HC Deb 07 April 1970 vol 799 cc232-3
34. Mr. Brooks

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will estimate the approximate proportion of tenants in privately and publicly rented accommodation, respectively, who change their residence in 1969; and what proposals he has to facilitate such movements.

Mr. Freeson

No figures are available for 1969, but in 1968 it is estimated that about one-sixth of the households in privately rented accommodation moved house and about one-sixteenth of those in publicly rented accommodation. The large addition to the national housing stock achieved under the present Administration, and the continued development of the new and expanded towns, is already facilitating greater freedom of choice which will increase mobility, as shortages continue to be eradicated.

Mr. Brooks

Would my hon. Friend not agree that many council tenants are unable to move about perhaps as freely as they would wish because of the present council procedures? Could he make some statement about the extent to which his investigations into the use of the computer for facilitating transfers and exchanges have progressed?

Mr. Freeson

The actual organisation of exchanges is not something which we in the Ministry undertake. What we have undertaken to do when we meet the local authority associations to discuss the report in a little while from now is to discuss the possibility of a national exchange bureau facility together with the many other recommendations in the Cullingworth Report.

Mr. Lubbock

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in Greater London, and I believe other parts of the country, it is practically impossible for a local authority tenant to move from one borough into another? Will he consider introducing legislation placing a duty on local authorities to maintain a register of tenants wishing to transfer to other areas so that it would be possible for them to inspect this at a local government office if they wished to move?

Mr. Freeson

There is no specific statutory duty on local authorities to maintain such a register. In London there is a statutory requirement to maintain a general register for London made up of information received from the boroughs. It seems that there is no reason why the kind of suggestion which the hon. Gentleman has made, which is in sympathy with remarks from this side of the House, should not be proceeded with by the G.L.C.