough are not readily
| ADVANCES BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES UNDER THE SMALL DWELLINGS ACQUISITION ACTS AND THE HOUSING ACTS | |||||||
| April, 1945 to March, 1951 | April, 1951 to March, 1952 | April, 1952 to March, 1953 | April, 1953 to March, 1954 | April, 1954 to March. 1955 | April, 1955 to March, 1956 | ||
| Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | ||
| Advances under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts: | |||||||
| (i) for acquisition | … | 450 | 117 | 103 | 117 | 128 | 109 |
| (ii) for construction | … | 2 | 11 | 1 | 3 | — | 4 |
| Advances under Housing Act, 1949 (Section 4): | |||||||
| (i) for acquisition | … | 214 | 588 | 697 | 787 | 1,048 | 1,305 |
| (ii) for construction | … | 11 | 14 | 22 | 56 | 45 | 69 |
§ 7. Mr. Parkinasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he is satisfied with the use being made of the provisions of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act; and whether he will give the total numbers of houses acquired under this Act in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. H. BrookeI am never satisfied, but increasing use has been made of these 776 available. I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT the figures which I have for all the Metropolitan boroughs together.
§ Mr. ParkinWould the Minister think it worth while for his own information to try to get these figures? I suspect that there will be some startling variations between one borough and another. Would he not agree that it would be worth while to give encouragement for the fullest use of this device by which, if it is used with energy and discretion, a good deal of the unfortunate speculation in the fag-ends of leases may be avoided?
§ Mr. BrookeI am very anxious indeed for these powers to be used. I am sorry that I was unable to give the full information today, but it needs a considerable amount of collection and the hon. Member did not give me very long notice of the Question.
§ provisions in each year since the end of the war. The information desired is published for the four years 1951–1955 in Appendix I to the Ministry's Annual Report for 1955; and the figures for 1955–56 will be published in the Report for 1956. I am circulating the information for all five years in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
777| ADVANCES BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES UNDER THE SMALL DWELLINGS ACQUISITION ACTS AND THE HOUSING ACTS | ||||||
| April, 1951 to March, 1952 | April, 1952 to March, 1953 | April, 1953 to March, 1954 | April, 1954 to March. 1955 | April, 1955 to March, 1956 | ||
| Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | Number of dwellings | ||
| Advances made under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts: | ||||||
| (i) for acquisition | … | 12,335 | 8,670 | 10,337 | 15,431 | 17,587 |
| (ii) for construction | … | 4,025 | 4,758 | 6,352 | 8,017 | 7,559 |
| Advances, under Housing Act, 1949 (Section 4): | ||||||
| (i) for acquisition | … | 3,614 | 3,337 | 4,685 | 10,854 | 20,187 |
| (ii) for construction | … | 1,235 | 1,562 | 2,531 | 4,257 | 7,849 |
§ 8. Mr. Parkinasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will sponsor and organise a tap issue of housing bonds which could be sold and serviced by local housing authorities who would retain the capital for housing development additional to that permitted by their present resources, including an arrangement by which these bonds could be redeemed at par to provide the deposit for the purchase of a house through the local authority under the provisions of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act.
§ Mr. H. BrookeLocal authorities already have wide powers for borrowing; and I do not think that the special features proposed here are necessary.
§ Mr. ParkinWill the Minister perhaps reflect on this, because the idea behind it is that this would make a form of extra saving and, if well advertised, could be at least as attractive as Premium Bonds to people who want to give wedding presents or who are saving up for a deposit? A general loan is not very attractive compared with the extra attraction of one specific objective— namely, the improvement in housing in one's own borough.
§ Mr. BrookeI understand that argument, but I am not sure whether it would be right to give borrowing for housing purposes a superiority in publicity over raising capital for, say, school building. Moreover, the hon. Member suggests a kind of national loan, whereas the general policy nowadays is to throw the responsibility for borrowing on the particular local authority, and I think that is sound.