§ 1. Mr. Derek Pageasked the Attorney-General how many eviction orders have been granted by courts against tenants of agricultural tied cottages under the Protection from Eviction Act; and how many of these cases resulted in a length of notice up to one month, one to two months inclusive, two to three months inclusive, three to six months inclusive, and six to 12 months inclusive, respectively.
§ The Attorney-General (Sir Elwyn Jones)I regret that this information is not available.
§ Mr. PageIs my right hon. and learned Friend aware of the differences of opinion about whether the protection offered by the Protection from Eviction Act and under the new Rent Bill, should it become law, is adequate, and will he consider keeping a close statistical record to enable rational discussion of these differences?
§ The Attorney-GeneralI appreciate the force of what my hon. Friend says. As to the keeping of statistics, quarterly returns are now being received from the courts about the number of possession orders made by them in all proceedings, but there are no separate figures of possession orders relating to tied cottages. I am bound to say that the amount of work which would be required to gather that kind of information would be very considerable, and, of course, it is not always possible to tell from the pleadings or even from the judges' notes whether a particular case concerns a tied cottage; but we are doing what we can.