HC Deb 25 March 1969 vol 780 cc1253-4
10. Mr. Whitaker

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many slum houses were cleared during 1968.

Mr. MacColl

A record total of 72,246 houses in England and Wales were demolished or closed by slum clearance action during 1968. If the figures for Scotland are taken into account, I estimate that over 90,000 houses have been cleared in 1968.

Mr. Whitaker

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. How many slums remain to be cleared? How does the annual rate of progress compare with that under the previous Administration?

Mr. MacColl

Ten thousand more slum houses were cleared last year than in 1963. There is still an enormous amount to be done, and no one would want to be complacent about the figures. But we are now moving quickly in the right direction.

Mr. Deedes

Can the hon. Gentleman give a figure for the estimated number of unfit houses to be dealt with?

Mr. MacColl

A figure was quoted in the White Paper. There is a later Question dealing with detailed figures.

Later—

Mr. Deedes

On a point of order. Mr. Speaker. In answer to Question 10, asked by the hon. Member for Hampstead (Mr. Whitaker) and a supplementary question which I put, the Minister said that there would be a Question later on to provide the answer which was about unfit houses. I think I ought to draw to your attention and to the Minister's attention the fact that there is no Question on the Order Paper, Oral or Written, concerned with unfit houses.

Mr. Speaker

I am afraid that that is not a matter for me. It is a matter between the right hon. Gentleman and the Minister. I agree that it is most extraordinary.

Mr. Heath

Further to that point of order Mr. Speaker. Could not the Minister be given an opportunity to explain how he came to make this statement?

Mr. Speaker

Mr. MacColl.

Mr. MacColl

The Question to which I referred was the one about regional surveys by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Kirkdale (Mr. Dunn).